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A Senior Republican Senator Was Just Caught on Video Dismissing Sexual Assault Survivors in the Most Juvenile Way
Awful.
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) demonstrated his respect for women Thursday afternoon by shooing away survivors of sexual assault and telling them to "grow up."
Hatch's stunning dismissal of concerned women occurred as he was waiting for an elevator in the Capitol. Several women were attempting to ask the 84-year-old Republican why he won't listen to women.
"Why aren't you brave enough to talk to us and exchange with us?" one woman can be heard saying. Hatch waved his hand as if to shoo the woman away.
It did not go well.
"Don't you wave your hand at me," the same woman fired back. "I wave my hand at you."
Hatch then crowed, "when you grow up I'll be ready" as he slithered into an elevator.
The women in the crowd were not pleased. "How dare you talk to women that way?" the most vocal of them shouted. "How dare you dismiss women?"
Another woman called Hatch a "f*cking old piece of sh*t" as he smugly smiled and made another shooing motion with his hands.
Watch the jarring encounter below:
Classy @OrrinHatch telling a group of survivors to “grow up” while he literally shoos them away with his hand. https://t.co/MGEf0OSkWy— Scott Hechinger (@Scott Hechinger) 1538683458.0
Social media blew up over the staggeringly disrespectful display, however, Hatch's behavior didn't really come as a shock to anyone.
Fuck you @OrrinHatch - you don’t deserve an ounce of respect. I don’t care how old you are or what position you hol… https://t.co/tQuYfR5NcE— Kathy Griffin (@Kathy Griffin) 1538686105.0
vote them all out https://t.co/282Ejstlhl— Oliver Willis (@Oliver Willis) 1538684549.0
@ScottHech @mattwilstein @OrrinHatch Being sexually assaulted makes people grow up. It takes away an innocence they never get back.— Sumi Folz (@Sumi Folz) 1538684941.0
@ScottHech @OrrinHatch Not surprising in the least— Coffeelvr717 (@Coffeelvr717) 1538683663.0
@ScottHech @OrrinHatch Disgusting. But not surprising— Coffeelvr717 (@Coffeelvr717) 1538684367.0
@ScottHech @OrrinHatch Patronizing old white male who is a symbol of the shift in this long obsolete paradigm. We… https://t.co/9esoR9Da0z— Agnes Moorehead 🆘🗽 (@Agnes Moorehead 🆘🗽) 1538685252.0
@ScottHech @OrrinHatch The man mockingly waving in the elevator and telling people to "grow up" in this video also… https://t.co/DgPWqtgeDJ— BHodges🎙 (@BHodges🎙) 1538685450.0
@ScottHech @OrrinHatch He's an 85 year old child— Paradigmeyes (@Paradigmeyes) 1538684997.0
@ScottHech @OrrinHatch Senator Hatch , you’re a pig . An old white, withered , cruel , self serving , insensitive,… https://t.co/qvsQRTIHYZ— Charlie Adler (@Charlie Adler) 1538685589.0
@ScottHech @OrrinHatch Drop dead, Orrin. Then burn in hell.— Charles Song (@Charles Song) 1538685042.0
@ScottHech @SharonCoryell3 @OrrinHatch Shame on Orrin Hatch, Mia Love, and Mike Lee.— 🔄¥ф‗Brewskeey‗ф¥🔄 (@🔄¥ф‗Brewskeey‗ф¥🔄) 1538686448.0
@ScottHech @OrrinHatch Time for a nice bolt of lightening to strike this washed up old man. Get on it God!— Cooptroop820 (@Cooptroop820) 1538685065.0
@ScottHech @SharonCoryell3 @OrrinHatch What a cold-hearted bastard.— Kathy Wagner (@Kathy Wagner) 1538686407.0
Hatch has been one of the most vocal critics of Julie Swetnick, who last month alleged that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was present while she was gang-raped at a house party in 1983. Swetnick is one of three women accusing Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct who have been all but dismissed and degraded by Senate Republicans.
Hatch launched a slut-shaming Twitter attack on Swetnick Tuesday afternoon after a man contacted his office with graphic details about Swetnick's sex life.
A Utah man named Dennis Ketterer reached out to the Hatch office this week with information about accuser Julie Swe… https://t.co/tJPNGXnDit— Senator Hatch Office (@Senator Hatch Office) 1538512982.0
On Thursday, the Salt Lake City Tribune published a scathing editorial calling Hatch's criticisms of Swetnick "despicable."
Hatch's treatment of Ford "is a textbook example of why more victims do not come forward," the Tribune wrote it its op-ed. "Worse, it betrays a positively medieval attitude toward all women as sex objects who cannot be believed or taken seriously."
The Tribune said that "Hatch and whoever else was behind this horrific attack clearly want" people to think Swetnick is fabricating her Kavanaugh story "because she never mentioned him to one short-term acquaintance," which the paper described as "irrational and absurd."
Hatch's home state paper said Hatch's visceral shaming of Swetnick and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh's first public accuser, shows why "victims of sexual abuse often do not discuss their experiences with those near and dear to them."
None of the sordid details have any "bearing on Kavanaugh’s fitness for the high court or on the accusations leveled by Swetnick, by Christine Blasey Ford or anyone else who has or will claim they have been attacked or, in Swetnick’s case, witnessed attacks on others," the paper added.
The editorial closed with a fiery takedown of Hatch and his Republican colleagues.
"What we now know for sure is that Hatch and others working for the Judiciary Committee have, without question, tried to slime one of Kavanaugh’s accusers in a way that is widely, and accurately, described as 'slut-shaming,'" the Tribune wrote. "Except it is Hatch and his allies who should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves."