Is a Republican candidate who’s crime-free, too PC?
Not quite. Not yet. But today’s Republican voters love their bad boys. I mean their really, really bad, sometimes shockingly bad boys. It’s happened too often lately to be happening by chance. It’s a growing trend. Criminal behavior isn’t a bug for this year’s Republican candidates, it’s a feature. Making a Wanted Poster into a Campaign Poster is turning into a calculated political move.
Look at the GOP’s latest criminal, Don Blankenship, one of three Republicans running for Senate in West Virginia. Blankenship was CEO of Massey Energy, known for running some of the most dangerous mines in the state. In 2010, 29 men died due to an explosion in one of his mines, the result of putting profits over miner safety. He served a year in prison, a ridiculously light sentence given his role in the disaster.
In a rational world, Blankenship wouldn’t consider running for office, especially in the same state where his negligence was responsible for 29 deaths. And if he was idiotic enough to run, in a rational world he should get maybe 10 votes. Yet, as of Tuesday, on the day of the primary, Blankenship is looking like he just might win. Trump begged people to vote for one of the other candidates. Blankenship’s retort: “I’m Trumpier than Trump.”
Go back five months to the Senate election in Alabama and candidate Roy Moore, accused by multiple women of dating some of them and stalking others when they were underage and he was in his thirties. Only the statute of limitations saved him from trial and possible conviction. He should have quit the race when the accusations began flying. He didn’t. Trump begged voters to choose the other Republican in the primary. They didn’t. Jones won the primary. He lost the general by less than two percentage points. In Alabama. In the Bible Belt.
Right here in Arizona, we have our own beloved-by-many, convicted criminal Joe Arpaio. If the conviction isn’t enough reason for him to remove himself from the glare of public scrutiny, he should hide because he’s the reason Maricopa county has to pay out $70 million and counting for his department’s racial profiling. Fiscally conservative voters should be coming after him with pitchforks. Instead he’s holding his own against two high profile, credible Republican candidates in the race for Jeff Flake’s Senate seat.
This time, Trump isn’t running away from the criminal candidate. Trump pardoned Arpaio. And last week during a stop in Tempe, Mike Pence showered the outlaw sheriff with praise.
In January, 2016, Trump said at a campaign rally, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters.” That may have been an understatement. The murder may have gained him some voters, especially if he stood his ground, waving the smoking gun over his head on live television.
Why? Why are so many Republican voters applauding law breakers? I can only offer a partial, tentative explanation. I have a sense this is a complex and dangerous cultural phenomenon which is still playing itself out.
For lots of today’s Republicans, every part of our political and legal process is broken. That’s what Trump told them on the campaign trail. Trump said, government is a swamp awash in stupidity and corruption, and only he knows how to drain it. Throw away the old guard and the old rules, he said, and start over. Millions of people liked what they heard. They voted for him.
Trump continued using the same campaign rhetoric when he stepped into the White House. The Trumpian world view is, the only good Republican office holders are ones who are willing to throw away the rule book—if necessary, the law book—throw away tradition and follow him. Same for judges and the FBI and the CIA. They either do his bidding or get blown away by an unending tweet storm.
Trump’s version of “A pox on all houses of government” is, in many ways, Tea Party 2.0. What we’re witnessing in the most extreme among this year’s Republican candidates is Trump 2.0. Sure, Trump was a rebel, he violated all the norms. But following him, if you really want to be transgressive, take a step beyond rebellion. Be an outlaw. What better way to flip off the establishment than to commit a crime and get caught? How better to show you won’t be about business as usual when you’re in office?
Don Blankenship was right. He, and Roy Moore, and Joe Arpaio, are Trumpier than Trump. If our president is the monster created by Dr. Tea Party Frankenstein, Blankenship, et al, are the monsters created by Trump.
The Republican Party used to call itself the party of Law and Order. We’re watching it transform into the party of Outlaws and Disorder.
This article appears in May 3-9, 2018.
It seems that some people will say and write anything to try to get back their party’s power and control. It is a sad day in America as to what motivates citizen activists, because most movements are based in greed, selfishness and jealousy.
One party does not have the corner on sin, but it sure has been an eye opener to see how some call for Trump’s removal because of an affair, yet they forget about Spitzer, Wiener and Clinton.
But what a great name for a law firm. Clinton, Wiener, Spitzer.
Russian collusion? None yet. The Democrats have conspired with the media to give the appearance of Napoleonic Law. Guilty until proven innocent. Sorry, wrong country as long as we have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights.
David et al. need to decide if they think abiding by the law is necessary or not. Usually they seem to think they are mystical initiates with knowledge of a HIGHER LAW in light of which the US law (on immigration, for example) is irrelevant. But apparently US law is useful to them when their political opponents get on the wrong side of it. Then they can call Republicans outlaws and make fun of Republicans for pretending to be the party of law and order. What a surprise that when you analyze the discourse of both major parties rigorously, it turns out they are both in the habit of ignoring or minimizing the importance of abiding by laws that conflict with their values and (their real raison dtre) engaging in a no-holds-barred, bloody, bitter battle to get their partisans in positions of power and their values encoded in law.
This piece is so strangely timed as yet another insider confidant of the Clintons collapses on his proverbial sword. Going all the way back to Civil Rights, women and blacks have voted in lock step with Democrats, and what has it gotten them?
Fondled, ignored and abused.
First of all, Blankenship and Moore were rejected by the voters. Blankenship in a Republican primary ,and Moore in a predominantly conservative state . Arpaio is by no means a shoe in. And Joe’s crime was trying to keep illegals off the welfare roles. And in a state that borders Mexico,he will probably be on the look out for Hispanics. All kind of candidates can try….but we only wonder about those who get into office, like Schneiderman.
Arguably it is a bigger crime to provide an inferior education to people of color. This is a common practice in Democrat run cities like, Tucson, Baltimore, Detroit, Newark, Miami, Chicago etc. These cities think it is a big deal when 40% of students read and compute at grade level. It should be over 90%…that’s why it’s called grade level.
( State, county, city, federal, supreme and etc. Judges ) All judges must have mandatory term limits.
And now we can add the release of the three American hostages in North Korea to the list of all the great accomplishments of David’s so called criminals. I think Obama may have to give Trump his Nobel Peace Prize. By the way what did he do to earn it?
Will those things fit between the prison bars? They may let Obama out to give it to him.
Obama’s not going to prison …are you slow? Only person headed that way is trump
Party of family values! (Unless you need your mistress to get an abortion)
Party of limited government! (But don’t you dare do anything with your body that we don’t like)
Party of personal responsibility! (Unless you run a business or get elected to office)
Party of fiscal responsibility! (As long as the donors get their tax cuts)
Party of States rights! (As long as you don’t live in California or New York)
Party of the constitution! (the 2nd amendment only, amendment 13-17 are unconstitutional)
What part of killing do you not understand? When a pregnant woman is killed in a car accident along with the fetus, the other driver is charged with TWO counts of vehicular manslaughter. Why would that be?
The other party has promised women the moon and delivered nothing. Except a lot of sexual misconduct.
African Americans were promised jobs in the inner cities and yet all they have produced is crime.
With low wages there is no strong revenue base, so they have punished the producers for being successful to help continuation of votes from the lower income less educated population.
Affordable health care?
Excellence in education?
Looks like both parties have failed all their constituents.
“But today’s Republican voters love their bad boys” Says the toadies of Obama, Lynch, Holder, Clinton(s), et.al. Democrats have their share of felons as just listed.
“Democrats have their share of felons as just listed.”
A criminal becomes a felon ONLY when convicted… Please enlighten us all as to the dates and length of sentences handed down against ” Obama, Lynch, Holder, Clinton(s), http://et.al. ” …
Lindsay is right. They are nothing more than criminals that are above the law. How is that happening?
Wow there’s lots of delusional Trumpanzees commenting here. David’s article must have struck a nerve. No collusion? Try reading a newspaper or just visit the Bill Moyers website timeline to find over 600 documented articles detailing all kinds of collusion and acts of conspiracy between at least 20 DIFFERENT TRUMP CAMPAIGN OFFICIALS meeting OVER 60 DIFFERENT TIMES with many Russian and Putin-friendly actors and agents talking about how the Russians hacked and stole TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CLINTON AND DNC EMAILS to use against her to ILLEGALLY HELP TRUMP GET ELECTED. Just TODAY, there’s more evidence about extensive SECRET NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TRUMP’S LAWYER MICHAEL COHEN to get a TRUMP TOWER BUILT IN MOSCOW all during the campaign until right before he took office, despite his repeated claims to have zero contact or dealings with any Russians blah blah blah. Russia provided extensive other help too (1000 military intelligence agents and hackers flooding social media with lies about Clinton etc, 3500 illegal, false Facebook, Google, and Twitter ads for Trump and wildly against Clinton that reached over 150 Million Americans, millions of dollars in secret illegal campaign contributions to Trump, Mitch McConnell, the REPUB NATIONAL COMMITTEE, the NRA, etc from Russian connected oligarchs and officials,etc). The payoff to Russia in exchange for all this illegal help was for Trump to REMOVE US ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA (both the new sanctions just imposed for the Russian interference in the election and punitive sanctions from 2014 for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, war against the reform govt of Ukraine, and illegal seizure of Crimea, which they still are occupying). Michael Flynn, Cohen, and a Ukrainian oligarch also delivered a “peace deal” for Ukraine that would ultimately give Crimea and eastern Ukriane to Russia (sounds nuts but is apparently true) for Trump’s signature, but the big deal died when Flynn’s lies to the FBI about his talks with Russian Ambassador to the US Kislyak were exposed in public and Trump had to belatedly fire Flynn.
The public evidence is overwhelming at this point, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller III has much more evidence that we haven’t seen yet. Trump has always considered himself above the law. He has worked with Italian Mafiosos and recently with Russian mobsters like Felix Sater (special assistant to Trump with office next door for past 10 years who is the SON OF THE BOSS OF THE RUSSIAN MOB IN NEW YORK CITY). He has been investigated several times for fraud, money-laundering etc by federal court Grand Juries, but his father’s politica! connections and his wealth enabled him (and family Don Jr and even Ivanka) to avoid indictment. Watch David Cay. Johnston’s talks on YouTube. His book The Making of Donald Trump details how Trump operates, and new book It’s Even Worse Than You Think shows,just how corrupt and nefarious Trump has become. Trump’s business model after the 6 bankruptcies and cutoff of legitimate US bank financing was laundering millions of dirty Russian money (and other gangster, criminal, and fraudulently obtained money) through their purchases of his condos in the USA and around the world (then they get mortgages secured by the property to cash in US dollars along with a variety of other schemes.
Luckiy, about 80% of readers here know the facts like Mr. Safier does. Nationally, polls show only 20-25% of Americans still believe Trump’s incessant lies and bullshit at this point, and 60-65% know he’s lying and guilty of something or many things. So stay deliberately ignorant, confused, and manipulated inside the FoxPutin Propaganda Network, Breitbart, etc or join us in the reality based community and SAVE OUR COUNTRY from PUTIN’S PUPPET. (It’s ok to admit you were conned by maybe the best con artist in the country).