GOP Senate tries dumbest stunt of all time amid worsening Brett Kavanaugh rape scandal

| 7:07 pm EDT September 14, 2018
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

Based on the details published by Ronan Farrow earlier today, it’s now clear that Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is being accused of attempted rape. One would think that the Republicans who control the Senate would take pause at putting an alleged rapist on the highest court in the land, or at least halt things until the matter can be properly investigated. But no. Instead the GOP has tried one of the most insultingly dumb stunts in the history of the Senate.

Chuck Grassley, the Republican Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has hastily assembled a list of sixty-five women who have known Brett Kavanaugh personally over the years, all of whom are asserting that Kavanaugh never sexually assaulted or harassed them. There is every reason to take these women at their word. But within the context of the accusation against Kavanaugh, the letter means absolutely nothing – and it reveals the GOP has got nothing.

This is roughly as asinine as publishing a list of sixty-five people who lived in Ted Bundy’s neighborhood who were never murdered by him, and holding it up as supposed evidence that Bundy didn’t murder anyone. This is a total dick move by Grassley, and based on the initial feedback on social media, it appears it’ll be widely viewed as a dick move. This is highly likely to backfire on Senate Republicans, because it reveals that if they had any actual defense for Kavanaugh, they’d be invoking it instead of resorting to this list.

Even though GOP Senate leaders like Chuck Grassley and Mitch McConnell are still trying to ram the Brett Kavanaugh nomination through, it’s not going to be up to them. Certain Republican Senators like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were already facing a nearly impossible path to reelection if they vote for Kavanaugh – and now they have to ask themselves what their career prospects will be reduced to if they vote to put an alleged rapist on the Supreme Court without waiting for the investigation to play out.