Missouri's GOP Senate Primary Is Packed With Criminals


     The GOP sure does love putting criminals into public offices, especially for the "law and order" party. It's almost as if this message applies when it fits their narrative and then alone. I'm not even talking about people elected to office who are later revealed to be criminals. While the signs are often there, for the sake of fairness, these instances shouldn't count. I'm talking about people with known criminal backgrounds who get elected anyway.

     Lauren Boebert, the QAnon-supporting representative from Colorado, has been arrested more times than Tupac, charged with resisting officers among other charges; her husband is also a registered sex offender. Sean Parnell recently dropped out of the Pennsylvania Senate primary even after Donald Trump personally intervened to try to save his campaign. Parnell has been accused of some of the most atrocious acts of physical, emotional, and perhaps other forms of abuse against his wife and children; his ex-wife being granted full custody for the sake of the kids is why he dropped out in the first place. In Georgia, a leading GOP Senate candidate, albeit without the endorsement of establishment Republicans, is Herschel Walker, a football player with a long history of domestic violence, terroristic threatening, and aggravated assault; in his autobiography, he admitted to these claims, including a particular incident in which he put a gun to a woman's head and threatened to kill her. Walker's wife also illegally voted for Donald Trump in 2020. Meanwhile, in Texas, Monica De La Cruz, a top GOP congressional candidate, has recently been accused of verbally abusing her teenage stepdaughter and physically assaulting her when she began to cry as a result.

     Missouri is a special cesspool. Governor Mike Parson, who is at the "accuse a reporter of 'hacking' for pressing a button on the computer" age, refuses to pardon black people, most notably Kevin Strickland, a man wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years for a crime committed when he was a teen that the two suspects, the victim, and the prosecution all say he had nothing to do with. (Thankfully, Strickland was freed just days ago.) He could, however, pardon Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who PLEADED GUILTY to threatening protestors walking past their home with an assault rifle and a handgun, respectively. Mark McCloskey is now running for Senate. Like I said, apparently his wife isn't allowed to in a red state. The GOP made martyrs out of these multimillionaires placed on misdemeanor probation for what should have been a felony charge and even invited them to speak at the 2020 Republican National Convention.

     Also running is Eric Greitens, who served as governor for 18 months before resigning after being accused of sexual assault and charged with serious felonies related to campaign finance and other ethics violations. After years of legal wrangling, the charges were dropped. His one major piece of legislation during his tenure was an anti-union "right to work" law, which was repealed by voters via referendum months later.

     At the end of the day, the GOP is running criminals to appeal to and appease criminals. America's voters deserve better.

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