The Republican party’s eternal shame

Dear craven Republicans,

Oh, so now you’re shocked? Now you’re scandalized? Now you’re fed up?

Long before you arrived at Armageddon, you had many endless opportunities to banish the sociopath. You could have done it on day one, when he came to the race with a track record of racist birtherism. You could have done it when he called Mexicans “rapists” and “criminals.” Or when he claimed that criticism of his past comments about women (pigs, dogs, animals)  was just political correctness. Or when he derided an anchorwoman by suggesting that she had her period. Or when he derided John McCain for spending years as a POW. Or when he said that a Republican rival’s father had abetted the Kennedy assassination. Or when he mimed and mocked a journalist’s physical disability. Or when he boasted that he’d be popular even if he shot somebody on Fifth Avenue.

The only reason you’re upset right now is because P***ygate threatens to turn off the voters you badly need to win in November: white suburban women. For decades, white suburban women have been stalwart Republican voters. Now they’re going to flee with all deliberate speed, and you know it. Your fear of serious political damage – not just for Trump’s prospects in swing states, but for your House and Senate candidates – has activated your moral compass.

But not all of you. Paul Ryan is suddenly “sickened,” Mitch McConnell is spouting outrage, Reince Priebus says no woman should ever be “talked about in this manner,” and a smattering of congressmen have yanked their endorsements. But even now, have we heard a peep from the evangelicals – or from their top guy, Mike Pence? I’m waiting for him to say something like this: “Donald Trump misspoke. He meant to say ‘cat.’ He wanted to grab their cats because he loves pets.”

Bottom line:

I have no sympathy whatsoever for you people. You created this Frankenstein monster, you fed him oxygen with your silence. And now you’re stuck with him; state ballot deadlines have long expired, and early voters have already begun to weigh in.

Lying to yourselves for so long is your eternal shame. Abetting a sociopath is your eternal shame. Now you’ll suffer the consequences. Live with it.

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