Getting the Gang Back Together
By 
With Brett Kavanaugh ensconced in a life-tenured position, Inspector Ed Whelan has been restored to his sinecure at the Ethics [sic] and Public Policy Center:
A month ago, Ed Whelan took a leave of absence from his job at the Ethics and Public Policy Center after spinning a Twitter theory about Christine Blasey Ford, who had accused then-Supreme Court nominee (now Justice) Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Whelan’s theory used Zillow maps to attempt to prove that Ford’s assaulter was not Kavanaugh, but one of his classmates. Now Whelan is back at work.
In a statement, Josh Britton, communications director for the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), told me, “The board of the Ethics and Public Policy Center has reinstated Ed Whelan as EPPC president, effective October 22.”
Whelan, an attorney and president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, has been out of the office since September 23, following a meeting of the Center’s board during which Whelan initially offered his resignation but was rebuffed.
Whelan is also a prominent figure in conservative circles and a National Review contributor, and during the board meeting, Whelan apologized for his Twitter thread, saying, “I apologize deeply and sincerely to all those whom I have harmed by my appalling and inexcusable tweet thread last week — above all, the person whose name I wrongly made public.”
Whelan was clobbered on Twitter for the ridiculous thread that amounted to, at best, potentially libelous statements made against a man who had nothing to do with the saga at all.
But in the days and weeks after Whelan unleashed his thread, his claims started seeping into the Republican mainstream. The “doppelgänger” theory provided conservatives with safe political ground during the hearings, and allowed many on the right to thread the needle and believe both Kavanaugh and Ford. During his testimony, Kavanaugh himself said he believed that “someone” had assaulted Ford, it just wasn’t him.
The Republican Party, where yesterday’s conspiracy theory that is so ridiculous it gets you laughed off Twitter becomes tomorrow’s party orthodoxy.