Late last night, the New Yorker dropped another bombshell #MeToo report – this time, on New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Although he denied the allegations, he announced his resignation within hours, effective today (Tuesday).
There’s been quite a lot of schadenfreude on the right – Schneiderman, a darling of the progressive left, was prone to sanctimony on issues ranging from climate change to abortion and everything in between, so combing through his past tweets has provided pundits with ample entertainment this morning. I’m not interested in addressing that part of it, though.
What I found most heartbreaking in the piece – which is meticulously researched – is this line: “After the former girlfriend ended the relationship, she told several friends about the abuse. A number of them advised her to keep the story to herself, arguing that Schneiderman was too valuable a politician for the Democrats to lose.”
Can you imagine saying that to someone who trusts you? "Come on, be a team player… keep your mouth shut for the good of the Democratic party.
To be clear, I’m not trying to go down the “must believe all accusers” rabbit hole. Rather, these are personal “friends” who sincerely believed that a transgression occurred – yet they still insisted on recommending silence for the greater good.
I mean… with friends like that, who needs enemies?
This strikes me as example #1,340,497,500,284 as to why hero-worshipping politicians – of any political persuasion! – is a bad thing. Just because someone agrees with you on policies, doesn’t make them a good person (and conversely, people with whom you disagree on policy aren’t necessarily terrible, either).
In the meantime, I’ll be keeping these women in my thoughts – going public takes tremendous bravery, and is likely to be exceedingly unpleasant for the foreseeable future.