Donald Trump’s Republican Party finds a new way to sink to a whole new low
The Republican Party may be more despised now than at any other time in history – plagued with scandals that could take down any number of their politicians, and adopting an increasingly unpopular and outright offensive platform. Lately, the question isn’t so much about whether their out of touch ideas can still win voters, but how much longer they can still keep up appearances, coming on the heels of a blistering midterm, and an upcoming election that’s shaping up to be competitive for both houses of Congress. How much longer can they still pretend to be the patriotic party of morals and values when they’re nothing of the kind?
To give an indication of how little they care, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee accepted $400,000 in donations last month from the disgraced casino magnate Steve Wynn. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Wynn used to be the RNC’s finance chair until he was accused of rape and sexual assault. The multiple allegations forced him to resign both his RNC position and from his casino empire. Of course, he considers Donald Trump, who signed the GOP’s tax scam into law, to be a good friend of his.
When the allegations of Harvey Weinstein’s misconduct came to light, Republicans including RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel railed against every Democratic politician he donated any amount of money to – insisting they give up their donations, which they did. When asked about Wynn, who has been accused of assaulting his former employees, McDaniel’s statement to Politico defended the donation and took Wynn’s side, reluctantly saying: “At this point, there is no reason for refusing his support.”
At least, that sentence in her statement is entirely accurate – the GOP needs all the money it can grab – and its politicians routinely prove themselves indifferent to victims of sexual assault, vulnerable employees, and for that matter, anyone who isn’t a wealthy donor.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making