“The victims are victimized a second time—this time with no hope of legal remedy.”
The Leverage Class
An Indictment of Power Seekers Who Weaponize Sexual Harm
There exists a particular type of political actor whose most dangerous trait is not corruption, nor even dishonesty, but moral instrumentalization—the willingness to convert human suffering into leverage. This figure does not commit the original harm. He does not traffic, abuse, or assault. Instead, he profits from proximity to those crimes, using them as accelerants for power, visibility, and personal advancement.
This indictment is not about ideology or party. It is about a pattern of behavior that emerges wherever ambition collides with moral catastrophe—and where restraint is treated as weakness.
The defining feature of this type is simple: sexual abuse is not treated as a wound to be healed, but as a resource to be mined.
I. The Misuse of Moral Gravity
Sexual crimes carry the highest moral gravity in modern society. They trigger revulsion, anger, and a demand for absolute judgment. That gravity exists for a reason: sexual abuse destroys autonomy, fractures identity, and inflicts trauma that often lasts a lifetime.
For most people, this moral weight demands care, humility, and restraint. For the leverage-seeker, it presents opportunity.
This actor understands that invoking sexual abuse:
freezes opposition,
collapses nuance,
and converts skepticism into suspicion.
The accusation itself becomes a weapon—not because it proves guilt, but because questioning the method can be reframed as defending the crime.
In this way, sexual abuse becomes a rhetorical nuclear option. It shuts down debate, delegitimizes critics, and confers instant moral authority on the speaker. The victims are no longer individuals with agency and needs; they become symbols that can be deployed.
II. Instrumental Moralism: When Outrage Is a Means, Not an End
The psychology at work here is instrumental moralism—the use of moral outrage as a tool rather than a conviction.
This actor does not deny the reality of abuse. On the contrary, he emphasizes it. He repeats it. He places it front and center. But he does so selectively, strategically, and performatively.
The tell is not what he says, but what he prioritizes.
If the priority were justice, the focus would be on:
survivor consent and protection,
lawful evidence handling,
prosecutorial viability,
restitution and services,
and institutional reform that prevents recurrence.
Instead, the priority is:
exposure,
escalation,
name-centric framing,
and perpetual confrontation.
Outrage is not resolved; it is harvested.
III. Moral Displacement and the Denial of Responsibility
One of the most dangerous psychological maneuvers employed by this type is moral displacement.
The logic is familiar:
“I didn’t commit the crime.”
“I’m just revealing what others did.”
“If people are harmed by exposure, that’s on the system.”
This allows the actor to maintain a self-image as a reformer while disclaiming responsibility for downstream damage. Harm becomes ambient—unfortunate, but abstract.
In practice, this displacement enables:
re-exposure of victims,
collateral reputational destruction of uncharged individuals,
and the erosion of due process.
The suffering is acknowledged, but it is not owned. It is treated as a byproduct, not a cost that must be minimized.
IV. The Prestige Economy of Moral Horror
In politics, status is often acquired through association with success, competence, or virtue. But there is another, darker pathway: prestige through contamination.
By standing adjacent to moral horror—while claiming to confront it—the leverage-seeker acquires a form of borrowed authority. He becomes the figure brave enough to “say what others won’t,” to “name the names,” to “take on the powerful.”
This is not empathy. It is proximity-based elevation.
The victims’ trauma becomes the stage upon which the actor performs courage. Their suffering is not resolved; it is reframed as proof of the actor’s righteousness.
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