I remember first reading the headline about Senator Al Franken. I didn’t exactly know who Al Franken was. Senator, comedian, man who assaulted women. (Though to be fair, only one woman had come forward at the time.)

My immediate thought? Great, another politician who thinks it’s okay to assault women.

My second thought? I hope he won’t get away with it, too.

Of course, I was referencing Roy Moore, who seemed to be getting away with the allegations that he had sexually assaulted MINORS, and, of course, the current President of the United States, Donald Trump, who had gotten away with sexual misconduct against women (though, at the time this article was published, several women who had accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct during the 2016 Presidential Election recently renewed their claims because of the effect the #MeToo movement has had on institutions holding their employees accountable for such actions).

And then, as is the case, it seems, Al Franken came into my news feed again, this time with the headline “Women of ‘Saturday Night Live’ in Show of Support for Al Franken.”

My sentiments exactly.

Maybe it is bad to think this, or say it, or write it, but damn… I thought SNL was full of people who cared about women. Women who cared about women.

I didn’t want to make this snap judgement, though, because I like SNL and the comedians who work hard to entertain the American people (albeit with sometimes painstakingly accurate portrayals of American society that makes it so all we can do is laugh to keep from crying about the fact that yes, this is real life). So I read the following report put out by NBC (you know we’ll be talking about that later on):

“We feel compelled to stand up for Al Franken…”

Ahem, stand up for what? Against what?

Stand up for a man who has been accused of sexual misconduct against his accusers, who report incidents ranging from being touched inappropriately while they were asleep, being forcibly kissed, being groped, being propositioned, and more.

And before you bring up the "innocent until proven guilty” defense, let me remind you about why you have a reflex to say something so insensitive, so indifferent, so callous to the women who have had to go through these experiences (and the women who have been through much more with many other men):

You have not experienced this before.

You have not experienced any of this before.

Any person who says that a woman misinterpreted a touch or read too much into a friendly hello has never undergone any form of sexual misconduct. Good for you. The women who do believe these accusations? They have.

It is not simply that you haven’t experienced such disgusting and awful discomfort at the hands of another person, though it is certainly part of it.

Rather, you have never experienced what is being called “a national reckoning” before. You have never been forced to listen to accusations before.

What does this all have to do with politics in America? It exposes our political parties by putting them in an extremely harsh light, one that makes it virtually impossible to ignore the position we are in (though, somehow, many of you are ignoring it).

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, among other senators, called for Al Franken’s resignation to set an example that sexual assault is not a light issue. And that’s the thing, it is not a light issue.

Sometimes, I cannot believe the ease with which people can talk about sexual assault allegations. As if a senator is accused of not smiling at a visiting diplomat.

Then again, I think of the almost casual way we talk about mass shootings and realize this is the result of an epidemic, a repeated event that truly occurs so often that it is old news. Ugh, how disgusted I feel to write that.

So Al Franken resigns, and though many have mixed feelings about his resignation speech, it is not without one important claim, one bitterly ironic claim: “a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party.”

And this is where our loyalty to political parties has made me… you know what? I don’t know what it has made me. Numb doesn’t feel right. Angry implies that I didn’t already have an idea about what went on with Americans.

Without making this article so long that none of you want to read it, let me just summarize that a man who bragged on tape about sexually assaulting women sits in the oval office. And a man who has been accused of sexually assaulting women, minors, received the support of Republicans in his aim to win the Alabama Senate race. Because of party loyalty.

Remember when Trump was nominated to represent the Republican party, and several politicians insisted they wouldn’t vote for him, party loyalty be damned? While I wonder what actually took place on their voting cards (yes, yes, everyone has the right to vote for whomever they want), where are they now? Why are Republicans who stated Roy Moore must drop out of the race amidst allegations suddenly silent? Why the fuck is the President supporting this man?

Party loyalty.

The Democrats, particularly the senators who called for former-Senator Franken’s resignation, are trying to combat this, I think. The Republicans who called for Roy Moore to drop out, yes they exist, are trying to combat this, too, I think.

Last Tuesday, when Doug Jones beat Roy Moore, we entered a delicate time in our history. We have knowledge that a great number of men in the public eye have done awful things to women, but it seems as if this is not enough for us to do something. We defend them, we say we don’t know the whole story, and we blame the victims. The worst part is, this is how we treat men who are relatively well-known. How do we treat our neighbors? Who else is part of this club?

Maybe the outcome of the Alabama Senate Race is a ray of hope, but all I can see is how close the polls were.

How much money was given to Roy Moore.

How our president defended him.

These are perilous times indeed.