Reprinted with permission from Shareblue.

Trump’s wild claim that allegations of sexual assault against his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, represent an elaborate Democratic “con job” were demolished on Thursday during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

There, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford spoke for the first time in public about being sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh in high school.

She detailed how the attempted rape when she was 15 years old had “haunted” her for decades.

“She comes across as very credible,” noted CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, echoing a widespread media observation made throughout the morning as Ford testified, and then confidently and clearly answered questions for hours.

Ford completely undercut any suggestion that she wasn’t a believable accuser, or that she was part of some staged plot to go after Kavanaugh.

Her testimony appeared gripping, and that’s bad news for Trump.

Last week, he ridiculed Ford and her family, suggesting, “If the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents.”

He compared Ford’s allegations to the ongoing Russia investigation, dismissing them both as a “witch hunt.” He warned that Democrats were trying to “make up a lot of stuff” about Kavanaugh.

Trump also stressed it was “very hard for me to imagine that anything happened” regarding the allegations against Kavanaugh.

This week, as more accusers stepped forward to level charges against Kavanaugh, Trump escalated the rhetoric during a combative press conference. He painted Kavanaugh as the target of a far-flung Democratic conspiracy, announcing the allegations against him were “all false to me.”

“They know it’s a big fat con job,” Trump said of Democrats as they pursued the truth about the Kavanaugh allegations. “They laugh like hell at what they pulled off on you and the public.”

Trump may be doubly agitating now because he’s been reportedly unhappy with how his aides have been handling the Kavanaugh confirmation process.

“Behind the scenes, Trump has sought to take the reins of the narrative, disappointed that neither Kavanaugh nor congressional Republicans have been able to put the allegations to rest,” CNN reports.

As the Kavanaugh debacle expands, Trump has only himself to blame.

Published with permission of The American Independent.