To understand the bizarre effects of cognitive bias, let's perform an exercise. Let's imagine that it was Howard Stern running for president, as a Democrat, and it was a Fox News host who claimed that she was assaulted by him in a Bergdorf's dressing room.
Does this story sound plausible? One would ask,
1) Why would Howard do this only once, such things are normally patterns of behavior?
People who have a sexual compulsion to wait in dressing rooms tend to do that over and over again. Consider, for example, Bill Cosby who offended against multiple people. This is esp. true when the offense occurs against strangers.
2) How would Howard go unrecognized at the store?
A celebrity of Howard's stature would generally attract attention, fans wanting autographs. While some testified that staff were told to respect famous people’s space, it is still unlikely that attendants wouldn’t be aware of where he was and what he was doing—hoping to earn a massive commission from the real estate mogul.
3) Why did this person wait till she was publishing a book and say nothing during the person’s first campaign?
The timing would seem unusual to leftists if one of their own were being accused.
4) Why would a man with access to beautiful younger women go after a well past her prime and only moderately attractive women in such a public place?
Certainly, Howard could do better. Indeed, he could do better inside the Bergdorf’s. It is much more likely that he would have groped one of the staff than a random matron in the ladies dressing room, which even then was supposed to be locked even if occasional breaches of this etiquette occurred.
When you change the celebrity from Trump to Howard Stern, Al Franken, or any of a myriad of other leftists, the accusation’s logical flaws should become apparent to a left-wing mind. That said, it is a testament to the sanity of the right that changing the figure accused only slightly elevates our estimation that the accusation is true and we remain capable of seeing the flaws. For example, Republicans do not just mindlessly believe Tara Reade.
Yes, this woman is a vampire and meanwhile Derek Chauvin is a tiny fraction of the way through his life-sentence for doing his job according to the rules of his job. The strange thing is that our rulers aren't extremely evil by global, historical standards; we're just not yet accustomed to the idea that America is now as shitty as the average shitty country.