Republican Family Values, Parnell Edition

 

He had been endorsed by the malignant demagogue and therefore was a favorite to win the Republican nomination to run for retiring Sen. Pat Toomey's seat in Pennsylvania. Sean Parnell seemed to have it going for him until his violent relationship with his now ex-wife surfaced, and Donald "Lying Loser" Trump's endorsement won't do him any good now. Yesterday, faced with a court ruling that his ex-wife would retain sole custody of their children, Parnell quit the Senate race:

"The judge’s order last week, made public in court documents Monday, outlined in detail the allegations of domestic and other abuse Laurie Snell had made against her estranged husband, and concluded that 'Parnell did commit some acts of abuse in the past.' Parnell has denied the allegations. [snip]

Snell has accused Parnell of multiple forms of abuse before their separation, including choking her and hitting one of their children so hard he left a 'full handprint' mark on the child’s back. She testified that Parnell has thrown chairs across the room toward her; pinned her down and screamed profanities at her; called her crazy in front of the children; and once dropped her off on Interstate 79 when she was six months pregnant and told her to get an abortion."  (our emphasis)

Some Republicans have skeletons in their closet; this guy had an entire collection of them. And "told her to get an abortion?"  That's Trump and Christofascist-level hypocrisy.  Apparently, Republican leadership in the Senate wasn't sold on Parnell (perhaps his wife spoke to them), and they declined to stand behind him. When will we see "Pennsylvania Republicans In Disarray" stories in the media? Not likely.

Dems, on the other hand have a couple of good choices in populist Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta,  and Marine veteran centrist Dem Rep. Conor Lamb, whom President Biden has touted in local appearances. As for Parnell, given his domestic abuse background and general toxic male character, he has a promising future in the Republican / New Confederate / Active Shooter Party.

(photo: Parnell and his cult leader. Better turn those thumbs down. Twitter)

Trump-Supported Candidates A Rogues Gallery

The malignant sociopath who recently stained the Oval Office has no core political beliefs beyond those that he thinks will benefit him, because for Donald "Loser" Trump the sole qualification for any office is fealty to him and no one else. With vengeance on his mind against insufficiently loyal Republicans, he's inserting himself into Republican primaries at an aggressive clip. As a result, he's drawn a disgraceful collection of hacks, felons, lunatics and bigots to run for office in 2022, and he couldn't care less about their lack of character, only that they are blindly loyal to him.

The Associated Press has a sampling of some of the disgraceful candidates that Trump is supporting in 2022, many of whom are primarying Republicans who have had the temerity to cross Dear Leader. Here's a sampling:

"In her new book, 'I’ll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw at the Trump White House,” Stephanie Grisham, the former White House press secretary and chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump, accuses her ex-boyfriend of growing abusive as their relationship deteriorated. The ex-boyfriend, Max Miller, was a fellow White House aide and is now running for Congress in Ohio with Trump’s enthusiastic blessing. [snip]

Trump last month threw his support behind football great Herschel Walker, a longtime friend, for an open Senate seat in Georgia, a race the former president had urged Walker to enter. That endorsement came more than a month after an Associated Press review of hundreds of pages of public records tied to Walker’s business ventures and his divorce uncovered accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened to kill his ex-wife and her new boyfriend and exaggerated his business success, among other things. [snip]

And in Pennsylvania, Trump’s chosen candidate for an open Senate seat, Sean Parnell, has faced questions from rival Jeff Bartos over restraining orders sought by his wife in 2017 and 2018 during divorce proceedings. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday that he had asked a judge 'to ban his wife and her attorney from talking publicly about past protection-from-abuse orders against him.'”  (our emphasis)

While most voters will be turned off by this slate of sociopaths and abusers, remember that the Trump base saw charges of sexual abuse and rape credibly leveled repeatedly against him and brushed them off. If you can pawn off the charges as "fake news," then it's not necessary for Trump to vett any candidate, as long as the candidate is a fierce Trump cultist.

BONUS: Then there's this report from BuzzFeed News about seditionist far-right "Oath Keepers" running for office and winning. These domestic terrorists were prominent in the violent assault on the Capitol on January 6.