Americans are voting with their credit cards with regard to whom they have more sympathy – Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh or his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.
There are dozens of GoFundMe sites representing both – all seemingly posted by third parties, and already exceeding more than $1 million in donations Sunday, with those supporting Kavanaugh on the ascendancy.
GoFundMe statements say they will work diligently to see that funds are used the way the Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh families intend.
By Friday morning two of the GoFundMe campaigns for Blasey Ford had raised more than $700,000 and had stopped accepting donations. Donations to one page jumped from $179,000 before her testimony Thursday morning to $485,555 by Friday afternoon. It’s now topping $500,000.
The most successful GoFundMe campaign for Blasey Ford was created by Heidi Feldman on behalf of Ford’s family.
“Due to death threats, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford … and her family have had to leave their residence and arrange for private security,” the page description explains. “Let’s create a fund to cover her security expenses, to do just a bit to make it easier for women in her position to come forward despite great risks.”
On Sunday, just one Kavanaugh page was approaching a $400,000 goal.
The funds raised for Kavanaugh were designated “for Brett Kavanaugh’s family to use for security or however they see fit.” Both Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh have said they’ve received death threats.)
There are currently more than 42 GoFundMe pages that mention either Kavanaugh or Blasey Ford were on the site as of Friday morning. Many had zero donations or appeared to be satirical. One claimed to be raising money to buy Kavanaugh “beers for life,” apparently inspired by Kavanaugh’s repeated references to his love of beer during Thursday’s hearing.
