November 13, 2017--Republicans Hit Rock Bottom

Since June 2015 when Donald Trump descended the escalator in Trump Tower to announce he was running for president (at the time I didn't appreciate the living metaphor of this descent), along with many others I wondered out loud about when he would finally hit rock bottom in his words and behavior. 

Would his calling Vietnam war hero John McCain a "loser" because he was shot down and captured--"I like winners, not prisoners"--turn enough voters off and knock Trump the draft dodger out of the race?

Or would it be the end when he mocked the gold star parents who spoke movingly about their son who had been killed in action?

Certainly, when the Billy Bush tape became known, the one where Trump bragged about grabbing pussies and how easy it is to get sex if you're rich and famous, certainly that alone would do him in.

But, no, it failed to do so. To his supporters his vulgarity and brashness made him even more attractive--their kind of person--and the rest is history.

He continues to speak and act outrageously now that he is president. Almost daily there is something in his tweets to delight his most fervent followers. It is likely true that, as he boasted, he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. 

Now, Trump may have company in Alabaman Judge Roy Moore, the Republican nominee who is running to replace Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump's Attorney General.

Moore who is convincingly accused of having repeatedly molested a 14 year-old girl in 1979 refuses to withdraw from the race and by all indications, in spite of this, is likely to be elected.

Most Republican leaders are apoplectic. After their stunning defeats in Virginia and elsewhere last week they are in full panic that (1) Moore, will refuse to step aside and further tarnish the GOP brand or (2) he will be elected and they will then not know what to do with him. Ensconced in the Senate he will remind voters daily that pedophiles are welcome under the Republican tent.

Further, Moore's continuing campaign will surface all sorts of undesirable, image-mangling Alabaman Republican leaders who have been saying that they will vote for him even if he is guilty because anything, anything is better than having a Democrat representing in Congress the great state of Alabama. Pedophiles yes; Democrats, no.

Some from the evangelical community--major players in the Heart of Dixie State--have compared Moore to Joseph of Mary and Joseph. 

Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler, for example, noted that there are many older men cavorting with teens in the Bible, including Mary and Joseph, who "became parents of Jesus." This is a direct quote.

So, if one is still wondering when we would hit rock bottom in our Trumpian politics take note--we just have.