Less than a week after the world watched Christine Blasey Ford bravely testify against Brett Kavanaugh,??? ?? ???? President Trump took it upon himself to say it's a "very scary time for young men in America."
Obviously it is not.
He said this particularly offensive thing while speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday: "My whole life, I've heard you're innocent until proven guilty. But now you're guilty until proven innocent. That is a very, very difficult standard."
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"It's a very scary time for young men in America, when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of." the president went on. "This is a very difficult time."
In wake of Ford's wrenching account of her sexual assault, Trump's comments seemed especially insensitive. The day after her testimony, nonprofit anti-sexual assault organization RAINNreported a record number of calls to its victim hotline during the hearings. But now, Trump says, it's the men of America who have to fear.
Predictably, his statement did not go over with many online. Some have felt compelled to call out the fact that it's a hard time for women, especially since Ford's testimony shows that even when women do come forward about sexual assault they're not always taken seriously.
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A number of people also responded by calling attention to the Central Park Five, a group of five black and Latino teenagers wrongfully convicted of raping a woman in 1989. After they'd spent years in prison, someone else confessed to the crime and they were exonerated. Trump had initially advocated for their execution and refused to back down later, despite DNA evidence proving their innocence. Earlier this year he tweeted a remark about the importance of "due process," which was condemned by the exonerees.
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In the past, Trump has also publicly offered support to Kavanaugh and vouched for his character, while with defending his own nomination of the judge. At the same time, he publicly addressed Ford on Twitter, casting doubt on her allegations and arguing that "if the attack... was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed..."
Following Ford and Kavanaugh's hearing, the Senate confirmation vote was delayed to accommodate a requested week-long FBI investigation from several senators. President Trump granted the short investigation, and it's expected to wrap up by Friday.
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