WASHINGTON: Combat won out over caution. White House aides and congressional allies worked all week to keep President Donald Trump from unloading on the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct.

But as Kavanaugh’s nomination hung in the balance, Trump couldn’t contain his frustration any longer and unleashed a direct Twitter attack on the credibility of Christine Blasey Ford, who says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her decades ago during a high school party.

Friday’s tweet landed with a splat in the noxious brew of gender and politics that has taken over a high-stakes confirmation battle playing out against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement. In keeping with Trump’s natural instinct to fight back when under attack, as well as his long pattern of defending powerful men against the claims of women, the president’s tweet reflected growing anger over all the focus on Ford’s accusation.

Trump initially believed he could support his nominee without wading into the specific allegations against Kavanaugh since they did not involve him. But that began to change as Trump watched ongoing coverage of the accusations, particularly on Air Force One TVs tuned into Fox News on his long flight on Thursday from Washington to Las Vegas, according to a White House official and a Republican close to the White House. Trump began to view the allegations as a scheme to undermine his pick and told one confidant that he doubted Ford’s credibility. The “fake” attack on Kavanaugh reminded him of the broadsides launched against him during his presidency and the claims of sexual misconduct that dogged him at the end of his campaign.

Increasingly convinced the accusations were a Democratic plot being advanced by the media, Trump tweeted that if the attack was really so bad, “charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents.” With that, he blew right past the advice of aides, who had counselled Trump to avoid attacking Ford directly, warning that it could backfire and damage Kavanaugh’s chances and hurt vulnerable Republicans in the midterm elections.

As is often the case with the president’s tweets, this one seemed to catch many off guard. Shortly before Trump’s tweet, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told reporters at the White House there was “no reason” to attack Ford. Asked if she had been advising Trump to avoid criticism, Conway said: “The president doesn’t need anybody to tell him. He does the right thing.” Trump’s refusal to hold back has a history.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2018