Day 320: RNC Back to Supporting Someone They Think is a Child Molester
Just three weeks ago, the Republican National Committee cut off Roy Moore in his race for the vacant Alabama Senate seat against the Democratic candidate, former federal prosecutor Doug Jones.
The RNC is pulling out of a joint fundraising agreement it had with Moore, according to a senior party official briefed on the decision. It is also canceling a field program it had set up ahead of the state’s Dec. 12 special election. The committee had about a dozen paid canvassers in Alabama working for Moore. It will no longer transfer any money to the race.
There’s only one reason that the RNC divorced Moore: they believed the numerous women — now up to at least nine — that came forward alleging that he engaged in sexual activity with them while he was a 30-something and they were teenagers.
Two of the victims were just 14 and 15 at the time. Moore asked one out as she was outside a custody hearing in the courthouse. He cruised for teens at high school football games and the mall, before being banned from the latter location.
During a softball interview with Fox News stooge Sean Hannity, Moore gave the bizarre defense that he never dated a girl without her mother’s permission and that he “generally” didn’t date teenage girls.
In the weeks since the allegations surfaced, the evidence against Moore has only strengthened. While Moore denied even knowing the girls, the amount of evidence, considering the length of time between then and now, is staggering: witnesses, high school yearbooks that Moore signed, decades-old diary entries, notes from Moore to the then-teenagers.
When the RNC cut off Moore, it was a move supported by most inside the party.
The move comes as the party intensifies its effort to pressure Moore out of the race. On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on the candidate to “step aside.” McConnell also said he believed the accounts of Moore’s female accusers, who told the Washington Post that Moore pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.
National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner said that if Moore refuses to withdraw and wins the race, the Senate should move to expel him. On Friday, one day after the accusations surfaced, the NRSC withdrew from its joint fundraising agreement with Moore.
But then, Donald Trump offered a half endorsement of Moore. Then a full-throated endorsement. Eventually, McConnell backtracked his statement too.
And just like that, the RNC is throwing its full support behind Moore again.
Three weeks ago, Republicans and the RNC believed Moore’s accusers. They couldn’t stand shoulder-to-shoulder with someone who they obviously thought committed repulsive acts. Despite more accusers coming forward, and additional evidence mounting, the RNC has flip-flopped and are supporting Moore yet again.
The only conclusion is that the RNC is happy to support someone that they think preyed on teenage girls when he was in his 30s because there’s a Senate seat they want to win.
Pretty rich from the party that likes to tout the importance of family values.
320 days in, 1142 to go
Follow us on Twitter @TrumpTimer
