By Isabel Paris || Staff Writer
The Conservative Political Action Conference held almost a month ago, consisted of President Trump speaking and all the attendees praising his work thus far. However, after the conference, a conservative journalist, Mona Charen, who is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center had a different attitude towards the event. Charen was a panelist for a discussion called “#UsToo: Left out by the Left” where she was in a crowd filled with a very right leaning audience. She was asked what gets her “riled up,” and she immediately began talking about the Republican Party and how it has turned a blind eye to sexual harassment allegations. The crowd began to boo her, but she continued to speak and said that people “who are sitting in the White House and who brag about their extramarital affairs are mistreating women. And just because he happens to have a R after his name, we look the other way, we don’t complain.” Audience members were yelling that that was not true and wanted her to get off the stage.
Mona Charen had always been a strong and upstanding journalist who has never overstepped her boundaries but has maintained a respectable career and has been loyal to the Republican Party. Many accusations have been thrown at the Republican Party for being hypocritical and turning a blind eye to sexual harassment when it came to their elected officials from the Left. This is the first time that a woman in the Republican Party has spoken out against this hypocrisy and her words had gotten traction. Charen was disgusted with the party when she continued discussing the endorsement of Roy Moore for the Senate in Alabama. She exclaimed that “even though he was a credibly accused child molester” he was still being supported by the Republic National Committee. The audience which was mostly filled with men continued to badger her and shouted back “it was a witch hunt!” This treatment of a woman expressing her opinion in public shows how little our country respects an honest opinion even when it is against their own political ideologies. If a credible and loyal party member points out something that is wrong and it is refuted and rejected, how can our country continue to grow and make everyone feel included in conversations?
This level of disrespect just proves the growing polarization of this country and the fact that when anything is shown in a negative light for a party, it is immediately responded to with hostility and close mindedness. Charen closed her remarks by pointing out the hypocrisy of the Republican Party and that “you cannot claim that you stand for women and put up with those allegations.” Charen brought a voice to women in the both parties but especially to those women who identify themselves as Republicans and have felt unheard. As our nation continues to look inward at our treatment of women, I hope that Charen’s words will provide a wakeup call to America–we cannot unite if we are divided amongst one another.
First-year Isabel Paris is a Staff Writer. Her email is iparis@fandm.edu.