In 1983, two Congressmen were censured by the House of Representatives for having sexual relationships with underage congressional pages. One was a Democrat, Gerry Studds of Massachusetts, and the other was a Republican, Dan Crane of Illinois. Guess which one lost his next election, and guess which one went on to be reelected six more times by his constituents.
Fast forward to today, Democrats have learned the lesson that no matter what, they can hold onto to power as long they deny, deny, deny, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence.
This week, California Democrat Rep. Katie Hill denied having an affair with a staffer, despite evidence of a clearly improper relationship published by RedState. In fact, Hill is trying to flip the script and claim herself to be the victim of a “smear campaign.” While it seems like a curious strategy considering the evidence includes salacious photographs and text messages, but that’s the defense she’s running with and it’s hard not to see why she thinks it will work.
Joe Biden’s campaign was nearly over before it started due to allegations of improper touching from a number of women who say they felt uncomfortable and intimidated the then-Vice President’s wandering hands and bizarre sniffing. The amount of photographic evidence of this behavior is staggering and was hardly a secret—as these photos of Biden acting inappropriately with women and even young girls have been circulating since the Obama years. Nevertheless, Biden jumped in, undeterred, and women stopped coming forward and the scandal became a mere footnote of the 2020 election. Not even Biden’s primary opponents would touch it.
And then there’s the Biden quid pro quo scandal. We have video evidence of Joe Biden bragging about how he pressured Ukraine officials to fire the prosecutor who was investigating Burisma Holdings, where his son Hunter sat on the board earning more than $83,000 month because of his last name. The video is damning. He’s undeniably describing a quid pro quo that would benefit his son, and has since argued it was official Obama administration policy. Yet, Biden claims everything was above board, and even his primary opponents come to his defense.
How is it that politicians on the left feel they can confidently deny an allegation despite photographic or video evidence of it? It’s quite obvious, really.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam was discovered to have been in a medical school yearbook photo featuring a student in blackface, and another in a KKK uniform. He’s admitted to being in the photograph but hasn’t admitted which person he is. Despite multiple bipartisan calls to resign, Northam has held on and remains in office to this day. His Lt. Governor, Justin Fairfax, has been accused of sexual assault, and also remains in office. There’s ample evidence of Elizabeth Warren claiming for years she was Native American when it benefitted her career despite being whiter than most white people. Her campaign story of having been fired from her teaching job because she was pregnant was also found to have been a complete fiction thanks to evidence proving she was not fired at all, but yet she still climbs in the polls, and no one in the 2020 field will call her out for it. And don’t even get me started on Barack Obama and the scandals he hasn’t been held accountable for.
This isn’t limited to American Democrats either. Liberals in other countries also manage to survive despite evidence of guilt. Up in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was discovered to have donned blackface at least three times as an adult. It’s reasonable to believe there were more incidents since Trudeau himself suggested there might be more. He was endorsed by Barack Obama despite the scandal and was narrowly reelected earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Democrats are looking to impeach Trump with a case so weak they have to conduct their investigation in secret and selectively leak information that sounds damning until exculpatory context or information comes out later. The real quid pro quo is being ignored by the media because their mission isn’t to hold truth to power, it’s to unseat President Trump.
Democrat voters have access to the same evidence we do but repeatedly prove at the ballot box that they don’t care. Katie Hill knows this. Joe Biden knows this. Ralph Northam knew it, and so did Justin Trudeau. The left can demand impossible standards for Republicans, without having any standards of their own because, in the end, all that matters is electing champions of abortion, Medicare-for-all, radical LGBT ideology, etc. etc.
The media is only partially to blame. The Democratic Party has no incentive for cleaning up their act because they are rarely held accountable by their constituents. In 1994, Congressman Mel Reynolds (D-IL) was reelected despite having being indicted for, amongst other things, underage sexual assault and soliciting child pornography. He didn’t resign until after his conviction. How does someone get reelected in the wake of an indictment for underage sexual assault and soliciting child pornography? It’s all about that D after their name. Democrats protect their own, no matter what.
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Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis