WHEN EVEN TWITCHY DOESN'T BELIEVE YOUR ATTACK ON A DEMOCRAT (updated)

So this showed up at Medium today:

Pete Buttigieg Sexually Assaulted Me

My name is Hunter Kelly. I am 21 years old. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. For the past three nights, I have not slept even a single hour. I have vomited eight times.

I was sexually assaulted by Mayor Pete Buttigieg. I didn’t know who he was back in February, only that he told me he was an important politician. When I started seeing him on television three weeks ago as a Presidential candidate, I thought about coming forward.

How sketchy is this? So much so that even Twitchy isn't buying it:

Does something seem off about this ‘very serious accusation’ of sexual assault against Pete Buttigieg?

... So far, it seems that only highly suspect and disreputable outlets are running with this. David Wohl, aka Jacob Wohl’s dad, was among those spreading Big League Politics’ story, and Gateway Pundit is pushing it as well:

Uh oh: BREAKING: Media Darling Buttigieg Accused of Sexual Assault https://t.co/iOGx7yo8Qu via @BigLeaguePol

— David Wohl (@DavidWohl) April 29, 2019

Democrat Darling Pete Buttigieg Accused of Sexual Assault by 21-Year-Old from Michigan https://t.co/gpvN3vxw36 via @gatewaypundit

— Jim Hoft (@gatewaypundit) April 29, 2019

But without any corroborating evidence, it seems not only premature, but also dangerous, to run with a story like this.

The Medium post seems ... emotionally hollow. No details of the assault are offered -- which stands in stark contrast to most reports from the #MeToo era, in which the details are usually raw and vivid. (Even the Lisa Flores account of Joe Biden's hair-smelling and head-kissing had a real immediacy.)

The details of Kelly's emotional distress seem like a bad amateur fiction writer's depiction of mental anguish -- not just "I have vomited eight times," but also this:

I must confess that this is the toughest thing I have ever had to do. For two weeks now, I have been contemplating suicide. I see myself jumping from a building or a bridge. I know that years and years of counseling may lie in front of me.

In the days and weeks ahead, I will share my full story with the nation.

And then there's the patriotic melodrama:

I know that by coming forward, I will make a hard life even harder. But I must do so — I must do so — for my country, for other gay men like me, and most importantly to stop a very bad man from becoming President of the United States.

That repeated "I must do so" could be a sincere cry from the heart, but it sure seems to me like a very bad writer's idea of emotional authenticity.

I guess it was inevitable that Buttigieg would get his own Larry Sinclair. Good to know, though, that certain elements of the right are genuinely afraid of Buttigieg.

*****

UPDATE: That was quick.

A pair of right-wing provocateurs are being accused of attempting to recruit young Republican men to level false allegations of sexual assault against Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.

The details of the operatives’ attempt emerged as one man suddenly surfaced with a vague and uncorroborated allegation that Buttigieg had assaulted him. The claim was retracted hours later on a Facebook page appearing to belong to the man.

A Republican source told The Daily Beast that lobbyist Jack Burkman and internet troll Jacob Wohl approached him last week to try to convince him to falsely accuse Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, of engaging him sexually while he was too drunk to consent.

... the source provided The Daily Beast with a surreptitious audio recording of the meeting, which corroborates his account. In it, Wohl appears to refer to Buttigieg as a “terminal threat” to President Donald Trump’s reelection next year.