The current state of the Republican Party: 100-percent morally bankrupt. It’s not like they had a great track record before, but the party has truly sunk to new lows ever since nominating a B-rate reality-show host and “businessman” for president. And now that Trump is actually the president (insert vomit emoji here), the party has done everything it can to sink to his level.
Roy Moore is a prime example. Moore, a terrible candidate from the get-go, has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault and harassment. This includes claims that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old when he was in his 30s.
The Republican response? It’s OK for a grown-ass man to make a child touch his dinger so long as he’s not a Democrat. The people of Alabama had a choice: an alleged pedophile and serial abuser or a Democrat — and it was too close for comfort, even if Jones won. Because that’s how polarizing politics has become in this country, and how completely disposable girls and women are in the quest for political power.
“Well,” say so-called family-values conservatives, “even if he DID molest kids, it was a long time ago, so it doesn’t count.” As if every man is allowed to molest a child or two, because NBD.
If they denied excusing his crimes, they flat out denied that it ever happened. All women are liars and all accusations of sexual abuse against powerful males is obviously fake news.
And yet, even Mitch McConnell said, “I believe the women.” But he didn’t go so far as to speak out against Moore. Because McConnell is awful.
There were some Republicans who have come out publicly against Moore, but most of it was too little, too late. And a lot of that last-minute denouncing seemsed little more than a way of covering their asses.
Trump, however, was all in. He endorsed Moore and told Alabama to vote for him.
If you would have told me a couple of years ago that a Republican president would be stumping for an alleged pedophile to become a senator, I would have been shocked. Just kidding. I wouldn’t have been shocked. I would have said what I’m saying now: The Republican Party’s claim to be the party of family values is, and always has been, bullshit.
“Family values” has always been a dog whistle meaning antigay and anti-reproductive choice. It has never meant caring about families, unless those families are very, very rich and write big checks.
At least 19 women have accused Trump of sexual harassment and abuse, and the Republican Party’s response is to shrug and call those women liars. All of them. Case closed.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of the accusations, “This took place long before he was elected to be president. And the people of this country had a decisive election, supported President Trump, and we feel like these allegations have been answered through that process.”
There’s so much to unpack here. First of all, this was hardly a “decisive” election. She probably meant “divisive.” But anyway, she’s basically saying that Americans knew Trump was a sexist piece of garbage when they elected him and thus he is cleansed. But no, he is still garbage.
In fact, put this whole party in the trash. They are rotten.
D’Anne Witkowski is a poet, writer and comedian living in Michigan with her wife and son. She has been writing about LGBT politics for over a decade. Follow her on Twitter @MamaDWitkowski.