Republicans think they have found a political winner in labeling last week's wave of protesters led by sexual assault survivors as an "angry mob" of "screamers."
It's a tactic aimed at demonizing victims and turning them into monsters, feeding an ‘us vs. them’ mentality. And while some GOP voters will buy into the characterization, it also fundamentally misunderstands the nature of the #MeToo movement and how it derives its power.
The movement of people who have been sexually harassed or assaulted and have rarely or never spoken of it is built upon the power of strangers finding out for the first time that they're not alone, not even close. They discover they have a shared history with millions of people, most of whom have very divergent backgrounds from them. The identity that survivors are presently developing around their shared histories is horizontal in nature, formed by experiential bonds. It's different from a vertical identity that is passed down to one by their ancestors, such as race, religion, or culture.
The diversity of those who identify as survivors will make them far more difficult to other-ize as a “mob” because they will exist among a wide swath people of differing races, ethnicities, religions, socioeconomic groups, genders, and even political parties. This phenomenon is partly how the LGBTQ movement—despite only accounting for around 3 to 6 percent of the nation—managed to derive a great deal of sympathy and thus political power. As LGBTQ folks "came out" in kitchen table conversations across the country, millions of unsuspecting Americans learned for the first time that they knew someone who was lesbian, gay, or transgender. That revelation made it difficult for Republicans to vilify LGBTQ Americans over the long haul, even if it energized their base for a handful of years.
Those same types of conversations are now taking place among sexual assault survivors and their families and friends, with many more survivors still considering how and when they might share their experience with loved ones.
One of the survivors who most recently revealed her history to her family was Ana Maria Archila, one of two women who confronted Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake before an impending vote to advance Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination. After video of the exchange went viral, Archila’s father texted her, writing: “I’m so sorry for not being able to protect you."
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Archila's father, and millions like him, aren't going to believe for a second that their daughters and sisters and mothers are members of an “angry mob" trying to wreak havoc on the country. Precisely because survivors exist in nearly every demographic in this country, Republicans will have a particularly difficult time mobilizing enough voters to believe these fear-mongering smears. In this sense, survivors will face one less hurdle than LGBTQ people did in shifting public opinion because their revelation will not fundamentally change how their loved ones understand them, other than the fact that they were victims of something horrible. Of course, this is not to suggest that any of these conversations will be easy.
Sure, the same Trump voters who are hermetically sealed from reality will go for the “mob” charge, but it's not a message that will sell broadly or win any crossover votes. And the more survivors who come out over the next several years, the less potent the smear will be. Certainly, there’s a contingent of the GOP base, men especially, who are activated by the message of white-male victimhood that Trump and Republicans are selling them. Whether that’s enough to save them from an electoral rout in a month remains to be seen.
In the meantime, every time Trump belittles Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and derides the “angry mob” of women who were inspired by her courageous testimony, he is inflaming a movement of people who are just now discovering the power of both their numbers and their shared experience. In fact, the latest CNN poll showed Democrats had a 30-point advantage among women in the generic ballot, while Republicans only hold only a 5-point advantage with men. That’s not a formula for success at the polls.
