Steve Benen notes the allegations of sexual misconduct by Steve Wynn, business tycoon and Finance chair of the Republican National Committee, and asks, perhaps sardonically, whether Wynn will now be forced out, and his contributions to various campaigns and to the RNC itself rejected:
Just a few months ago, as the public was first learning about the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the RNC seemed eager to exploit the controversy for partisan gain. In fact, the RNC invested considerable energy, not only in trying to tie Weinstein to Democratic candidates he supported, but also in demanding that DNC return any contributions they received from the Hollywood producer.
When the DNC was slow to respond, the Republican National Committee intensified its focus. It didn’t matter that Weinstein had no formal connection to Democratic politics; he was a Democratic donor and for the RNC, that was enough. “If the DNC truly stands up for women like they say they do, then returning Weinstein’s dirty money should be a no-brainer,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said in October.
In retrospect, this was a risky posture, not only because of the allegations of misconduct made against the president, but also because of the man the president asked to help lead the RNC’s fundraising efforts. As of today, Wynn is the RNC’s finance chair, a friend of Donald Trump, and a man accused of ”behavior that cumulatively would amount to a decades-long pattern of sexual misconduct.”
Hard to say. Senator McConnell’s deliberate hypocrisy with respect to the norms of the Senate only applying to Democrats suggests to me that the Republicans don’t see themselves as being subject to the same forces of ethics and morality as are the Democrats. They see themselves as somehow above those requirements, existing on a higher plane.
Tony Perkins’ willingness to give President Trump a “mulligan” on sexual indiscretions reinforces that perception.
On the other hand, several GOP elected officials have resigned in the last year over sexual misconduct charges of various sorts, or announced they’ll not be running for re-election.
Wynn is not an elected official. He’s a guy with a shitload of money and, I’m guessing, an iron grip on his business holdings. The shitload of money is probably the key phrase here, as money is now the God of the GOP. He may be forced out regardlessly, but only after a lot of anguished screaming by those sucking at his teat.
