Content warning: descriptions of sexual assault

About one year ago, lawyer and former Democratic politician Lucy Flores came forward with testimony regarding a 2014 incident during which then-Vice President Joe Biden behaved in an unwelcome and unexpected manner. According to Flores, Biden put his hands on her shoulders, smelled her hair, and “plant[ed] a big slow kiss on the back of [her] head.” This disturbing account was far from the first of its kind. In total, the former vice president has been accused of inappropriate conduct by eight women.

When Biden announced his 2020 presidential candidacy last April, his history of misconduct was afforded renewed time in the spotlight. In attempt to mitigate a PR disaster, the Biden campaign issued a video response to concerns over his physical transgressions.

“Social norms have begun to change. They’ve shifted,” Biden said in the video. “I hear what they are saying. I understand.”

Despite Biden’s subsequent non-apology for the incident with Flores, the Biden campaign has taken active steps to sanitize his public image with Democratic voters. This strategy has included welcoming more women into the ranks of his campaign staff and promising to prioritize women in his prospective administration. As Associated Press reporter Bill Barrow explained:

“Biden has highlighted that women are leaders on his campaign and assured voters they would remain so in his White House. He pledged days before the South Carolina primary to make a black woman his first Supreme Court nominee. After taking complete command of the nominating fight over subsequent weeks, he named Democratic operative Jen O’Malley Dillon as his campaign manager and promised to select a woman as his running mate.”

Biden’s team also includes Anita Dunn, a former Obama advisor who assisted Harvey Weinstein with damage control after he was investigated for his questionable role in a 2015 AIDS charity fund-raiser. Dunn was promoted in February.

Although Biden currently holds a commanding delegate lead in the Democratic primaries, the newest revelation in this unsavory saga may be too much for Biden’s third presidential bid to survive. On March 24, The Intercept revealed that the non-profit women’s advocacy organization Time’s Up said it could not fund an allegation against Biden made by Tara Reade. Reade, who has accused Biden of unwanted touching, was a staff assistant to Biden during his time as a Delaware senator in the early 1990s. A representative of an associated organization explained that, “As a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, the National Women’s Law Center is restricted in how it can spend its funds, including restrictions that pertain to candidates running for election.”

Shortly after this report was released, journalist Katie Halper posted a recent interview she had conducted with Reade. In this gut-wrenching account, Reade revealed visceral details of a specific encounter she had with Biden in 1993. According to Reade, she and Biden were alone when the former vice president beckoned her toward him. Suddenly, Reade found herself pressed against a wall as the assailant “went down [her] skirt” and “penetrated [her] with his fingers.” After pulling away and refusing his advances, Reade then recalled him saying, “You’re nothing to me.”

In the wake of this harrowing testimony, those who adhere to the mantra “believe women” must now believe that Joe Biden is a sexual predator and a rapist — traits shared by the current occupant of the Oval Office. When then-presidential candidate Donald Trump was asked about an audio recording that captured him bragging about grabbing women “by the pussy,” the sleazy New York real estate mogul shrugged it off as “locker room talk.”

What’s Joe Biden’s excuse?