Trigger Warning: This post discusses, in detail, credible rape accusations.

Last Revised: March 29, 2020

Joe Biden has had a long history of inappropriately touching women and girls, as well as making misogynistic comments about their looks. He even had the audacity to joke about sexual harassment after a wave of women came forward with their accusations against the former vice president.

However, the media seemed to forget about this controversy, treating him with kid gloves throughout the primary season and helping to bolster the narrative that he is the de-facto Democratic nominee, granting him millions upon millions of dollars worth of positive airtime after the political establishment coalesced around him to try and stop Senator Bernie Sanders from winning the nomination.

As the corporate media and establishment Democrats continue telling us that Biden is the official nominee, even though the Democratic National Convention isn’t for another several months, a new allegation has been levied at the former vice president:

Joe Biden has been credibly accused of rape.

The allegation comes from Tara Reade, a former member of Biden’s Senate staff. Reade unveiled last year that she was a victim of Biden’s sexual harassment in the early 1990's, however, she declined to provide further detail due to the attacks she sustained as a result of telling a part of her story. Conspiracy theorists were even conjuring up fake stories about Reade being a Russian asset.

More recently, Reade decided that it was time for her to tell the full story. She sought the assistance of Time’s Up, a #MeToo organization that provides support for sexual assault victims, however, they declined to represent her because her accusation was against a federal candidate for office, thus allegedly threatening their non-profit status. Of course, not only does this excuse hold no merit, but it seems like an obvious attempt to protect Biden. After all, Anita Dunn, one of Biden’s campaign advisers, is also involved with Time’s Up as the managing director of SKDKnickerbocker, the organization’s public relations firm.

Shortly after The Intercept unveiled these details, Reade appeared on Katie Halper’s podcast, and then, later, The Hill’s Rising with Krystal and Saagar, to describe, in scathing detail, the accusation that she was pressed against a wall and sexually penetrated by the politician. Biden went on to kiss her before asking to “go somewhere else”. After refusing his advances, Biden said, “Come on, man. I heard you liked me,” before telling her that she was “nothing” to him.

Here is a snippet of the interview with Halper (the full interview can be found here):

And here is Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti’s interview:

Some may argue that we should not take this accusation seriously due to the lack of evidence. We should consider the fact, though, that her accusations are not being made in a vacuum. Reade’s brother, Collin Moulton, as well as a separate individual have corroborated the account.

Moreover, we should note that the vast majority of rape accusations are not fake. Studies have shown that only between 2–10 percent of accusations are falsely reported. When you couple this with the fact that rape accusers, especially those who go after powerful individuals, often see ridicule, threats to their lives and families, and negative career ramifications, we find that it is far more likely for a woman to not report the rape than for a rape accusation to be false. For example, we saw death threats aimed at Christine Blasey Ford, who credibly accused Brett Kavanaugh of rape before he was successfully placed on the Supreme Court by misogynistic Republicans in the Senate, and even Reade herself was professionally penalized when she filed harassment complaints in the early 1990s against Biden by essentially being blacklisted from working in Washington, D.C.

Finally, we need to assess Reade’s accusations in the context of Biden’s behaviors. As previously mentioned, Biden has a long track record of inappropriately touching women and girls, making sexist comments about their appearances, and joking about consent. Is it really not surprising that someone who has repeatedly degraded women physically would also be guilty of sexual assault?

Where is the mainstream media? The Intercept originally wrote about Reade’s experience with Time’s Up two days ago, a clip of her interview with Halper was released yesterday, and she was interviewed on Rising this morning. Based on my review of various news sites, it seems like the only places that are actually covering Biden’s rape accusation are either a few select progressive publications or right-wing websites, such as The Daily Wire and The Blaze.

The latter is not surprising; even though they rally behind a president who has been credibly accused of sexually assaulting numerous women over his career, his MAGA hat-wearing supporters and right-wing media pundits simply do not care. They only care about protecting the president, even if that means running with a story about Biden that accuses him of the very behavior that Trump himself has also been accused of. They’ll run with anything that has the potential to benefit Trump.

Where is the #MeToo movement? Where are the high-profile feminists who argue that we ought to believe women? Where are the liberals who allegedly purport to care so much about domestic violence and sexual assault victims?

Unfortunately, if this story tells us anything, it is that political party loyalism takes precedence over any semblance of ethics. When grotesque womanizers like Harvey Weinstein received justice, the #MeToo movement was ecstatic. Similarly, when conservatives, such as Kavanaugh, were accused of such behaviors, they were rightfully lambasted by progressives.

Where is the outrage over Biden, though? Why are Democrats ignoring Reade’s story?

If anything, this fundamentally proves that much of the “woke” members of the progressive feminist movement only take action when it is politically convenient to do so.

A disgusting Hollywood executive? A Republican politician? A conservative Supreme Court nominee? Of course we’ll aggressively go after them and praise the victim for coming forward! An establishment Democrat who wields tremendous power? Well, of course not! We care too much about our own reputations to go after our own side.

Time will tell if the mainstream media will allow Biden to get away with this horrendous act without being held accountable. They certainly did when he blatantly lied about his record during the last Democratic debate, so what makes us think that they’ll do their jobs and hold him accountable this time?

In either case, for those of us who know the truth and refuse to succumb to cognitive dissonance, we should openly believe Tara Reade and call Biden out for what he truly is:

A rapist.