Ever since this story resurfaced of Justin Trudeau allegedly groping a young reporter back in August of 2000 Liberal supporters have been busy trying to explain it all away.
It doesn’t matter that the editorial that started it all includes a quote from Trudeau saying, “If I had known you were reporting for a national paper, I never would have been so forward.”
To Liberal supporters, none of this matters.
This is when partisanship, blind partisanship, becomes truly problematic.
Now that Trudeau has been asked about this by a local reporter in Regina and has given a weak answer, some will say it is a closed case.
“I remember that day in Creston well. It was an Avalanche Foundation event to support avalanche safety. I had a good day that day. I don’t remember any negative interactions that day at all,” Trudeau said on July 1.
Not quite, there is a lot more to be asked of the PM, not that I have faith in the media to actually do their jobs.
In the meantime, here is my take on the most common arguments I get from people that want this story to not hurt Trudeau.
It was 18 years ago in 2000.
Tell that to Matt Lauer. The former Today Show host was fired for a series of stories about sexual impropriety including that of his affair with Annie Collins, a young staffer who began a relationship with Lauer under pressure in July of 2000. That was a month before Trudeau’s incident.
No other women have come forward.
This argument is used to say that if there was a pattern with Trudeau we would have heard about it by now but because we haven’t, there is some smoke but no fire. Given what we know about CBC sitting on this story for months, what is to say that other stories are not out there? How many more stories have been quashed by CBC or other media outlets that would have brought down other politicial leaders?
Given how the media have covered for Trudeau on this, I don’t trust anyone else on this file.
He was only 28!
I don’t get this argument but it is shouted at me. At 28 you are a grown ass adult and should know better. You aren’t 17 and trying to make moves on a girl for the first time. Just for the record, the allegations that brought down Patrick Brown as leader of the Ontario PC Party happened around the time he was 28 and no one gave him the benefit of the doubt based off his age.
She won’t come forward.
I keep hearing that unless the woman comes forward now, this is a non-story. Trudeau doesn’t need to be asked. Well, she came forward in 2000 and not many people cared or noticed at the time. That is a shame.
At this point she doesn’t want to come forward. She is married, has a family and as Warren Kinsella points out without expanding on it, she works in a federally regulated industry. Why would she come forward? Hell for her, hell for her family and problems for her employer.
I reached out to the woman in question before writing on this and she doesn’t want to talk. I respect that. My issue has been with Trudeau not holding himself to his own standard.
With his statement, Trudeau is saying that he doesn’t believe his accuser. She is a liar, he is to be believed.
There are no other accusers.
We now know that CBC knew about this story, had even spoken to and emailed with the woman in question and did nothing about it. If the state broadcaster will do this on one story then they will surely do it on another. How many other stories has CBC sat on?
What about other media outlets? We know Trudeau gets a treatment not afforded any other leader. So are there other stories that CBC or other outlets know about? Stories that they have decided are not worthy of the public knowing about?
Given what I know now, my unfortunate answer is yes.
I find her very credible given that the incident was reported immediately at the time of the incident and Trudeau’s non-apology implies that he wouldn’t have ‘violated her boundaries’ if he knew she would tell someone about it. That doesn’t sound like a one-off. I don’t blame this woman for not coming forward a second time. She is smart enough to know that the PMO and their media chumps would go to the wall to defend Trudeau. Trudeau is very lucky that she has decided that her family and private life comes first. Otherwise, there would probably be other reports of this kind. It only takes one credible person to open the door for others. I’ve always found Trudeau’s ‘feminism’ to be somewhat suspect. Get out there first and say you are a ‘feminist’ and who can gainsay it.
“My issue has been with Trudeau not holding himself to his own standard. With his statement, Trudeau is saying that he doesn’t believe his accuser. She is a liar, he is to be believed.”
That’s it right there. That is the gross hypocrisy the PM’s supporters are displaying (as well as the PM himself).