I was disturbed so many Republican leaders deserted Donald Trump within hours of the publication of the now infamous 2005 video, though I wasn’t surprised. Most politicians are cowards, prone to panic. But they didn’t stop to think.
For one thing, Trump is running against (hello, planet Earth!) Hillary Clinton, whose husband did far worse than talk dirty. He did dirty—a lot of it, often in the Oval Office of the White House–and ended up being disbarred. And Hillary herself is known to have seriously harassed the very women who were victims of her husband’s creepy misogynistic behavior. What a pair.
Furthermore, Trump was correct in the debate in calling Hillary a “criminal.” She is, as the Wikileaks are in the process of making painfully clear, if anyone was so stupid or fundamentally dishonest (like the FBI and the Justice Department) not to see or admit already.
In one of this first batch of Wikileaks, Hillary goes on at length in a speech about the specifics of how meticulously careful she was about security details when in foreign countries, removing the battery from her BlackBerry before she got off a plane, etc., the very information she suddenly couldn’t recall nineteen times, pretending to be a security idiot, when being interviewed by the FBI. There’s so much more it’s not even worth getting into at the moment because it’s not the subject of this article, but, as I said, this is only the first of ten weekly tranches promised by Assange. It will go on and on past the election. Heaven help our country if she is elected.
But back to those timid (I’ll try not to call them cowardly again) Republicans who bailed instantaneously the last day or so. Just who did they think Donald Trump was in the first place? St. Francis of Assisi? Everyone with an IQ in triple—make that double—digits knew who he was. But then they ran off at the first ugly video. As we all know, there will be more, especially since Trump won the second debate handily, sending the mainstream media into a case of the vapors. What if he wins the third as well? He certainly has most of the substantive arguments in his favor.
No doubt many of those Republican leaders are now weighing their choices. Should I go back? What if more garbage comes out? (It will, but so what?) What if I remain a Trump critic? Will he be vindictive if he wins? (Maybe not, but you certainly won’t be getting any plum appointments.)
The real point here is that that pundits, politicians, and media will all agonize about what to say based on their own self-interest, often coming to the wrong conclusions. But the people are smarter. They know a crock when they see one. The public has long ago factored in The Donald’s colorful past. Some care, some don’t. They’re more concerned about our country than the media and the politicians are, both of whom are largely concerned only with themselves.
So, as you can tell from my headline, I have a suggestion to the panicked Republicans—get it together, pull on your storied big-boy pants, and join with Donald against Hillary. The reasons are so myriad they’re almost not worth mentioning, but I’ll just say the Supreme Court and the economy. Not enough? I’ll add rebuilding the military and health care. Still unconvinced? Want more Syrian refugees with twelve second cousins in ISIS in your hood? If that doesn’t do it for you, well, good bye. But hang on tight for the Hillary administration when the rule of law disappears from America. And do your best to ignore the Wikileaks as they come out for the next ten weeks—or is it fifty? As they say, what you don’t know, won’t hurt you.
Roger L. Simon is an award-winning novelist, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and co-founder of PJ Media. His latest book is I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn’t Already.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member