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Tara Reade in a recent interview.@megynkelly/Twitter

You can vote for Joe Biden without discrediting Tara Reade, Business Insider - Business Insider Singapore

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We all experience cognitive dissonance, or the state of having inconsistent thoughts or beliefs. For example, we know it’s important to be active, but we spend most of our days rotating between our desks, couches, and beds. Getting exercise isn’t fun, but it’s important for our health, so we feel guilty about not doing it.

This kind of dissonance applies to our support of public figures, too. If we hear that a celebrity, athlete, or politician we like has been accused of sexual assault, we start to experience those conflicting thoughts. We try to solve that dissonance by either rethinking or support, choosing not to care, or discrediting the accuser.

When it comes to presumptive democratic nominee Joe Biden, a lot of people seem to have gone with that last option. Tara Reade, a former staffer of his, accused him of sexual assault. From digging up her views on Russia to accusing her of stealing from a non-profit to questioning her behavior as a tenant, people have been undermining her and her story. And if you cover the story, in general, as MSNBC’s Chris Hayes did, you’ll face their wrath.

Against President Trump, Biden represents a return to “normalcy” for this country. What people don’t seem to understand is that you’re allowed to vote for Biden without performing the mental gymnastics necessary to discredit Reade’s story. Her accusation may or may not be true, but it is certainly credible.

On April 3rd, 2019, Tara Reade became one of eight women who accused former Vice President Joe Biden of inappropriate touching. Reade’s specific claim purportedly happened in 1993, while she was an employee of Biden’s senate office. Then, on March 25th, 2020, Reade updated her story in a podcast interview, saying that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in his office in 1993. Soon after the interview, Reade filed a police report in Washington D.C.

At this moment in the typical timeline of a sexual assault claim against a high-profile public figure, public opinion is usually up in the air. Some people believe the accusation, some don’t. But when Reade’s accusation is corroborated by more and more people, at some point, you have to realize you’re solving your cognitive dissonance unethically.

First, Tara Reade has confirmed that it was her mother who called into a 1993 episode of Larry King Live, seeking advice about how her daughter should deal with problems she faced working for a “prominent senator.” Then, two former acquaintances of Reade’s confirmed to Insider that Reade told them about the sexual assault sometime in the mid-90s. Joe Biden has denied everything.

This particular accusation is doubly consequential because the accused is now our best chance of removing Donald Trump from office. The result, unfortunately, is a widespread discrediting of Tara Reade. Even prominent figures who championed the #MeToo movement a couple of years ago are now engaging in the type of behavior that they once criticized.

For example, earlier this year, Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress, tweeted sarcastically, “Believe women, unless it doesn’t work for your ambition,” referring to a portion of Bernie Sanders supporters who didn’t believe Elizabeth Warren’s story that Sanders told Warren a woman couldn’t be president. But in the wake of Tara Reade’s accusation, Tanden has become the target of her own sarcasm.

Reade believes that evidence to support her accusation may be locked up in Biden’s senatorial records that were given to the University of Delaware, and Tanden has likened the effort to unseal these records to Republicans going after Hillary Clinton for her emails. It’s become increasingly clear that the imperative to believe women may not apply when you have a vested interest in the accused party.

Instead of speculating, let’s operate with some nuance.

Despite Reade’s credible accusation against Biden, there are still respectable reasons to vote for him. You may be a person of color who’s afraid of a second Trump term, given that his already racist antics seem to be increasing in their racism. You may be deathly afraid of how Trump may handle a new epidemic, given the clear ways his administration has failed to act in the wake of the novel coronavirus. You may identify as LGBTQ+, and want to see someone, anyone, who will be better than Trump in policies that affect you. Joe Biden isn’t the first choice for a lot of the aforementioned groups, but these are all honorable enough reasons to vote for him.

It’s also honorable not to cast your vote. You may be someone who has experienced what Tara Reade said she went through, or something similar. Our political system has allowed for both presidential options to be men in their 70s with sexual assault accusations, and you’re allowed to be disengaged from that. Even Biden himself said that if you believe Tara Reade, you shouldn’t vote for him.

And there are those who, understandably, want to see how the Tara Reade situation plays out before they decide on voting blue for president. Ostensibly, in a court of law, or in testimony to congress, the reliability of the accuser and the accused is of utmost importance. It is important to suss out the fiction from the facts and arrive at the truth. But at this stage, people chomping at the bit to disgrace Tara Reade are telling on themselves.

For people who are already going to vote for Joe Biden, including pundits, think tank heads, and the Twitter users I mentioned earlier, there is no need to try and actively discredit Reade’s accusation. We know you want Joe Biden to be president and we know you are going to vote for him.

Solving this particular dissonance is as easy as believing that Reade’s accusation is credible and that Donald Trump should be defeated in November. Representative Ilhan Omar told The Times of London just as much. You can cast your vote without casting doubt.