By When I get my daily dose of American news via the New York Times app, I cannot help but thank the universe that I am living in Europe. Because for all the current issues and crises we are experiencing, they pale into comparison when we look closely at the horrific path that American politics seems to be going down.
Yesterday, after his umpteenth holiday, the President of the United States Donald Trump yet again aligned to another terrible taboo when he outright showed his support for Ron Moore in his candidacy for the Alabama seat in the American Senate. For those who do not know who Ron Moore is, he is an American politician and former Alabama state judge known for being twice elected to and twice removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for failing to uphold the United States Constitution.
Now that’s right, you did read it correctly – he failed to uphold the United States Constitution in his role as Alabama State Judge. That fact alone should eliminate him from any hope of ever holding an office such as a Senator, right? Wrong, and in fact this isn’t even the worst of it, because Mr Moore is also under suspicion of being a child molester. Yes, you read that correct again, a child molester.
Moore has been accused by at least five women of attempting to coerce them into sexual relations while they were teenagers, with one woman claiming to have been molested when she was as young as sixteen years old. Beverly Young Nelson, stated at a news conference in New York that Mr Moore attacked her when she was a teenager and he was a prosecutor in Etowah County, Alabama.
Defiance of the worst kind
Yet despite these accusations, incredibly, Mr Moore is neck and neck for the position with his rival, Democrat Doug Jones, and is actually beginning to move ahead in the most recent polls. All this in spite of the country-wide exposure of the allegations that have arisen against him.
At this stage, I know what you are thinking. Surely the mere suspicion that a candidate is a possible paedophile should not only eliminate him as an election candidate, but it should also eliminate him from public life altogether. Because that is the normal thing to do when somebody is faced with such an accusation, right? Yet again, Moore is going against the norm and is out there actually riding on the crest of this defiance.
And what is worse is that Moore has public support from such figures as the state auditor, Jim Zeigler, who said recently that “there’s nothing to see here, single man, early 30s, never been married, dating teenage girls. Never been married and he liked younger girls. According to The Washington Post account he never had sexual intercourse with any of them.”
As if such behaviour is acceptable.
So here we are in 2017, looking at the very high probability that a suspected paedophile could be elected to the US Senate with real support from local Alabama citizens who seem to see no harm in his behaviour. And not only has this man the support of the citizens, he has also still got the full support of the local party representatives with just one statewide Republican organisation — the Young Republican Federation of Alabama — having announced is intention to withdraw its support for Moore.
The final horrific twist in this tale must go to Governor Kay Ivey who has actually said that she believes Moore’s accusers, but still intends to vote for him.
Support in the worst places
And finally, it is now time for the ultimate support to weigh in and give his opinion on Moore – by stating that “he totally denies it”, Trump is openly supporting Moore despite the outright divide in the Republican party with the likes of House Speaker Paul Ryan and the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stating that the accusations against Moore were credible, and calling for him to abandon his campaign. Some Republican senators have also warned that Moore could be expelled if he were to be elected in the December 12th vote.
But Trump’s simpleminded and scandalous reason for supporting Moore is hidden inside an agenda of anybody but a Democrat. He was quoted this week saying that “We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat, (Doug) Jones, I’ve looked at his record. It’s terrible on crime. It’s terrible on the border. It’s terrible on the military.”
So while Europe is in crisis and we seem to have huge political and civil issues every week, we have not lost our sense of disgust when faced with acts of a sinister nature, be it sexual harassment, bribery or theft by our public representatives. And while we still experience acts such as these, we generally deal with them instantly and without remorse or leniency.
Still the greatest country in the world?
So is America still the greatest country in the world as so many American citizens seem to state whenever they get a chance? Certainly not in my opinion, but I would not tarnish the whole nation with the same brush. There are indeed many different aspects of the American political system and there are of course people of high integrity who do their best to serve on a daily basis. Yet, there seems to be a terrible thread which is running though their society and one that needs to be examined more closely. It really is a case of allowing too much indecency to go unnoticed or even supported. And even if Moore is found to be guilty, it is unlikely that many of his supporters will change their mind about him. They, like many of Trump’s faithful, seem so hell bent on ensuring that Democrats don’t go back into power that they would sacrifice their humanity in the process.
And once they do such a thing, they enable those dregs of society to not only gain power, but also to gain respect.
And all of this at the expense of the innocence of their children who will be forever scared because their fellow Americans want to get one up on the other side.
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