Heretofore known as a man of few words, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas broke his silence in a new PBS documentary released May 18 that shares his story and his perspective. In it, he offers a word of caution: Political choices have consequences, and they can often become permanent.
Thomas was speaking broadly about his confirmation battle, the sexual assault allegations leveled against him by Anita Hill, and the subsequent smear campaign that, to this day, Democrats insist on waging. But his advice is also applicable to our current political climate, since the memory of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, which bore a striking resemblance to Thomas’s, is still fresh in our minds, and the sexual assault allegations made against presidential candidate Joe Biden threaten to upend his entire campaign.
“It’s a tactic,” Thomas explained, “and when people see it being successful, they don’t realize they’re going to be the next ones in the Tower of London. It’s just a matter of time. You allow this to be a precedent in your society, and people might say, ‘Oh, it’s wonderful this particular guy is getting tarred and feathered.’ Well, there’s a lot of tar, and there’s a lot of feathers. And eventually, you will be there.”
Thomas is, as always, insightful and correct. Democrats did to Kavanaugh what they had done to Thomas years prior in an attempt to derail Kavanaugh’s confirmation. They elevated not just one but several accusers who could not corroborate their stories or provide substantive evidence backing their troubling, and in some cases, outlandish claims.
In a trial court, Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation would never have held up. But the Senate Democrats were not concerned about the rule of law; they cared only about the ideological balance of the Supreme Court, which, with Kavanaugh’s appointment, began to tilt further away from their agenda. So, they smeared Kavanaugh as a predator and even a rapist, the idea being that if they could not stop his confirmation, at least they could destroy his reputation.
But, as Thomas warned, political choices have permanent consequences. The standard Democrats established during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing — believe all women, with or without evidence — has now come back to bite them. Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has been accused of sexual assault by a former congressional staffer, Tara Reade. (Thomas’s warning was even more prescient considering that Biden helped lead the attack against Thomas during his confirmation hearing.) According to the Democrats’ stated standards for Kavanaugh and Thomas, Reade’s allegation ought to be enough to disqualify Biden from the nomination, let alone the presidency.
Democrats are doing backflips to reason their way out of the situation they’ve created. Some have claimed that “believe all women” was never the standard. Others have attempted to discredit Reade’s allegation by using elements of her personal history against her. Several liberal writers and pundits went so far as to argue that Biden should be nominated and elected even if Reade’s story is true.
Democrats could have avoided all of this had they afforded Thomas and Kavanaugh the same respect and due process that they now want to give Biden. But they were too eager with the tar and too greedy with the feathers, and now, their tactic has become precedent.
