GOP Strategist: If You Turned ‘Blind Eye’ To Trump, ‘Shut Up’ About Harvey Weinstein (TWEETS)

By
Darrell Lucus
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The biggest story of the week that isn’t related to Donald Trump or the Las Vegas shooting broke on Thursday, when The New York Times revealed that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein had paid thousands of dollars over the years to women who accused him of sexually harassing them. While The Times article makes for horrifying reading, almost as horrifying is that Weinstein’s debauchery had reportedly been an open secret on both coasts for years–and yet, no one reported about it.

But if anyone saw any good news in this, it was a significant element of the right. After all, Weinstein is an open and unashamed liberal, and has been one of the largest donors to Democratic candidates for several years. Combined with the relative silence from late-night comedians on this issue, the result was a veritable feeding frenzy from prominent conservatives.

But one Republican is having none of it–longtime Republican consultant John Weaver. You may know Weaver as one of the principal advisers to John McCain’s 2008 campaign. He was also the top strategist for John Kasich’s campaign. When he saw his fellow Republicans join the feeding frenzy on Weinstein, he felt compelled to remind them of the 500-pound gorilla in their own room–Donald Trump.

That’s right–many of the same Republicans rejoicing at Weinstein’s downfall and calling out Democrats and the media for propping up are among the same people who tried to convince us that it wasn’t really a big deal that Trump openly boasted that he could treat women any way he wanted because he was a celebrity. Peterson, for instance, thinks Trump is a textbook example of how a real man should act.

In a further contrast, Weinstein was fired by his own board on Sunday night. As we all know, Trump faced virtually no pressure to pull out of the race after the tapes came out.

One Republican who in particular would do well to heed Weaver’s advice is First Son Donald Trump Jr. When Weinstein claimed he planned to devote his energies while on sabbatical from his company to fighting the NRA and throwing a “retirement party” for Trump, Donald Jr. went off on him.

And yet, when two women told The Times last year that Trump had groped them, Donald Jr. casually dismissed it as a hit job in an interview with WBT in Charlotte. Listen here.

Donald Jr. also defended his father’s disgusting comments, saying that they proved he was just “a normal person.”

Uh huh. So do normal people brag about how they can “grab them by the p***y”? And do normal people shell out scads of money to keep the truth about their debauchery under wraps? Apparently in the world of Donald Jr. and many other Republicans, the answer to the first question is “yes,” while the answer to the second is “no.” Fortunately, as Weaver refreshingly demonstrated, not all Republicans’ moral compasses are that warped.

(featured image courtesy Peabody Awards, available under a Creative Commons-BY license)

Darrell Lucus
Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.

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