The verified Facebook page for Republican Congressman Steve King’s re-election campaign posted a vile meme this week disparaging Christine Blasey Ford, the research psychologist who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her in the 1980s.
The meme, posted to King’s Facebook page on Wednesday, features a photo of Blasey wearing sunglasses. An edited version of the image next to it depicts Blasey with the sunglasses removed, revealing her to actually be Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate.
“I KNEW IT!” reads the accompanying text. “ah-HA!!! ,” King’s campaign wrote as the caption.
The meme appears to baselessly imply that Blasey’s very serious allegation of sexual assault — which she addressed in heartbreaking testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday — is part of some elaborate left-wing conspiracy.
Blasey made a credible accusation that when she was 15, a 17-year-old Kavanaugh pinned her to a bed and attempted to take off her clothes. She says when she tried to scream, Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth. She told senators that Kavanuagh and his friend Mark Judge laughed during the attack before she managed to get away — a laughter that she says has haunted her all her life. In her testimony Thursday, which was watched by millions across America, she said the incident left her traumatized.
Kavanaugh denies it occurred.
King is an eight-term congressman from Iowa best known for being a bigot and a white supremacist. His congressional office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it was irresponsible for a congressman to be sharing memes demeaning a survivor of sexual assault.
The person or persons behind his campaign’s official Facebook page, however, responded quickly, and flippantly, to HuffPost questions. You can read the whole exchange below:
HuffPost: Do you think this is an appropriate meme for a congressional campaign to be sharing? Considering it’s about an allegation of sexual assault?
Steve King’s campaign: The humor of that meme is pointed at the absurdity of the Left, nothing more. Our page content is definitely not for people who struggle to have a sense of humor or irony. That being said, we’re definitely not going to litigate every meme with you.
HuffPost: OK, thank you. How is it pointing out the absurdity of the left? (Not going to litigate every meme. Only interested in this one right now!)
Steve King’s campaign: Lol c’mon man...it’s obviously alluding to the Left manipulating the opposition against Kavanaugh’s nomination.
HuffPost: Hhmm, ok. I see it as implying that the left completely cooked up Dr. Ford’s accusation? I know you like dank memes and all, but seems kinda shitty to post about someone alleging she was sexually assaulted, yea?
Steve King’s campaign: Just a suggestion: you might be taking things a bit too literal... Just sayin. And we already explained the meaning of the meme, which you can either choose to believe or not
HuffPost: hhmm ok, wasn’t taking it too literally. Was just saying it’s kinda shitty/insensitive to post about a sexual assault victim. Especially from the verified FB page of a candidate for Congress? But it’s just lulz I guess, right?
Steve King’s campaign: Again, the meme was pointed at the absurdity of the Left. If you choose to not believe us or just misunderstand memes completely, that’s your prerogative. The fact that the Left doesn’t understand memes is in itself a meme, ironically.
Steve King’s campaign proceeds to share a couple of “The Left Can’t Meme” memes.
HuffPost: Yea I’m familiar with the left can’t meme thing! Very clever good for you.
King’s campaign has also shared other crass memes on Facebook belittling the sexual assault allegation against Kavanaugh.
Two out of three sexual assaults in America go unreported to police. It’s common for sexual assault survivors to not speak out about their assaults until years or even decades later.
King has won his last few elections by over 20 percentage points. A recent poll shows him only 6 points ahead of his Democratic opponent, J.D. Scholten, ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm election.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.