Re: "For Once I'm Grateful to Trump"

To the editor:

I read with dismay Bret Stephens (10.4.18, For once I'm grateful to Trump) lauding President Trump's unconscionable behavior mocking a victim of assault because 'he's one big bully willing to stand up to another.'  Since when do two wrongs make a right? And why does Stephens focus his attention on everyone but the victim?  He does not own or even recognize his implicit bias in his thinking.

Yes, Blassey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh cannot both be telling the truth.  As a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, the most likely explanation based on brain science and knowledge of how the mind works is that the episode became a memory for Blassey Ford because it was traumatic and a non-memory for Kavanaugh because he was drunk.  On this basis alone, the risk to the functioning and integrity of the Supreme Court is far greater if Kavanaugh is seated rather than replaced by another nominee. Erring on the side of caution is in the best interest of the country given the stakes.

There has also been much justification of Kavanaugh's conduct at the hearing; an angry man unfairly attacked fighting for his name and honor.  No doubt this has been a trying time for Kavanaugh and the hearing a difficult stress test.  For many of us, including legal scholars, he failed the test.  His strategy was using rage to show innocence -  Republicans were gleeful because they could embrace that narrative.  But for the rest of us it showed an ugly side of him that he will carry into the Supreme Court to the detriment of all Americans.

Respectfully

Larry S Sandberg