Democrats face a turbulent test of faith in #MeToo divide

On October 16, 2017, shortly after Harvey Weinstein was revealed to have paid off sexual harassment accusers for decades, actress Alyssa Milano wrote a message on Twitter that echoed around the globe:

If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write “me too” as a reply to this tweet.

The #MeToo movement took off, much to the surprise of Milano herself. The Guardian, December 1, 2017:

It was the perfect storm to happen and I feel really blessed I was the vessel, the messenger.

Milano later travelled to Capitol Hill to attend the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Brett Kavanaugh. CNN, October 2, 2018:

If professor Christine Blasey Ford is to be believed, and I believe she is, Brett Kavanaugh is a sexual predator. If any number of women are to be believed, and I believe they are, Donald Trump is a sexual predator.

Now, in an election year, another #MeToo moment threatens to upend the presidential race. The New York Times, April 12:

A former Senate aide who last year accused Joseph R. Biden Jr of inappropriate touching has made an allegation of sexual assault against the former vice-president, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee this fall.

A week earlier, Milano told American radio presenter Andy Cohen why she was still endorsing Biden for president:

I’m still trying desperately to stand back and be objective about this. I sent the #MeToo tweet over two years ago. I never thought it would be something that would destroy innocent men, right. We don’t want that to happen either.

That led to a furious Twitter denunciation from Rose McGowan, one of Weinstein’s accusers. April 7:

You are a fraud. This is about holding the media accountable. You go after Trump & Kavanaugh saying Believe Victims, you are a lie. You have always been a lie. The corrupt DNC is in on the smear job of Tara Reade, so are you. SHAME.

Rebecca Traister assesses the problem in New York Magazine, Monday:

Part of what’s sickeningly clear is that if Biden remains the Democratic nominee, whichever woman gets the nod to be his running mate will wind up drinking from a poisoned chalice.

Women’s rights advocates prepared a public letter urging Biden to finally address the allegation. The New York Times, Wednesday:

“Vice President Biden has the opportunity, right now, to model how to take serious allegations seriously,” the draft letter said.

Of course, Biden’s opponent can hardly claim the moral high ground. Who can forget what he said in that Access Hollywood tape?

I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.

This week McGowan made her frustrations clear on Twitter:

I am not a cynical person, but America goddamn. Republicans have always been painted as the bad guys, and I’ve always seen them more as a cult, but now I realise so are the Democrats and the media.

Now, as Biden prepares to break his silence on the case, let’s return to Traister in New York Magazine:

What a grievous mess … And make no mistake, if Biden loses, regardless of his running mate, even as feminists are being criticised for hypocrisy in not condemning him more swiftly, it will also be feminists and women who are blamed for his loss, for encouraging an environment in which claims of sexual harm are taken seriously enough to damage a politician.