Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
At the time that this article was written, the outcome of the Senate race in Alabama was yet to be determined. And, if forced to wager a guess, I would be truly shocked if Judge Roy Moore didn’t win this election, in convincing fashion.
To say that Judge Moore, the candidate, has been a lightning rod for controversy would indeed be an understatement. To date, ten women have come forward to accuse Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of behaving inappropriately toward them — and in some cases, assaulting them — when most of them were minors and he was in his 30s. These daunting allegations include molesting a 14-year-old and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old when he was an adult prosecutor in Etowah County district attorney’s office.
Moore has repeatedly denied the sexual harassment claims. In fact, he contends that he never molested anyone and alleges that he never met any of the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.
If elected, Senate Republicans would figuratively be caught between a rock and a hard place in terms of what to do with Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate. Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has said in a statement that if Mr. Moore wins the election, “the Senate should vote to expel him.”
Donald Trump, on the other hand, has been more than willing to offer his full-throated support to Moore’s candidacy. Trump even went as far as to campaign for Moore in a neighboring state to Alabama, and to record a robo call message on his behalf. Speaking from both sides of his mouth, once again, Trump said that he found the allegations being leveled at Moore “troubling,” but then went on to insist that Moore had repeatedly denied the accusations, which in Trump’s mind meant he [Moore] had to be believed.
Truth of the matter is this: Trump is in no position to cast stones when it comes to allegations of sexual harassment. On Oct. 8, 2016, The Washington Post published footage from 2005 of serial misogynist Donald Trump bragging that as a famous man, he can get away with anything. Like kissing women without waiting for permission. And grabbing women by the genitals. Trump has defended these comments, repeatedly, as “locker room talk.” When pressed by Anderson Cooper during the second presidential debate, he said that he absolutely had not sexually assaulted women.
Both Donald Trump and Roy Moore are blatant examples of the deplorable way that too many men with power treat and abuse women. Neither one of these men deserve to hold public office or deserve the public’s trust. Trump, an admitted serial misogynist, and Moore, a serial pedophile with no remorse. What has this country come to?