At the CPAC panel titled, “#UsToo: Left Out by the Left,” a panelist named Mona Charen took the Republican Party to task for its morally repulsive support of Donald Trump and Roy Moore. And because this was CPAC, that means the attendees shouted, “Witch hunt!” and booed her, and she was escorted out by three security guards for her protection.
Yet again, the right doesn’t even try to hide its contempt for women.
The panel was moderated by Marji Ross, and it included Charen, a conservative writer; Kelsey Harkness of the Daily Signal; and Ashley McGuire of the Catholic Assocation. The first half of the panel went depressingly as expected, according to The Slot‘s summary: “the panelists talked about Planned Parenthood, complained that anti-abortion women had been ostracized by the Women’s March and had feminism stolen from them.”
However, after about 30 minutes, moderator Ross asked the panelists: “When you think of the feminist movement today, what really makes your blood boil?”
Harkness spoke about the left’s supposed “silence” on female genital mutilation (?) and “abortion, which is actually killing women in the womb.” McGuire complained, “Nothing has been worse than women for abortion.” [Emphasis mine, to highlight what I find a truly ludicrous reading of world history.]
“I agree with everything my fellow panelists have said,” Charen began, “…But I’m actually gonna twist this around a bit and say that I’m disappointed in people on our side, for being hypocrites about sexual harassers and abusers of women who are in our party. Who are sitting in the White House. Who brag about their extramarital affairs. Who brag about mistreating women. And because he happens to have an ‘R’ after his name, we look the other way, we don’t complain.”
She continued: “This is a party that was ready to endorse — the Republican Party endorsed Roy Moore for the Senate in the state of Alabama, even though he was a credibly accused child molester. You can not claim that you stand for women”—here, CPAC attendees began shouting, “Not true! Not true!”—”and put up with that.”
A person in the audience shouted, “It’s a witch hunt!”
Ross weirdly seemed to agree with the heckler, saying, “And there are many.” She then pivoted to another question.
Charen also criticized CPAC for inviting Marine Le Pen. “The Le Pen name is a disgrace,” she said. “Her grandfather is a racist and a Nazi. She claims that she stands for him. And the fact that CPAC invited her is a disgrace.”
Again, the audience aggressively booed.
Ross then closed the panel with this question: “Let’s figure out what we can do to help [young conservative women], to equip them, to feel a pro-woman agenda coming from us, coming from conservatives. What does that look like?”
Charen returned to her earlier point. “If we want an audience with young people, we have to separate ourselves from the men on our side who have behaved atrociously toward women. They won’t listen to us until we do.” The audience clapped loudly for that idea, which seemed to suggest that their hostility had waned.
However, according to Politico reporter Tim Alberta, Charen had to be “escorted outside by 3 security guards” after the panel. “They were protecting her,” Alberta tweeted, “not removing her.”
Mona Charen, who stunned #CPAC by rebuking conservatives for excusing the behavior of Donald Trump and Roy Moore, was just escorted outside by 3 security guards after her speech. More in @POLITICOMag story later.
— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) February 24, 2018
To clarify: they were protecting her, not removing her
— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) February 24, 2018
Charen herself, I was at least glad to hear, did not feel threatened. In his follow-up article, Alberta wrote that she texted him afterwards: “They were acting as if I were in real danger, which I didn’t feel at all.”
Charen also stood by her statements. “There are a huge number of conservatives who feel as I do,” she said. “And I just felt it was important that people at this conference here from us, too … There are still good people at CPAC. Very good people. But it’s important to draw a line.”
Now, let’s be clear. I am not saying Mona Charen is some feminist hero. She’s appearing at CPAC, for Christ’s sake. She’s written books with titles like Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense, which share some of their talking points with James Damore’s infamous anti-diversity memo. In this very panel, she said she agreed with a fellow panelist who claimed, “Nothing has been worse than women for abortion.” Now, she did sign the National Review‘s “Never Trump” letter by reminding readers, “When a con man swindles you, you can sue … When you elect a con man, there’s no recourse.” And she has retweeted calls for the right to stop conspiracy-mongering. But on the whole, her vision for the future of women in America strikes me as deeply restrictive and regressive.
But in this moment, Charen did something brave and decent. It is hard to call out your political allies, knowing you may be viewed as some sort of traitor, and to do so anyway requires courage and conviction. Charen reminded her party how they had failed women, and how they must do better.
And how did her garbage, regressive, nightmare party respond? They booed and shouted at her for it. The Republican party could not be clearer about its contempt for women’s safety, dignity, and voices. So why are women like Charen so loyal to a movement which does not respect their humanity?
(Via The Slot and Vox; image: screengrab)
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