“The average person is conditioned to see any confidential agreement as a way to hide something bad ...because who would agree to pay someone off if they did not do something wrong. That is a difference between a high level executive and the average person ... it is a cost of doing business, even if one is right.”
To me, an NDA alone means nothing, no different than a corporation ‘settling’ a lawsuit because it’s cheaper than fighting it. And then when you add-in a claim against an announced, or potential, political candidate, the probability of cashing-in increases, since the potential damage to the rich guy is far more than having to ‘explain things’ to his wife (whether true or not)...so even less credibility there.
My standard is EVIDENCE - and that would be documented evidence, at the time - such as police reports, recordings/video, hospital reports, etc. What I would immediately dismiss are second-hand accounts from people who say “Well, she told me that Bloomberg snatched her 20 years ago” - I don’t care if there’s 1 account, or 40 accounts - there are some 60 million Leftists in this country, and virtually everyone of them will lie, if there’s something in it for them (money, or the chance to take down Trump or some other ‘mean’ guy, for example). A few years ago, I was one juror away from being questioned on this subject regarding a rape case...and they would have gotten the same answer from me.
Your view is not the average person’s view. And you are right. In fairness, one can only go on the facts. Successful, wealthy people, more powerful politicians, media types, et al - some are decent people and some are not. But in either case, deserved or not, there are people who will try to capitalize on such status and use “legal extortion” to make some money, write a book, etc.
Mike B really fell down on this issue when Warren attacked. Perhaps because he knows his NDAs were hiding some bad things in his politically correct world prison, and best to keep them confidential. Despite that, he should have pounced back hard on Warren, and her history of prevarication. He would offer to consider reaching out to the parties in the NDAs for disclosure but only after she fully made available, starting with Harvard, property mortgage applications, US Census, etc etc every application and document that used for promoting her fake, wooden Indian heritage to financially benefit herself and advance her career. She would never do that, and hence he would not have to either.