Those who defend Trump, those who defend Kavanaugh, those who make excuses for despicable behavior can't fathom that sexual abuse no longer will be tolerated. That is why the Republicans dig in. That is why Trump stands by his man. That is why Kavanaugh and his defenders cast him as the victim. Because sexual abuse was supposed to be okay, particularly when it is directed at women. Trump got away with it, so why shouldn't Kavanaugh? Why shouldn't all men who abuse women?

This moment in history is about so much more than Kavanaugh and Trump, it is about fundamental human relations. It is about fundamental humanity. It is about whether or not human beings can stake a claim to having a fundamental sense of humanity and a fundamental sense of dignity. And the Republicans are failing. They are flailing. The are the last desperate vestiges of a dying ethos. Of course they are going to fight with all they have. Of course they are going to fight by any and all means.

With Kavanaugh, the Republicans gaslight as if no one is aware of the facts. They decry what they deem as obstruction of a Supreme Court nominee's presumed easy path to confirmation. All Democrats are asking is for a full investigation of the allegations of sexual abuse by Kavanaugh, which the Republicans refuse, just as they refused to allow Democrats to have access to the documented records of Kavanaugh's previous political activities.

Republicans say Kavanaugh's accusers are lying, even though it is the accusers who are asking for an FBI investigation, and it is the Republicans who are refusing one. As if liars normally ask to be investigated. As if innocent white men normally need fear being investigated for something about which they are innocent. Of course, Republicans failed to give President Obama's nominee Merrick Garland even a hearing, much less a vote, and all he ever was accused of was being nominated by a black Democrat.

When people have no fundamental sense of humanity and no fundamental sense of dignity all options are open. That is what we are witnessing. Republicans are destroying democracy through gerrymandering and voter disenfranchisement. Republicans are refusing to protect the voting process itself from foreign interference we know has happened and is happening still. Republicans are more and more openly racist and bigoted. Republicans are overtly enacting class warfare. And Republicans are normalizing even brutally explicit misogyny. They have laid themselves bare. This is who they are. This is where they are taking a stand. This is where they stand exposed for all to see.

None of this should be a surprise. False equivalencies will proliferate in the intellectually and morally vacuous media, but this is not about partisan warfare. This is about an asymmetric war that has been built into political, economic, social, and cultural structures, but that is crumbling amidst a rising to consciousness that has slowly, steadily come to define not only the progressive movement but the evolution of humanity itself. It is redefining what it is to be human. It aspires toward inclusiveness, diversity, fairness, empathy, and compassion. And it thus threatens everything for which the Republican Party stands.

To repeat: This moment is a historic tipping point. The Republicans are fighting the inevitable tide of history itself. That is why they are trying to destroy the very existence of democracy and republic. But they cannot win. Demographic trends and the inherent pace of evolution ensure it. The only question is how much damage they can do as they try to burn the world down with them.