A mother in Bozeman, Montana, used her moment in the national spotlight to give what she considered valuable life lessons to her daughters, telling them during a live interview on MSNBC that “groping is no big deal.”
Even if the assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh are true, it “doesn’t take away from his character and his job to do what he needs to do as a Supreme Court nominee,” the unidentified woman told her daughters.
Kavanaugh has been accused of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford when they were both high schoolers. Ford is a psychologist and professor of statistics at Palo Alto University. While that makes her credible, her story is full of holes, New York Post reported.
A total of three women are now accusing Kavanaugh of alleged inappropriate behavior. The newest accuser, Julie Swetnick, was identified by her lawyer Michael Avenatti on Twitter Wednesday morning. She said Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were present at a party where she was drugged and gang raped, CNN reported.
Ford is not accusing Kavanaugh of groping. She is accusing him of violent attempted rape. “I thought he might inadvertently kill me. He was trying to attack me and remove my clothing,” she told The Washington Post, recounting the alleged incident at a high school party “one summer in the early 1980s.”
The Trump supporter said on MSNBC, “We’re all sick and tired of hearing about the Kavanaugh thing because it’s not supported by any facts or evidence whatsoever.”
Her view reflects the majority of Republicans, Mediaite reported. Even if Ford’s claims are true, 54 percent of Republicans want him to be confirmed, according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
“Groping a woman? At 18?” the woman said, before asking her daughters, “I mean, how many guys do you know who think that’s no big deal?”
The two girls nodded and appeared to agree, while the mother reiterated, “It’s not a big deal.”
a Trump supporter on MSNBC told her daughters that men groping women is "no big deal" pic.twitter.com/QbYubOJpXl
— Caleb Ecarma (@calebecarma) September 26, 2018
And if her daughter(s) have boyfriends and they just saw this, what are they thinking? HIGH FIVE!
— Matthew Terry (@MTerryScrnwrtr) September 26, 2018
You are absolutely correct. I could not imagine putting my daughter's safety, her self esteem, her health and reputation on the line to serve president chaos. I've never seen such weird adoration.
— Tracy Allemand (@bluzshu) September 26, 2018
My mom said the same to me. It wasn’t until I was much older that I was able to understand. She had such a deep need to normalize it because she, too, had experienced it and believed it was ‘just a part of life’.
— amy (@sarcastamy) September 26, 2018
Kavanaugh said on Fox News on Monday night, “I had never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not ever. I’ve always treated women with dignity and respect.”
Groping is more than a joke — and quite often it’s a crime, wrote Joanna L. Grossman in a Vox column in January. Grossman is the Ellen K. Solender Endowed Chair in Women and Law at SMU Dedman School of Law.
“Given the national conversation about sexual harassment by powerful bosses, groping in almost all cases will meet the definition of unlawful sexual harassment.” — Joanna L. Grossman
