Remember when the Republicans portrayed themselves as the champions of law and order? Well, we can throw that out the window along with any other principles as they have been running since 2020 on the platform of supporting the last utterance of Donald Trump.
Last week a party Lincoln would never recognize nominated convicted felon Donald Trump to return to the White House. The Republican National Convention was a typical Trump rally – demonizing anyone perceived as different and a litany of lies lapped up by a crowd of supporters.
When Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted on 16 counts of corruption last year, other Democrats called for his resignation. His poll standing dropped so low that he opted to run for re-election as an Independent, not a Democrat. His conviction last week on all of those charges brought renewed calls for him to step down from friends and colleagues of long-standing.
In May of 2023, a New York jury found Trump guilty of “sexual abuse,” which Judge Lewis A. Kaplan clarified later that ruling:
“The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was ‘raped’ within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’ Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.”
Part of that $5 million judgment against Trump included his libelous defamation of his accuser – and Trump’s continued verbal assaults on his victim have resulted in additional fines.
And Republicans – did nothing, their silence condoning Trump’s heinous behavior. Misogyny is a tacit plank of the GOP’s platform.
In May another New York jury found Trump guilty of feloniously falsifying 34 business records as he tried to hide his $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. That’s more than twice the number of convictions as Menendez received.
And Republicans – did nothing, their “family values” rhetoric exposed as the fraud it has always been.
Well, Republicans did worse than nothing: they celebrated their lawless leader by choosing him as the best person to represent – what exactly?
Trump also faces an indictment for his “criminal scheme” to overturn the 2020 election by siccing a criminal mob on the U.S. Capitol despite being “notified repeatedly…by the people on whom he relied for candid advice on important matters, and who were best positioned to know the facts” that his “prolific lies” about election fraud “were untrue” and that Trump “deliberately disregarded the truth.”
The truth? With more than 30,573 lies documented by The Washington Post during his presidency, it should surprise no one that CNN found “more than 20 false claims in RNC acceptance speech.”
Trump lied about foreign affairs. Trump lied about the economy. Trump lied in claiming that the destruction of Social Security and Medicare was a Democratic goal – when it is only Republicans who float those catastrophes. Trump lied by claiming no inflation during his term though the Consumer Price Index rose more than 7% during his four years.
And, of course, Trump lied about the results of the 2020 election – as had other speakers each night of the convention.
For the past nine years it is a guarantee that if Trump is speaking, there will be a lie in the offing. It is evident that Trump is “a liar, and the truth is not him,” an appropriate citation that some Trump devotees will ignore while trumpeting their pseudo-religiosity.
And who does a convicted felon and assaulter of a woman surround himself with to carry out his illegalities?
Former campaign director Paul Manafort and former deputy campaign director Rick Gates have been convicted of Trump era crimes. Another campaign director, Mike Romano is under indictment.
Trump strategist Steve Bannon reported to prison just the other day. Political consultant Roger Stone has been convicted.
National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and trade adviser Peter Navarro also hope for a Trump second term, where, if the whim hits him, he might pardon their convictions. Navarro exited prison in time to address the RNC, where he “received some of the most thunderous applause of convention speakers to date,” according to the Associated Press.
Four Trump lawyers have been convicted of crimes, including Michael Cohen, the fixer for Trump enterprises. Five more Trump lawyers are under indictment, including Rudy Giuliani, who has already been slapped with a $148 million civil judgment for defaming two former Georgia election officials.
Donald Trump has shown himself to be a corrupt leader of a corrupt administration. And Republicans last week showed us where they stand on law and order.
(Gary Edmondson is chair of the Stephens County Democratic Party.)