When you’re raised by a rapist, making fun of very serious things like sexual assault probably comes naturally. That’s why Donald Trump Jr.’s Instagram post—shared with his 1.3 million followers—is disappointing, but completely unsurprising.
This is a disgusting, unfunny rape joke that is only meant to publicly bully and demean not just Christine Blasey Ford, who says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her, but all survivors of sexual violence who dare to speak out.
He’s mocking the fact that this is about an assault that happened many decades ago, as if that means it was fabricated. He tries to frame it as Kavanaugh being a child at the time, when he was actually 17 years old—an age at which many other teens in the legal system are treated as adults. Junior here is trying to minimize Ford’s trauma, comparing a brutal attempted rape to a note passed in class.
These are all attacks both on Ford and on any other victims who may want to speak out. While Trump Jr. himself may not be a sexual abuser, his dad definitely is. As the president’s son, he has a sizable interest in maintaining the status quo to protect himself as well. A threat to one abuser is a threat to all abusers, including his dad. Growing up in a family that is clearly centered on Trump Sr. perfectly primed him for this type of deplorable behavior.
These sorts of petty attacks show that supporters of Kavanaugh are getting scared. If they believed that their nominee wasn’t capable of these acts, they wouldn’t participate in the public bullying of a victim. Perhaps the reality is much darker: They know what Kavanaugh is capable of doing, but they don’t have a problem with his violence against women at all.