That’s what Republicans are like now, and you have to expect it, ever since Trump gave them permission to do it.
What am I talking about? Well, a lot of incidents, but the latest one is this: “Nebraska Republican state Sen. Julie Slama said she was ‘in shock’ when Donald Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster allegedly put his hand ‘up my dress’ at a GOP dinner,” Huffington Post reported on Friday, April 15, 2022 (read story here).
More details: “As I was … walking to my table, I felt a hand reach up my skirt, up my dress and the hand was Charles Herbster’s,” she said during an Omaha radio program. “I was in shock. I was mortified. It’s one of the most traumatizing things I’ve ever been through.” She added, “I watched as five minutes later he grabbed the buttocks of another young woman.”
It gets worse. Hal Daub, a former Republican mayor of Omaha and now a University of Nebraska regent, and a Herbster supporter, retorted, “I’d like to ask her what she was wearing.” She responded with the tweet at right.
I don’t mean to bug my readers by harping on this, but the Republican Party of the past doesn’t exist anymore. You can’t vote for that Republican Party because it isn’t there.
I recall that Trump, who infamously bragged about groping women, characterized his capture of the GOP as a “hostile takeover.” The GOP’s slide into dissolution began before then, but he hurried it along and amplified it. The problem, I think, is that he convinced all Republicans that the entire range of bad behavior is okay.
When a Republican woman in elected office can’t attend a Republican Party function without being sexually assaulted by a Republican candidate for governor, well, that’s where the GOP is now.
Bottom line, the GOP has been hijacked by liars, thieves, racists, bigots, and sexual predators. Today, if you vote for “Republicans,” that’s what you’ll get. And the Trump movement now dominating the GOP is a backlash against progress on racism, gender equality, and combating discrimination.
Herbster is endorsed by Trump and far ahead in GOP primary polling. He’ll probably be the Republican nominee. Cook’s Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and every other political oddsmaker rates Nebraska as “solid Republican.” He’ll probably be Nebraska’s next governor.
But it’s even worse than that. At a time when the public is losing faith in Democratic leadership on the economy, Covid-19, and Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Republican Party plans to compete in the 2022 midterms by running on a platform of bashing gays and persecuting LGBQT kids, as if there’s nothing better to talk about. In their case, there isn’t. Beyond that, they don’t have a platform. Or any blueprint for solving the country’s problems.
Decent people can’t vote for the Republican Party, no matter how frustrating the Democrats are (although you shouldn’t believe that high gas prices and inflation are Biden’s fault). It wouldn’t do any good, anyway. The people calling themselves “Republicans” have no solutions for these problems, and perhaps there aren’t any, but in they’ll only make things worse.
Their “solution” to gun violence is let anyone have a gun and take it anywhere, including into movie theaters, kindergartens, and daycares. Their “solution” to Covid-19 is conspiracy theories, quack cures, and refusing to get vaccinated or wear masks. Their “solution” to inflation is cutting unemployment benefits and food stamps, and if they’re returned to power, they’ll likely go after Social Security and Medicare again.
Or, alternatively, they’ll spending the next two years staging a show trial of Hunter Biden and impeaching Biden and his officials. Nothing else will get done.
It’s no better in state legislatures. Where Republicans are in control, they squander taxpayer money on sham “audits” of the 2020 election, pass hate legislation, and look the other way when a white, male Republican gets away with reckless homicide (they finally impeached him, but it was like pulling teeth).
Don’t say you weren’t warned. I just warned you. I’ve been warning this blog’s readers all along that they can’t vote for this “Republican Party,” and it’s going to take a lot of repairs and housecleaning before responsible citizens can vote for “Republicans” again.
Photos: Hal Daub, above left; Trump and Charles Herbster, below right