Al Franken has to go
Democrats must denounce Al Franken. And he must resign.
On Thursday morning, Los Angeles-area radio host Leeann Tweeden accused Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) of sexually harassing her on a USO tour in 2006. She alleges that Franken wrote a skit in which she was supposed to kiss him, and then pressured her into "practicing" the routine, during which he forcibly kissed her. Then, while Tweeden was asleep on the flight back home, Franken posed for a horrifying picture where he appears to touch her flak jacket over her breasts.
Franken issued an apology, and when that was widely condemned, issued another one, admitting that the picture was "completely inappropriate," and agreeing to subject himself to an ethics investigation.
Several other Senate Democrats have already signed onto this call for an ethics investigation. But that is not good enough. Al Franken needs to resign.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
If there were any reason to give Franken the benefit of the doubt and allow an investigation to proceed, that would be one thing. But the photo — in which Franken is either committing sexual assault, or is millimeters from doing so, on an unconscious woman — ends any doubt. That behavior is completely disqualifying for a U.S. senator — or anyone else, for that matter. He has to go.
Democrats must demonstrate their moral seriousness on this issue. Right now in Alabama, Roy Moore is attempting to win election to the U.S. Senate despite a seemingly never-ending deluge of woman from his past alleging that he sexually harassed or assaulted them when they were teenagers and he was a 30-something district attorney. Democrats are eagerly and rightly seizing the political opportunity to push their own candidate, Doug Jones, and win the seat.
The transgressions of Franken and Moore are different, no doubt. But you simply cannot denounce Moore and protect Franken. It is undeniable that Franken's behavior was grotesque. He must resign, and Democrats must demand that he do so.
Getting rid of Franken would demonstrate that Democrats take sexual harassment seriously, and aren't just opportunistically using feminist principles to take down their political enemies while setting them to the side when one of their own is under attack. Indeed, it would go no small distance to making up for the tawdry history of the late 1990s, when some feminists like Gloria Steinem cynically leveraged their cultural credibility to excuse President Clinton for an inherently abusive relationship with a 21-year-old subordinate.
Democrats can't even muster the excuse that getting rid of Franken would hand the seat to a Republican. He is not up for re-election until 2020, and the Minnesota governor is Democrat Mark Dayton. If Franken resigns, then he would simply be replaced by another Democrat from the state — Keith Ellison or Betsy McCollum, for example.
Then there's the fact that Franken is 66 years old — already past traditional retirement age. This isn't somebody with decades of a bright and promising career ahead of him. Indeed, moving someone else up into the seat would open up spots further down the ranks and advance the careers of several younger people — something the Democrats, with their generally elderly leadership, need quite badly.
The last several months have seen an often wrenching parade of past sexual abuses being dredged up — bringing into the open pain that was secret, hidden, and private. It can seem particularly awful when the perpetrator is someone who was supposed to be "one of the good guys." But it's also a necessary process — a lancing of a festering cultural boil that was very obviously badly overdue.
That is the final reason to ax Franken: to set an example. If we as a people demonstrate that this sort of behavior means an instant end to one's political career, future up-and-coming politicos — and the broader population in general — might just internalize the lesson, and stop abusing people.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.
-
'The burden of the tariff would be regressive'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Should Sonia Sotomayor retire from the Supreme Court?
Talking Points Democrats worry about repeating the history of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
China tries to bury deadly car attack
Speed Read An SUV drove into a crowd of people in Zhuhai, killing and injuring dozens — but news of the attack has been censored
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
US election: who the billionaires are backing
The Explainer More have endorsed Kamala Harris than Donald Trump, but among the 'ultra-rich' the split is more even
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
US election: where things stand with one week to go
The Explainer Harris' lead in the polls has been narrowing in Trump's favour, but her campaign remains 'cautiously optimistic'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Trump okay?
Today's Big Question Former president's mental fitness and alleged cognitive decline firmly back in the spotlight after 'bizarre' town hall event
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The life and times of Kamala Harris
The Explainer The vice-president is narrowly leading the race to become the next US president. How did she get to where she is now?
By The Week UK Published
-
Will 'weirdly civil' VP debate move dial in US election?
Today's Big Question 'Diametrically opposed' candidates showed 'a lot of commonality' on some issues, but offered competing visions for America's future and democracy
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
1 of 6 'Trump Train' drivers liable in Biden bus blockade
Speed Read Only one of the accused was found liable in the case concerning the deliberate slowing of a 2020 Biden campaign bus
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published