Thread on [swallows hard] Tara Reade, Dr. Blasey Ford, and how the right views women.

It's been two months since Reade's escalated accusations against Joe Biden hit the political world like a sack of wet rats and the story has fizzled out entirely, consternating the right. 1/

This was supposed to be the surprise 3rd quarter onside kick that shifts the momentum of the game back in their favor, but instead the other team recovered and they have no idea what happened. The trouble lays squarely in the rights views of sexual assault and survivors. 2/

Tara Reade may as well be a conservative caricature of a sexual abuse accusor. Her story has changed weekly to fit new revelations. She goes through names like most women go through bras. She's been caught lying, repeatedly. She stands accused of fraud and manipulation. 3/

Contrasted against Dr. Blasey Ford, a professional woman with an impeccable reputation for competence and honesty, Reade and her story is a train wreck. There's no comparison. Nor is there any comparison to the stories of other victims like E. Jean Carroll. 4/

Serious people were able to spot the differences and inconsistencies immediately, which is why journalists didn't pick up the story, and lawyers declined to represent her. That's where the right went wrong latching their hopes to Reade. They thought everyone would jump on it. 5/

That assumption betrays something fundamental about the right's worldview. They were blindsided by the failure of Reade's accusation because to them, all survivors look like Reade. To them, all survivors are duplicitous, all survivors are fradulent, all survivors lie. 6/

To the right, all survivors are jealous, man-hating harpies who will stop at nothing to bring down powerful men and steal their positions. In their myopic and misogynistic vision, they literally couldn't tell the difference between Reade and Blasey Ford. 7/

They thought #MeToo was about hurting men, not protecting women. They thought Believe Women meant believing all women uncritically, not believing women should be heard and their claims vetted. 8/

This is why rightwing provocateurs paid women (and men) to make up stories about Mueller, Warren, Buttigieg, and Dr. Fauci. Just as with Trump's quest to get a public announcement of a fake Ukraine investigation into the Bidens, the substance of the accusation is irrelevant. 9/

It's why the right is so eager to use Reade's discredited story as a reason to accuse the left of hypocrisy. They truly believe in their hearts that accusations of rape and assault is just another political game to be played and another weapon to use against their enemies. 10/

The right can't tell a fraud from a survivor because they truly, deeply believe there are no survivors and they are the real victims here. 11/11