Christine Blasey Ford testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)

Now that the spectacle of the Kavanaugh hearings, Part 2: “Tales From the Yearbook” are over, it becomes obvious that the Democrats have overplayed their #MeToo hand. In their zeal to derail the nomination of a highly qualified judge, they played to the lowest denominator and seemed swept up in the frenzy of that movement. Besides the ruination of the reputation of Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Ford, they may have inadvertently decimated the #MeToo movement.

That movement began as a celebrity hashtag but was actually coined by a sexual assault survivor in 1997 (Tarana Burke). In its original incarnation, it was a movement about sexual assault and violence. In its current incarnation, it has morphed into a huge tent. It is no longer about the victims of sexual violence, but now encompasses pay disparities, power structures, whisper networks, and the nature of “consent.” Other than anger about just about everything (but mainly Trump), the Women’s March was an amalgamation of disparate feminist beliefs.

By being about everything, in essence, it is about nothing. The unfortunate side effect is that the original goal, which was about discussing sexual violence, has become an afterthought.

As this latest round of the Kavanaugh hearings shows, reason, argument and even the law are outmoded. It has become an orgy of outrage. All men are nasty predators and the accuser is to believed no matter how preposterous, unsubstantiated,or uncorroborated the accusation is, witnesses to the contrary be damned.

And if all men are nasty predators who carry a presumption of guilt, that makes all women victims. The feminist of old would cringe if alive today to see their gender relegated back to the role of victim…by women themselves.

What we witnessed these past two weeks or so with Kavanaugh is what has been happening on college campuses over the past few years. In the name of justice, those accused are denied due process in kangaroo college administrative hearings where they are presumed guilty simply by carrying the Y chromosome. Awkward advances and clumsy moves are now defined as sexual assault. Sexual assault is not some guy coming onto you and proclaiming it over Facebook does not make it so. Neither is “abuse” regret after the fact.

Democrats treat unsubstantiated rumors and accusations as the Gospel truth when it does not concern their own. I’m thinking of people like Keith Ellison, John Conyers, and Al Franken. The sketchy accusations against Kavanaugh may serve a political purpose now, but they are actually imperiling the original MeToo movement’s goals.

Instead, the issue of sexual violence has been turned into a political values test whereby the Left is “good” and all others “bad.” By doing this, the Democrats have alienated half the country. While they virtue signal one another over the issue, the other half stands bewildered thinking “what the hell?” By placing the blame on “manliness” or the “boys will be boys” attitude- or, “toxic masculinity” as they have named it- they not only aim to weaken men, but that have politically divided women. Strong conservative women are now considered “enablers” of bad behavior in men.

By politically weaponizing the MeToo movement, the Left has alienated not only men who must be partners in any discussion of sexual violence, but also many women have been alienated.

Unfortunately, there are true victims in this whole, sad escapade in attempt to take down the ultimate prize head. They are the true victims of sexual assault. After her testimony, this writer believes that Christine Ford was the victim of an attempted assault that she may have stored away in her unconscious for decades. I am also equally convinced her attacker was not Brett Kavanaugh.

What is a legitimate concern now (sexual violence) and a legitimate movement in 1997 (MeToo) has transformed into the mob gang raping a Supreme Court nominee in 2018. The true victims of sexual violence are collateral damage.