In 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb kidnapped, killed, and mutilated Bobby Franks, Loeb’s 14-year-old cousin. Born into two of Chicago’s most prominent families, the teenage friends and thrill killers shared a pathological belief that their privilege exempted them from the laws and morals that govern common men.
Which brings me to Brett Kavanaugh.
No, I’m not accusing the embattled Supreme Court nominee of murder. Still, I do believe Kavanaugh shares the toxic assumption that his perceived superiority renders him immune to rules and protocols that forbid lying under oath and raging against Senate Judiciary Committee members.
Or, allegedly, committing multiple sexual assaults.
Kavanaugh’s hostility last week was more than just a hammy performance for a president who cheers cartoonish bluster as manly strength. It was the angry cry of a man who has been taught from birth that every tomorrow belongs to him. That anything should impede an ascension prophesied by his gender and race is an affront to the world Kavanaugh demands and expects.
In America, a privileged white man makes the rules; he doesn’t adhere to them.
Overall, 59 percent of Americans say if Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations are true, that should be a confirmation deal breaker. Meanwhile, a majority of Republicans don’t care. According that same PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll, 54 percent say even if Ford’s accusations are true, Kavanaugh should still be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
The GOP should change its symbol from an elephant to a shrug emoji.
Even with the FBI investigation ongoing, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is pushing for a confirmation vote this week. He branded the accusations as “an outlandish tale,” and defended Kavanaugh as “rightfully angry.”
On Monday, Trump spoke of Kavanaugh and “the trauma his family has gone through.” It likely wasn’t lost on the president that “trauma” is a word often used by sexual assault survivors. I half-expected Trump to lament that the embattled Supreme Court nominee’s “trauma” has ruined his love of steak.
Two years ago, convicted sex offender Brock Turner’s father cited that as one of the hardships his son had endured for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. “I was always excited to buy him a big ribeye steak to grill or get his favorite snack for him,” Dan Turner wrote in a letter to the court before his son’s sentencing. “Now he barely consumes any food and only eats to exist.”
He then lamented the “steep price” his son was paying for “20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years.”
Portraying his convicted sexual miscreant son as a victim worked. Concerned about the “severe impact” a long sentence would have on Turner’s life, a judge gave the unremorseful former Stanford University swimmer a measly six months in jail; Turner served only three. (In June, Santa Clara County, California, voters recalled that judge, Aaron Persky.)
Whether in prep school, elite colleges, or vying for a seat on this nation’s highest court, the Kavanaughs of this world enjoy a lifetime of secrets and lies to spare them the consequences of their actions. On the rare occasions when they are called to answer for their misdeeds, it feels like manifest destiny interrupted — that’s why Kavanaugh is so angry. He can’t fathom that, perhaps for the first time in his life, he might be denied something to which he feels entitled.
As for Leopold and Loeb, they thought privilege would shield them from punishment. It didn’t. Both were sentenced to life in prison.
Instead of a court of law, Kavanaugh’s fate will be decided in the Senate, where this belligerent, habitual liar may become this nation’s 114th Supreme Court justice. That will only reinforce the perception of an America divided between people expected to live by the law, and those who believe their birthright allows them to subvert it.
Renée Graham can be reached at renee.graham@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @reneeygraham.