OPINION

'Conservatives are left playing catch-up because a few foolish internet trolls decided to smear a good man,' says Brad Polumbo.

USA TODAY

A Michigan man claims he became an unwitting participant in a plot by right-wing provocateurs Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to smear Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.

This is a boost for Buttigieg

By Brad Polumbo

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg is becoming a serious contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. He has recently surged in the polls, so it's no surprise some far-right Trump supporters are starting to see him as a threat.

As it turns out, infamous far-right conspiracy theorists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman were behind the sexual assault allegation against Buttigieg that went viral on Monday. Fairly quickly, it was proved false. Wohl and Burkman wanted to take down Buttigieg — they saw him as a "terminal threat" to President Donald Trump. But their messy stunt did nothing but set the conservative movement back.

Ask your friends and family to sign-up for the Today's Talker newsletter

It began with a viral post on the blogging website Medium, allegedly written by a 21-year-old gay man named Hunter Kelly. The article was entitled "Pete Buttigieg Sexually Assaulted Me." Although it was deleted after about 24 hours, the post quickly drew attention due to the explosive allegations it contained:

"I was sexually assaulted by Mayor Pete Buttigieg. I didn't know who he was back in February, only that he told me he was an important politician. When I started seeing him on television three weeks ago as a Presidential candidate, I thought about coming forward."

Charlie Neibergall, AP

There were red flags from the onset. The timing of this post, for one thing, was suspicious — it came out as Buttigieg has been having a surge in national popularity. "Hunter Kelly's" social media and Medium accounts were all just recently created, too, and his allegations included no specifics or verifiable details.

When investigative reporters from The Daily Beast looked into the claims against Buttigieg, the details unraveled. USA TODAY reporters also contacted Hunter Kelly, who had written in a Facebook post that he was not sexually assaulted, and said that he "was incredibly uncomfortable and not on board with (Wohl and Burkman's) plan." Someone else, he said, had created and had control of the account that posted the fabricated story.

Politics aside, everyone who jumped to the worst conclusion owes Mayor Pete a serious apology.

Even so, conservatives were just dealt a blow for no good reason. For one thing, this hoax gives Mayor Pete a major boost. Serious and due criticisms of Buttigieg — whether it's over his support for late-term abortion or flirtation with the socialist Green New Deal — are now overshadowed by his triumphant emergence from this fake narrative. Indeed, Wohl and Burkman likely helped Mayor Pete on his way to defeating Trump.

Unfortunately, this hoax also undermines the conservative movement's own credibility when it comes to the national debate over how to best handle sexual assault allegations against public figures. Most mainstream conservatives denounce Wohl and his antics, but many people will now have the greasy grifter in mind when they think of conservatives and sexual assault. Some on the left will inevitably try to cast undue blame on the entirety of the right.

This is truly a shame. In the age of #MeToo, where controversies like the charges against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh claim headlines, conservatives have been the ones standing up for due process and the rights of the accused. But any association with rape hoaxers, no matter how distant, provides weight to the otherwise baseless attacks that the right doesn't care about survivors or take assault seriously. Now, conservatives are left playing catch-up, all because a few foolish internet trolls decide to smear a good man, rather than challenge his politics honestly.

Brad Polumbo is an editor at the libertarian media nonprofit Young Voices. You can follow him on Twitter: @Brad_Polumbo.

Bruce Plante/Tulsa (Oklahoma) World/PoliticalCartoons.com

What others are saying

Hunter Kelly, Facebook: "I was not sexually assaulted. It's important for everyone to know that I was not sexually assaulted and would never falsely accuse anyone. To keep it brief for now, I was approached by a political figure to come to Washington, D.C., to discuss political situations from the standpoint of a gay Republican. When I arrived, they discussed Peter Buttigieg and started talking about how they would be working a campaign against him. I went to bed and woke up to a fake Twitter @RealHunterKelly, and an article that I in no way endorsed or wrote. I have since left and am working on a formal statement to give to everyone, including the Buttigieg family. Thank you for standing behind me and knowing that I would never accept or allow any of this."

Erick Erickson, Twitter: "Conservatives, you just defended Kavanaugh over a smear campaign. Do not now smear Buttigieg with salacious smears and no evidence."

Charlotte Clymer, Twitter: "This appears to be an aggressively homophobic, disgusting attack on Buttigieg. And it is yet another reason that folks would do well to recognize how this historic candidate and his family face myriad instances of vile bigotry. We do not live in a post-homophobic society."

What our readers are saying

I'm not the least bit surprised that far right provocateurs went after Buttigieg. I think everyone expects more of this kind of smear job against him. Buttigieg's success has caught a bunch of evil right-wingers by surprise, and they feel threatened in the worst way.

— Gary Douglas

What about the Democratic National Committee, the mainstream news media, the Democratic Party and the RINOs (Republicans in name only) all trying to smear or discredit President Donald Trump on a daily basis? Right, not a word.

— Rick Roscoe

It is starting already. This will be the most dirty, vicious race waged by Republicans and their supporters. There will be no way to ferret out the lies from the truth, and we will become immune to all of it. This election cycle will turn off most of America. It is going to be horrible. Not just for Mayor Pete but for everyone involved. Trump has allowed the fringe of our society, the loose cannons, the morally unjust, the prejudicial all feel accepted. The nut cases in American all thrive under Trump, and now they will all be doing their stuff.

— Barry Norman