Kavanaugh battle is America's moment of reckoning
Brett Kavanaugh has amplified the potency of #MeToo, with women's rights activists vowing to "fight until the 11th hour".
Friday 5 October 2018 08:12, UK
The Kavanaugh battle has pitted the #MeToo movement against the Republican establishment.
America is in a moment of reckoning.
A week ago today, the Supreme Court confirmation process ground to a halt. Just as it looked like Dr Christine Blasey Ford's powerful testimony might have no impact, Ana Maria Archila took a stand. The activist and mother says she was determined to get in front of swing-vote Republican senator Jeff Flake, who that morning had stated his intent to back Brett Kavanaugh.
That raw, spontaneous elevator confrontation has become an iconic moment - widely credited with putting the brakes on Mr Kavanaugh's confirmation.
"I was determined to get him to look me in the eye. I'm a mother - it was the mother in me that was raging," she said.
I ask if she's confident the women's movement can have a similar impact on this next crucial stage. Without pause, she says: "Yes - that's why we're here.
"We're going to fight until the 11th hour - we're not going to allow the Republican senators to get away with ignoring the stories of women and we're going to force human interactions until the very last minute."
Such moments are happening all the time on Capitol Hill. Women are taking time out from day jobs, flanking the corridors of power, pounding pressure on law makers. They seem emboldened by the impact they've had.
After his emotional defence of Mr Kavanaugh, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has become a key target for activists. I ask him - is he part of a white male backlash against the #MeToo movement?
"I'm Lindsey Graham. I respect the MeToo movement but I am a lawyer - I believe in you're presumed innocent until you're proven guilty. I also think we have turned a corner - there used to be a time when women would be called sluts - now its the men who are being treated badly," he said.
Progressives are not convinced Graham and his Republican colleagues are listening. Women's rights activist Ebony Tucker says: "I do not think that Lindsey Graham is absorbing very much. Nor is the president.
"I think that if your statement is 'this is a scary time for young men' that's not good. I think this is a moment for young men to take stock of their behaviour."
President Trump's show of respect for Dr Blasey Ford was short-lived. At a Mississippi campaign rally he mocked her testimony to cheers and applause. He told laughing crowds that it's Mr Kavanaugh's life that's now in tatters.
At a protest outside the Supreme Court multiple women tell me Trump is completely disconnected from what's happening in America right now. Mr Kavanaugh has amplified the potency of the #MeToo movement but he also appears to be back on track.
No one is giving up just yet.