Stay classy, Mitch.
In a bygone era, credible allegations of child molestation would cause any politician of either party to be shunned. But under Trump, the Republican Party has become so craven that it would openly welcome an accused pedophile into Congress just to gain one more Senate seat.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal CEO Council, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) lamented that Alabama rejected accused sexual predator Roy Moore in a 2017 special election. Voters in the traditionally conservative state rejected Moore in favor of Democrat and civil rights lawyer Doug Jones.
"Mr. McConnell called Mr. Jones' victory over Republican Roy Moore 'the Alabama mistake in 2017,'" the Wall Street Journal reports.
When Moore was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney, he began dating Leigh Corfman, a 14-year-old child. Corfman told the Washington Post that after one date, Moore took off her shirt, groped her, and tried to get her to touch his genitals. Barely a teenager, Corfman told the Post she remembered thinking, "I wanted it over with — I wanted out."
This is the man Republicans nominated to be a U.S. Senator. This is the man McConnell says it was a "mistake" to reject.
But McConnell is not alone. The entire Republican establishment went all-in to try to put Moore in the Senate.
The Alabama Republican Party stood by Moore and refused to withdraw its support. Marion County GOP chairman David Hall went so far as to say he "didn't see the relevance" of Moore molesting children.
Trump, the leader of the Republican Party, also rushed to Moore's defense and refused to let accusations of child abuse get in the way of his agenda.
The Republican National Committee followed Trump's lead, committing time and resources to fully embrace Moore and everything he stands for.
It wasn't the first time the Republican Party wholeheartedly embraced an accused sexual predator, nor was it the last.
McConnell and Republicans continued to rally behind Trump even after Trump admitted on tape that he sexually assaulted women on a routine basis.
And after Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court — an alleged attempted rapist who is also suspected of lying under oath — McConnell and his Republican minions condescendingly dismissed the serious charges against Kavanaugh and gleefully celebrated his ascent to the highest court in the land.
McConnell's laments about not being able to pal around with Moore in the Senate are not an aberration.
Standing up for child molesters and sexual predators is what it means to be a part of today's Republican Party.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
