By Dustin Siggins
Thursday, October 16, 2016
First things first: The tape released last week that
showed Donald Trump talking graphically about making moves on a married woman
while himself married, and bragging that his social status and wealth allowed
him to grab women at will, is no surprise. It’s also completely unacceptable.
But it did give the media an excuse to discuss Trump
instead of new e-mails showing Hillary Clinton breaking the law. The Democratic
presidential nominee was also able to largely skate free from top-of-the-fold
coverage of how she plans to sell America’s sovereignty down the proverbial
river. Many Republicans and
conservatives bear blame for this, as demands for Trump to drop out over
unsurprising, disgusting comments made a decade ago overshadowed Clinton’s far
more relevant scandal.
As an officially Never Trump voter, I’m very glad to have
avoided the garbage fire that erupted Friday. While a lot has been written
about the situation, here are three points that have largely been ignored.
Let’s Get Some
Perspective, Folks
First, as pointed out in a viral Facebook meme and a
powerful piece at PJ Media, most of the people expressing shock and horror at
Trump’s derogatory 2005 comments are either lying or totally unaware of
themselves. In a country where women average four sex partners and men average
seven, 40 million Americans view pornography (which is often violent and has
been linked to sex trafficking), and Bill Clinton isn’t in jail, Trump’s
comments are just the extreme version of what happens every day to and for
millions of Americans.
As importantly, the brouhaha over decade-old comments
shows the Left’s convenient lie: That it’s past time to move on from moral
matters. That standard appears to only apply when conservatives demand
standards for those in public office. Certainly not in Hollywood, or in video
games, or for politicians with the surname Clinton.
Second, Trump’s base of supporters are not standing with
him because he’s a paragon of virtue. Many simply see him as the
anti-Washington vote—a man who has said he’ll tear down a system of power that,
economically, has failed everyone but the wealthy for decades.
If voters wanted a semi-moral person for president of the
United States, neither of the current major-party candidates would meet that
standard. Trump has been a public boor for decades, and Hillary Clinton has
enabled her husband’s alleged abuse of women. She’s also attacked Bill’s
accusers since the 1990s.
The GOP Picked
Trump On Purpose
Lastly, and most importantly: The establishment GOP owns
Trump, and abandoning him now can’t change that. In March, the GOP primary
functionally turned into a two-man race: Trump versus Sen. Ted Cruz, with Ohio
Gov. John Kasich in a distant third. Yet three weeks after Sen. Marco Rubio
dropped out of the race, only two senators had backed Cruz.
Trump was largely reviled by GOP senators, yet Cruz’s
bombastic and self-serving style of Senate activism concerned them only
slightly less than Trump’s problematic personal and professional ethics, and
policy backflips. Likewise, influential Republicans like former Senate majority
leaders Trent Lott and Bob Dole, and former House Speaker John Boehner, backed
Trump
It is true that neither candidate received a lot of
establishment backing, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s endorsement of
Trump was somewhat balanced out by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s backing of
Cruz. Additionally, Trump garnered just one Senate backer, and Cruz did receive
more Capitol Hill support—but where were dozens of other Republican senators
and representatives?
Their radio silence at the time speaks
volumes—re-election was more important than making sure an actual conservative
beat Trump. As importantly, where at the convention were these people who are
now abandoning Trump at a record pace? They wait until now to make a stand? Over comments a decade old, that offer nothing
new except salacious headlines?
The silence of elected and other powerful Republicans
during the endgame of the GOP primary spoke volumes. Cruz made a lot of enemies
in the U.S. Senate and elsewhere, something Trump pointed out in a debate. But
he holds actual conservative principles, and on his worst day cannot match the
vitriolic and boorish style of Trump.
Of course, now Republicans can’t ditch Trump fast enough.
Thanks, folks—you helped give us Trump, and then when comments from the Bush
era came to light, you carried Clinton’s water. That’s some impressive
leadership, right there.
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