Almost half of white evangelicals don’t give a shit if Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted someone

Just hours after being confirmed by the Senate as the 114th Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts in a private ceremony. According to Fox News, the ceremonial swearing in will take place this Monday evening at the White House. Kavanaugh will begin hearing cases before the court on Tuesday.

On the heels of a week-long FBI investigation into the sexual assault accusations leveled against him by Christine Blasey Ford, the Senate voted 50-48 to confirm Kavanaugh, mostly along party lines. While most would agree that something happened between Ford and Kavanaugh on that night at a house party back in the 1980s, the alleged incident still amounts to her word against his, as no concrete witnesses have come forward to bolster her claims firsthand. Whether or not that’s the result of an inept FBI investigation is still up for debate, but either way, Kavanaugh will now be sitting on the Supreme Court.

On top of all this are credible claims that Kavanaugh lied during his testimony to the Senate on other matters.

Without knowing for sure what happened, it seems to me that Kavanaugh was an entitled kid who thought putting girls in sexually humiliating situations was funny, and he probably crossed a very serious line with Ford — and possibly others. Does an act like that from one’s youth mean the person should suffer the public backlash that Kavanaugh received? I’m not going to debate that here. But if a teenage Kavanaugh did indeed hold Ford down on a bed and put his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming, there should be accountability for that, and he should have opened himself to it.

That’s what I wanted from the Kavanaugh saga: accountability, along with the truth. As of now, we’re not going to get that, but I still give a shit, and it matters when I consider his character. However, there are a lot of people who don’t give a shit. And according to a poll sponsored in partnership with NPR and PBS NewsHour late last month, a lot of those people call themselves Christians.

When nearly 1,000 adults between September 22 and September 24 were asked if they would support Kavanaugh if the allegations from Christine Blasey Ford were true, nearly 60 percent of all respondents said Kavanaugh should not be confirmed. But among white evangelical Christians, just 36 percent said the allegations should disqualify him from becoming a Supreme Court justice if they are true.

Then there’s this: 46 percent of white evangelicals wanted Kavanaugh confirmed even if the allegations were true. So basically, who cares if he’s lying? Put him on the Supreme Court anyway. Another 16 percent weren’t sure.

Just 14 percent of white evangelicals were inclined to believe Ford’s accusation as opposed to the general public, of which 32 percent were likely to believe her. Ultimately, 45 percent of white evangelicals chose to believe Kavanaugh, compared to 26 percent of all respondents in the poll.

You can read the full results of the poll here.

So as the Kavanaugh saga (this part, anyway) comes to a close, once again we see the face of America’s “moral majority.” The Trump cult of personality demonstrated that evangelicals would gladly lay their principles at the alter of sacrifice while rewriting their biblical texts just to make sure he emerged unscathed. It should be no surprise that they were willing to apply that same standard to Kavanaugh.

Featured image via Twitter 

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.