So, It蘑菇视频 Just About the Votes?
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”
— Donald J. Trump, presidential candidate, during a speech on Jan. 16, 2016
As that messy Alabama senatorial race proceeds, we’re all getting a lesson about what really matters to some people — politics.
There are nine women who claim that Roy Moore abused, or tried to abuse them years ago.
Moore has denied he did anything wrong.
It’s the classic “they said/he said” story.
Meanwhile, some of Moore’s supporters have expressed their belief that those women haven’t been telling the truth.
Mysteriously, there are some men of the cloth who believe that highly sexed young women are really to blame.
“More women are sexual predators than men,” claimed pastor Franklin Raddish of Independent Baptist Ministries — a nationwide church, and Moore supporter.
Pastor Raddish didn’t bother to cite any studies to support that ridiculous claim.
Instead, he dug himself deeper.
“Women are chasing young boys up and down the road, but we don’t hear about that because it’s not PC,” he concluded.
Another clergyman, and Moore apologist, Pastor Earl Wise of Millbrook, Alabama, veered into the outer limits of rational thought with his assessment.
Reverend Wise seems to think that some little girls look a lot older than they are.
“There are some 14-year-olds who can pass for 20,” says Wise.
That may be the case, but I’d be more willing to believe that some 32 year-old deputy district attorneys can pass for oversexed teenage boys.
Most Republicans in Washington aren’t giving Moore the benefit of a doubt.
I did say most Republicans.
One Republican, a man who has his own alleged history of mistreating women, President Trump, had remained mum about the goings-on in Alabama.
He sent his White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway, out to say, “There is no Senate seat worth more than a child. And we all want to put that forward,” on Nov. 16th.
But something changed.
Four days later, Conway indicated that a child isn’t quite worth a Senate seat.
Instead, Conway appeared on Fox and Friends, (The unofficial White House News Agency), and when she was asked if she went along with those people who plan to vote for Moore, she said, “I’m telling you, that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through.”
TRANSLATION: We don’t care if those nine girls were abused. We’d rather have a child molester who can vote for our tax bill, than any Democrat.
As disturbing as that revelation was at the time, the following day, Trump made it worse.
He appeared before reporters, and he made sure to blast Moore’s Democratic opponent, by calling him “terrible on crime,” and “bad for the border and the military,” while he gave Moore his tacit endorsement.
When asked if it’s better to have an alleged pedophile than a Democrat in the Senate, Trump replied, “He denies it.” (He used the word denies, denied or denial 10 times)
Gee, that sounds familiar.
Like the presidential candidate, who was accused by more than a dozen women of being the subjects of his abuse, but who denied anything ever happened.
Then he called them liars.
Mr. Trump knows his supporters, like those people who support Moore, are willing to believe him — regardless of what he does.
That’s why during his campaign, he boasted that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue, without the fear of any repercussions (at least at the polls).
Except, by supporting Moore, he’s reopening those claims against himself.
While there is now a flood of new names of sexual predators being revealed daily, Trump’s past alleged indiscretions aren’t going to be so easily dismissed.
He may have bragged about being untouchable to his devotees in 2016, but since then times have certainly changed.
He’s no longer a candidate, and most Americans don’t support him — or his actions.
If he isn’t careful, today’s heightened awareness about men and their menacing behavior toward women, could cripple his presidency.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter and anchor for Entertainment Tonight and 20-year TV news veteran. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.