A very strange story broke today:
ProPublica— Three women recall Sondland made unwanted sexual contact in business settings. One says he exposed himself. All recall professional retaliation after they rejected him. Sondland denies the allegations….
Using the #MeToo movement, a Portland publisher decided to “even the score” with European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland sixteen years later.
But the ONLY outcome one can readily see is that it’s a crypto-GOP attempt to smear Sondland during the impeachment inquiry:
… The day after Sondland gave that testimony, Nicole Vogel spoke at the Day of the Girl Luncheon in Seattle, an event hosted by a regional nonprofit, Girls Inc., whose mission is to inspire “all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.” Vogel decided to recount her Sondland story and name him.
Vogel also mentioned it to an editor at Portland Monthly, the co-publisher of this story, and she later spoke about it again at a breakfast event in Portland.
[Editor’s note: Vogel is the owner of Portland Monthly. Vogel cooperated with the story as a source. She was not involved in editorial decisions. The magazine’s editorial team decided to partner with ProPublica to independently report her story.] emphasis added.
Some may recall that I protested the rush to judgment and the kangaroo court nature of the #MeToo movement in my essay “In Defense of Kevin Spacey” [11-08-2017] which turned out to be RIGHT. Or CORRECT. (Pick ’em!)
This, on the other hand isn’t nearly so credible. Listen:
“There were a lot of indecent proposals when I was raising capital, but none as brazen as his,” Vogel recalls. She encountered Sondland 16 years ago when she was trying to raise money to start her magazine. “I have nothing to say about what he did or didn’t do [involving Ukraine]. But if people are asking what his moral character is, I have one more piece of evidence for them.” [emphasis added.]
So: this is a defense of Donald J. Trump. Period. The accuser says so, but lines up a couple of other witnesses. Why?
Is this about “justice”? Nope.
To harm his business? Nope.
To exact justice? Nope. Nobody ever reported a “crime.”
But it’s OK to possibly slander and libel a witness in a constitutional crisis because a woman publisher has a sixteen year old score to settle?
Yup.
This doesn’t pass the smell test. Which is probably why the roped Pro Publica (no Christmas donation for you, PP) into this sordid cesspool.
This isn’t feminism. Feminism doesn’t DEFEND Donald Judas Trump.
And yet, this is EXACTLY what this is. A defense using the M.O. of the Trump Mob: smear and denigrate. Congressman Schiff is a “sick puppy.” Nancy Pelosi is “sick.”
They have no arguments against the crime that Trump committed, so they smear and slur and curse and swear. And the feeble-minded (e.g. the mainstream media) gobble it up like popcorn seasoned with Zyklon B.
And now Ambassador Sondland is a “woman molester” or something like that. I’m not going into the sordid details. This will be another “Benghazi” strategem: keep mentioning it all the time whether it’s true or not. Like the “Hunter biden” endless non-scandal.
Look: if you’re not working for the Trump Administration, then how come this COMPLETELY mimics their tried and true approach?
And how INSANE is it to use fossilized (16 years) “sexual harassment” charges to defend a man who seems to be a serial rapist? Just like attacking Biden’s son for using his father’s name to make money, when ALL of Trump’s adult children not in university are DOING THE SAME THING!
That’s actually what gives it away. The insanity of today’s scurrilous charges matches the insanity of YESTERDAY’S scurrilous charges.
Whether Gordon Sondland did anything sexual or not is a matter of COMPLETE NON-IMPORTANCE* in our present circumstances. Weird that it should be wielded in an attack to ASSIST a man who’s been credibly accused of more than a dozen equally horrific attacks.
[*Unless, of course, the accusation was that Sondland had sodomized Donald Trump against a wall against Trump’s will.]
In fact, Sondland’s ancient behavior has NO MORE bearing on our Republic’s uneasy fate than Monica Lewinsky’s consensual blowjobs should have had on it in 1998.
This is Satan’s rewrite of the part of Iago in Othello. It takes very little to read between THESE lines.
But heck hath no fury like a toady scorned.
This was intentional, and admittedly an attempt at a political hit job. Read the transcript. And recognize that this advances women’s rights and causes not ONE IOTA. The opposite, in fact.
I know that I won’t ever be reading the Portland Monthly, hereinafter.
I can already watch Fox News.
After all, they SPECIALIZE in transparent lies to undermine our Republic, TOO.
Who needs this amateur? Whatever her name was.
Sondland’s lawyer … Jim McDermott, also wrote that the three women are trying to undermine Sondland’s latest testimony. “Given the timing of your intended story, a reasonable conclusion to be drawn is that you are attempting to affect Ambassador Sondland’s credibility as a fact witness in the pending impeachment inquiry,” McDermott wrote. “Given the politically charged climate in which current events are unfolding, some might consider this to be veiled witness tampering.”
I’ve been looking hard, but I can’t for the life of me see the veil.
Courage.
cross-posted from his vorpal sword
A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog, His Vorpal Sword (no spaces) dot com.