Kerby Anderson

Over the last few months I have done a number of radio interviews dealing with sexual abuse and sexual harassment. During each program, I try to acknowledge the possibility that sometimes an allegation might be false. This is not to diminish the importance of speaking out but also acknowledge that sometimes there might be a false report.

One prominent example is what has happened to Andy Puzder, who was originally put forward as President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor. If you do an Internet search on his name, you will see numerous stories and YouTube clips of his ex-wife on The Oprah Winfrey Show. They were going through a divorce, and she claimed that he abused her.

You will have to do a much more extensive Internet search to discover that his ex-wife wanted to take back what she said. In fact, she has published letters all through the 1990s and even as recently as 2016 and 2017 explaining that she lied. In one email she even explains that he was “not abusive” and that she was counseled to make those allegations to help with the divorce settlement. But none of that helped. The stories are out there, and he withdrew his nomination last year.

Marina Medvin talks about the Yiddish story of the wise elder who wanted to teach a woman making false allegations of the power of her words. He told her to cut the top off of a feather pillow and walk about town. After the feathers flew out of the pillow, he asked her to go around town and collect the feathers. She never could get all the feathers back into the pillow.

His ex-wife opened her pillow years ago on a national television program. Try as she might, she has never been able to get all the feathers back into the pillow. I have heard that President Trump is considering Andy Puzder for another position in the administration. But there may still be too many feathers around town.