One doesn’t have to be a lawyer to figure a 47-page indictment means business. And when most of those pages detail infractions down to the penny… that’s trouble. Whether Duncan Hunter Jr. (R-CA) is keeping it real and wondering if Italy and fine dining was worth the trouble, or shrugging his shoulders like the reinventor-of-scandal-in-Chief he idolizes and asking what’s the biggie, he better start dancing fast because this case looks tight as a snare drum.
Republican taste for hypocrisy is so well established it should be a permanent plank in the Party’s bylaws. Whether it’s wrinkled scolds with a sudden taste for 22 year olds, shrill homophobes with boyfriends in the shadows, or “drain the swamp” posers like Hunter Jr. using campaign funds like a home equity line, the GOP has long been much heavier on talk than walk when it comes to honesty and governance.
It really doesn’t get much swampier than the Duncan Hunter Jr. profile. Groomed to take over his father’s Congressional seat, Hunter Jr. came into office at age 32 in 2008. Early on his wife was paid as a campaign staff member, $117,000 between 2010-17’. Hunter corruption was a full family affair. He had barely been sworn in following re-election when campaign coffers began paying for concert tickets, sports bar tabs, beach trips and even dental bills. Eventually lavish trips to Italy and Hawaii were earmarked “official” business supporters should feel fortunate to underwrite. What a hands on Representative we have!
Apparently, Hunter Jr’s. campaign treasurer was sufficiently alarmed by the spending to voice serious concerns to the Congressman, who poo pooed “repeated inquiries” as “silly” and a sign of disloyalty by “trying to create a paper trail on me.” Gee, that sure sounds familiar. Of course Hunter was first in line on Capital Hill to embrace the Trump candidacy, the same day as Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY), recently charged with insider trading…great minds bilk alike!
Fact is there is more than enough evidence of GOP disdain for all things ethical and on the level when it comes to its membership, that simply questioning their political spines in supporting Trump outrages doesn’t cut it. Rather, a more accurate view may be a Trump Presidency seen from the beginning as open season for graft, a welcome surprise from the expected Clinton era, which promised far more robust scrutiny.
Instead of asking why the GOP has “tolerated” Trump, perhaps we need to work under the premise they count on him and his cesspool to abet their anything goes shenanigans. Trump “deep state” tropes need not be applicable only to his wretchedness; instead it’s a new set of chapters in the GOP handbook, an emerging tutorial for maintaining viability when caught with a hand in the cookie jar.
Doubtless Hunter Jr. will lean heavily on a political victimization narrative as his career implodes. Perhaps his alamo will be begging the guy he called “the greatest President of my generation” for a pardon. Why not? As for those of us not immersed in slime, it may be a good idea to start considering the worst of the Grand Old Party to be the main, and stop expecting more from a criminal enterprise.
How should this play in November? Maybe every GOP candidate needs to be reminded daily of their crooked pedigree, and forced to publicly own or renounce it. Let there be no room for dithering. If they embrace their Party, trounce them at the polls. If they exhibit some integrity, well, that’s exactly what will save their Party… everyone’s the better for it. Either way we have only ourselves to blame for the cost of allowing squatters from a den of thieves free rides this fall. BC