The media circus around Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s unsubstantiated accusation against Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the final week of his Supreme Court confirmation hearings was anchored on one critical claim from Democrats.
Ford had “nothing to gain” by coming forward, Democratic leaders repeated again and again.
There’s only one problem: Ford is set to cash out nearly $1 million from crowd-funding efforts. In fact, Ford is still actively soliciting donations.
She is also reportedly shopping around for a lucrative book deal with major publishers, Real Clear Investigations reported Monday.
That’s a very dangerous precedent that hurts women on both sides of the political aisle.
“Two GoFundMe accounts have raised more than $842,000 for Ford, and the money is still coming in weeks after she testified and left the spotlight. The total does not include a third account collecting $120,000 for an academic endowment in her name,” RCI wrote.
The media dismissed the notion that Ford came forward for the financial reward.
“The idea that she would risk her safety and the safety of her husband and children for some free money is pernicious, the sort of toxic absurdity that spreads among folks who view women, in general, with suspicion,” Chicago Tribune editor Heidi Stevens wrote recently.
But there’s no denying that the mere existence of a large payday creates a dangerous precedent for sexual assault survivors.
It’s a very clear signal to dishonest people that there’s a huge bounty available for accusations; it doesn’t matter if they’re credible, or politically-motivated, the existence of the bounties hurts women.
Any one that makes an honest accusation will have their motivation called into question. Are they looking for a crowd-funded payday?
Because of these GoFundMe accounts for Ford, there’s no putting the genie back into the bottle.
And it could be used to silence women in the future.
After all, it’s already hard enough for sexual assault survivors to endure the public embarrassment of such an accusation.
Now that Ford is cashing in on this crowd-funding windfall and getting ready to go on a book tour, it will be even harder for credible women to be believed.
That’s a problem no matter how one slices it.
— The Horn editorial team