Flashback for a moment to your initial reactions when you first learned this took place. Some measure of disbelief surely was had, and any number of concurrent emotions were just as likely: revulsion, anger, resentment, offense, and others possibly welled up. But here is the extended problem – the national media held few, if any, of those reactions. One would rightly expect that a lurid, scandalous raw-dog Tinder date filmed inside the Capitol would generate headlines for days. Instead, the press has been turning its back on the story. (Sorry.)

To start, Maese-Czeropski issued a statement of such hubris and entitlement that it almost defies belief. He was just outed as the source of a graphic offense, and yet, in writing a response to this revelation (understatement noted), he dared to both play the victim and lash out at anyone critical at the same time. 

BREAKING: Aidan Maese-Czeropski posts a statement on LinkedIn after having sex in a senate hearing room where he says that he is “being attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda” and that “I would never disrespect my workplace.” https://t.co/IwscrA2chv pic.twitter.com/CLcLL36C9D

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 16, 2023

This response needs no rebuttal (umm…), as the blatant attempts at gaslighting are obvious. What is stark about this is it is so very clear this leftist staffer is conditioned to react in this fashion. Trotting out victimhood, dropping accusatory references to intolerance, and threatening to take legal action against anyone daring to point out his deviancy are tried methods of the activist left. Accountability for one’s own actions is never an option. To Senator Cardin’s credit, it was only a matter of hours from when this bottom-dwelling worker was exposed to him getting fired.

But we see why Maese-Czeropski felt he had a chance at cleaning up his infraction when we see the reactions in the media. While no longer amazing, it is still jarring at times to see the way the press behaves in wantonly partisan fashion toward Democratic members who prick legal conventions. Once it was learned this disturbing performance was the work of a Democrat staffer, the recalibration was in full effect.

Despite the blatancy of the video, Politico softened the blow by suggesting the staffer was only someone “linked to [a] sex tape,” and the subsequent firing was described as he “leaves Senate.” Alleged journalist Austin Ahlman forwarded the theory that the Daily Caller reported on this story only because this Aiden character expressed support for Palestine. It is a completely impotent effort at deflecting away from wildly deviant activity. In similar fashion, there was news editor Ben Goggin, who tried to suggest the problem was with a site he claims “smears” the LGBT𝜋 community but is willing to post gay porn. So the problem is not congressional staffers having graphic sex in chambers and posting their escapades; it is with conservatives noticing.

Probably the lamest deflection comes from Goggin’s employer, NBC News, which delivered the most inept interpretation of the Schtup Heard ‘Round the Beltway. 

Senate staffer alleged by conservative outlets to have had sex in a hearing room is no longer employed https://t.co/nSLTsN6mkM

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) December 16, 2023

Reporters Amanda Terkel and Frank Thorp attempt to be evasive, claiming they are befuddled over whether Aidan Maese-Czeropski is actually in the video. They go with “alleged,” even as he is clearly appearing on video, and they try to say that this was all just cooked up by Republicans. They try this dodge despite alluding to the written statement from Aiden where he claimed to be on the receiving end (again, sorry) of slurs while never once denying it is him on the video. Also, kids, he was immediately fired by his boss – who is a Democrat!

This approach by the media — or, more accurately, this avoidance — is as clear a sign as you can find that they play by two sets of rulebooks. We do not even need to speculate how they would react were this a Republican who was thrust into a sex scandal – as Brandon Morse pointed out, they reacted far differently when Representative Lauren Boebert was the focus of unseemly behavior in September. 

Boebert only did some tasteless groping in the dark with her Democrat date that evening at a stage production, but she was not defended for reaching across the aisle, as it were. The press spent days focused on her antics, running images on their outlets and declaring the alleged criminality of her behavior as grounds for her dismissal. Yet here they have graphic sex taking place inside the Capitol on the Democrats’ side, and all they can manage is to point at conservatives and say, “How DARE you?!”

These are not serious people. These are unentitled elitists peacocking as intellectuals, looking not for facts but only for reasons to demean those they disagree with on a daily basis. When they are shown repugnant behavior on one side and manage to blame it on the other, you see the fix in plain sight. It is clear they approve of this senatorial satyr because, metaphorically, they accept the same treatment from the Democratic Party on a regular basis.