Trump Administration’s criticism of #MeToo goes drastically wrong

September 7: On This Day In 2017

{Please note: This story contains disturbing details of a heinous crime}

The tragic backstory: In 2017, the MeToo movement was in full steam. But Conservatives often belittled the scope and specifics of the problem. OTDI 2017, Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Secretary of Education, weighed in, highlighting a specific situation which she trumpeted as MeToo run amok.

She gave a speech which told the story of a young Navy vet named Joseph Roberts. Roberts had been accused (wrongfully accused, she implied) of sexual harassment…on separate occasions by three different women.

(Btw, according to the SF Chronicle, Roberts was known as “MAGA Joe” due to his outspoken support for then-President Donald Trump.)

DeVos specifically invoked that story of Joseph Roberts when she proudly announced that the Trump Administration was cancelling the enhancements the Obama Administration had made to Title IX; that’s the law which prohibits discrimination at most schools on the basis of sex.

Rachel Buckner

Six years after DeVos' speech, the body of law student Rachel Buckner was found dismembered and stuffed into a garbage bag, floating in San Francisco Bay. The police announced they had identified the DNA of Rachel’s boyfriend on the bag. That boyfriend was…Joseph Roberts.

“In my 25 years as a police officer, I have never seen anything as disturbing as this,” Alameda Police Chief Nishant Joshi said following Roberts’ arrest. In May 2024, Roberts was convicted of Buckner's murder.

Perhaps the “wrongful” part had been the apparent attitude which led DeVos to seem dismissive of the complaints against Roberts by multiple women.

If you’re interested: To learn more about the National Domestic Violence Hotline, please visit here: https://www.thehotline.org/

• The SF Chronicle reported on these utterly tragic events

• The conviction reporting

• KTVU has the pic and more about the family left behind     

  
  

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On This Day In The Trump Administration: Administration, DeVos criticizes MeToo, Rachel Buckner, Roberts