The past couple of months have been unlike anything the modern world has ever seen, such is the extent of the coronavirus pandemic thats sweeping the globe. Early this month, the United States overtook Italy and China as the worlds most badly affected nation and it has understandably dominated headlines, given the stature of the country.
Of course, much of the coverage has just been about US president Donald Trump’s seeming inability to grasp how bad the situation is. He has after all said some pretty ridiculous things. That being said however, as Trump dominates the headlines for being the epitome of stupidity, a lot of other important issues are flying under the radar.
Perhaps the biggest one is sexual allegations against former vice-president and current Democratic candidate for president Joe biden. Tara Reade, a former aide to Joe Biden revealed late last month that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee sexually assaulted her during the early 1990s when he was a senator.
Speaking in an interview with podcast host Katie Halper, Ms Reade said was asked to deliver a gym bag to the senator in the spring of 1993 and found herself alone with him.
According to Ms Reade, “There was no exchange, really, he just had me up against the wall,”
“I remember it happened all at once… his hands were on me and underneath my clothes.” It is at this point that he then used his fingers to penetrate her, she said
“I remember him saying, first, as he was doing it ‘Do you want to go somewhere else?’ and then him saying to me, when I pulled away… he said ‘Come on man, I heard you liked me,'” she said. “That phrase stayed with me.”
As you would expect, Joe Biden’s camp has denied the allegation.
“This absolutely did not happen,”
“He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard – and heard respectfully,”
“Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: It is untrue.” Mr Biden’s campaign spokesperson said this week.
The thing is, this isn’t the first time that Joe Biden has been accused of being inappropriate with women. Last year., eight women, one of whom was Ms Reade, came forward to accuse Biden of touching, hugging or kissing them inappropriately
Back then, he apologized and put out a video to basically say he’s really old and that he now realises what was considered appropriate back when he was growing up, is considered to be creepy today, adding that he learned from the #metoo movement about how times are changing.
These accusations however paint the former vice president in a negative light and if anything, highlights just how protected Biden is in the eyes of the media as compared to say, Donald Trump. Since being accused, he’s been asked 81 questions in over two hours of media interviews and not once has he been asked to comment on the allegations.
