Remember that little slice of ancient history called the #MeToo moment? That fun time when Democrats decided serial gropers like Al Franken should resign and blood-red Alabama elected a pro-choice Democrat instead of a credibly accused sexual predator to the Senate?
Well, it was nice while it lasted. Crude partisan politics have stuck yet another nail in the coffin of the forgotten corpse of the #MeToo movement, this time in the name of defending the electoral odds of Louis Farrakhan-buddy and anti-military socialist Raphael Warnock.
Unlike fellow Georgia Senate hopeful Jon Ossoff, Warnock, a once relatively unknown reverend challenging sitting Sen. Kelly Loeffler in January’s runoff election, is not a known entity. The deluge of opposition research would already be considered disqualifying in a different (read: healthier) political climate, but the latest revelation about a little-discussed news item from earlier this year ought to render Warnock not just ineligible for the Senate but also for any position of authority in public life.
Back in March, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Warnock was accused by his now ex-wife, Ouleye Ndoye, of running over her foot with his car during a domestic dispute. At the time, the story was written off as little more than a he-said, she-said with no evidence more than a police report claiming Ndoye had no visible injuries to her foot.
Now, a staggering nine months after the initial story, Tucker Carlson exclusively aired the police bodycam footage of Ndoye and Warnock after the alleged incident. The obviously distraught Ndoye laments through tears that she had “tried to keep the way that he acts under wraps for a long time” and that he’s a “great actor.” Warnock says he does “not think” he actually ran over her foot, just that he intentionally moved his car forward while she was in front of it. At the time, Ndoye was pleading with Warnock to allow her to obtain passports for their children so they could attend her grandfather’s funeral in Africa.
Let’s consider the evidence: We have a claim of criminal conduct made to the police (seemingly unaware of the bodycam filming Ndoye) at the time of the allegation. We have the most tepid of denials from Warnock, and although one could argue the accuser had an incentive to get divorce proceedings to go her way, she has never brought up the allegation to the media, indicating that the odds of her having ulterior motives are slim.
At an absolute minimum, this allegation is credible. If we had a competent media that reached out to acquaintances of the former couple, any witnesses claiming that Ndoye told a friend about the accusation at the time could make the claim meet the preponderance of the evidence.
But despite this obviously credible allegation waiting in video form for the entire length of human gestation, it took an opinion prime time host to do the jobs of an entire national press corps.
Before the #MeToo movement was bastardized as the political weapon of believing a single allegation in and of itself is evidence enough to prove guilt, a credible accusation was treated with the severity of exactly that. It was seen as a disturbing and realistic claim requiring thorough vetting before allowing a potential abuser to reach the highest echelons of power. Instead, the websites of the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and MSNBC have not one item, including the revelations of the video obtained by Carlson.
The whole #MeToo thing was nice while it lasted. Alas, our Democratic betters lit it on fire, first to gut Brett Kavanaugh, then to rehabilitate Bill Clinton, and now to nab the Senate.
And our firefighting journalists sat back and watched it burn.
