With the Kavanaugh Fiasco Finally Ending, Here Are Some Lessons and Conclusions

The long national nightmare that has been the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh appears to be finally coming to an end today with his highly-controversial confirmation. After having followed every minute of it like it was the O.J. Simpson trial, and having lost a few friends and a whole bunch of Twitter followers over my defense of Kavanaugh against the abuse allegations he faced, here are the lessons that should be learned, and conclusions that can be drawn, from this entire fiasco.

As the rock band Green Day once famously sang, “It’s something unpredictable, but in the end is right… I hope you had the time of your life.”

There’s No Solid Evidence that Kavanaugh Committed Sexual Abuse:

Especially after the FBI investigation, which Democrats begged for and then condemned, predictably turned up nothing to corroborate the allegations, this is the only currently rational conclusion. My assessment is that the scenario which makes the most sense based on the existing record is that the Christine Blasey Ford allegation was the result of a therapy-induced memory, Deborah Ramirez’s story was an urban legend fanned by liberal Yale graduates and Ronan Farrow, and Julie Swetnick’s tale was an out-right fabrication which easily duped Michael Avenatti.

The Media and #MeToo Are Far Too Eager to Believe All Allegations:

It was inevitable that these groups being overly eager to automatically believe, without evidence, every allegation of sexual abuse against a white male to be instantly true would eventually cause them to embrace false stories. It appears that this is exactly what happened here.

The Only Chance a White Male Has of Surviving a #MeToo Attack is By Fighting Back Very Hard:

Unlike Al Franken, Matt Lauer, and Joe Paterno (none of whom, in my educated opinion, ever did anything to deserve the due-process-free punishment they received) who curled up into the fetal position and quickly got crushed, Kavanaugh fought back. Hard. Maybe even too hard. But now that the media and #MeToo have changed the rules so dramatically against the accused, it was his only option to survive.

Democrats Will Always Overplay Their Hand:

Had Sen. Dianne Feinstein immediately come forward with Ford’s letter and asked Kavanaugh about this in private first, it may have facilitated a far more effective attack on Kavanaugh in the long run, rather than the sneaky — just too cute — grandstanding tactics which were used to spring this on him at the last possible moment.

The Supreme Court Confirmation Process is Irrevocably Broken:

Sen. Susan Collins did the best that she could to salvage a horrendous situation, but her efforts were nothing more than a tunicate on a rapidly dying patient. It is difficult to see how this process, much like our politics in general, once considered sacred, ever finds a way out of the gutter.

More People Than Ever Believe Only What They Want To:

Having monitored reactions to this story on Twitter and Facebook as closely as anyone possible could have, I honestly don’t think that I saw even one person significantly change their position once the initial battle lines were drawn, which was well before we had any real facts. Everything is about what tribe you are in, not what the truth is. In fact, every tribe now has their own “truth,” which is usually totally inconsistent with the “truth” that the other tribes have settled on mostly because it makes them feel better about themselves.

Charles Grassley and Dianne Feinstein Should Not be Running the Judiciary Committee:

They are both clearly way too old (both of them are 85 years old…85!!) for such important positions and both made numerous mistakes which helped turn this whole thing into an utter clusterfark.

Ronan Farrow Exposed Himself as a Liberal Activist:

Before this story, Farrow was considered to be a non-political crusader for #MeToo justice. Now, to at least 40% of the population, he is nothing more than an activist for a liberal cause who is willing to throw away all normal journalistic standards to try to take out a conservative Supreme Court nominee by openly cheerleading a 35 year-old accusation with no witnesses, which has every indication of being, at best, an urban legend.

Michael Avenatti Jumped the Shark:

If we lived in a rational world, Avenatti’s presidential hopes would be officially DOA and he would never even be allowed on television again after facilitating Swetnick’s “alien abduction” level lie against Kavanaugh.

Trump’s Biggest Critics on Russia Lost a Lot of Credibility:

Before this story I was about 80% sure that Trump was going to found guilty of serious wrongdoing in the Russia investigation. But after seeing almost every single one of the biggest champions of this scenario be completely duped by total bullcrap about Kavanaugh, I am now back down to about 50% certainty and dropping.

Never Trump Conservatives Raised Questions About Their True Motives:

As a “Never Trump” conservative it never even occurred to me that whether Kavanaugh was guilty of sexual assault, and whether he should be defended, was an issue related to my position on Trump. I was shocked to realize that I was one of the only commentators in this category to not look at it this way. Almost all of them took stances which just happened to coincide with something their new liberal friends would “respect,” with Jennifer Rubin, the “conservative” columnist at The Washington Post, being by far the worst offender.

All of this is Exactly Why Trump Won, and May Do So Again:

As a general rule, the more politically correct the media and the Democrats are, the better it is for President Trump. With Trump being able to declare another victory over political correctness and the liberal media, while also bringing some Republicans back into the fold after they were horrified to watch what the left was trying to do, this was a very good episode for him politically (though it may not matter, or even help at all, come November).

We Really Need Divided Government Right Now:

I have written before that it is vital for Democrats to take control over the House of Representatives so that there can be real oversight on the Trump administration and he can be impeached if warranted. While I stand by that, this Kavanaugh episode has convinced me that the Democrats just simply cannot be trusted with control over both chambers of Congress. When nearly everyone in Washington is pathetic, it is clearly best for total gridlock to win out. Hopefully, this kind of House/Senate split will be the result in November.

John Ziegler hosts a weekly podcast focusing on news media issues and is documentary filmmaker. You can follow him on Twitter at @ZigManFreud  or email him at johnz@mediaite.com

[Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.