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Crimes are no longer a disqualification for Republican candidates
Crimes are no longer a disqualification for Republican candidates
Now-former congressman Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) outside his Capitol Hill office in 2014. He admitted to hiring undocumented workers, hiding $900,000 from tax authorities and making false statements under oath but thinks Staten Island Republicans should vote him back into office. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
By Michael Scherer May 1 at 6:00 AM
Former New York congressman Michael Grimm is a felon who has admitted to hiring undocumented workers, hiding $900,000 from tax authorities and making false statements under oath. To hear him tell it, that’s a reason Staten Island Republicans should vote him back into office.
“It’s almost identical to what the president has been going through,” Grimm says of the federal investigation that led to his imprisonment. “It’s not an accident that under the Obama administration the Justice Department was used politically. And that is all starting to come out.”
Grimm has uncovered a new reality in the constantly changing world of Republican politics: Criminal convictions, once seen as career-enders, are no longer disqualifying. In the era of President Trump, even time spent in prison can be turned into a positive talking point, demonstrating a candidate’s battle scars in a broader fight against what he perceives as liberal corruption.
In a startling shift from “law-and-order Republicans,” Trump has attacked some branches of law enforcement, especially those pursuing white-collar malfeasance, as his allies and former campaign officials are ensnared in various investigations.
...
Now-former congressman Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) outside his Capitol Hill office in 2014. He admitted to hiring undocumented workers, hiding $900,000 from tax authorities and making false statements under oath but thinks Staten Island Republicans should vote him back into office. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)
By Michael Scherer May 1 at 6:00 AM
Former New York congressman Michael Grimm is a felon who has admitted to hiring undocumented workers, hiding $900,000 from tax authorities and making false statements under oath. To hear him tell it, that’s a reason Staten Island Republicans should vote him back into office.
“It’s almost identical to what the president has been going through,” Grimm says of the federal investigation that led to his imprisonment. “It’s not an accident that under the Obama administration the Justice Department was used politically. And that is all starting to come out.”
Grimm has uncovered a new reality in the constantly changing world of Republican politics: Criminal convictions, once seen as career-enders, are no longer disqualifying. In the era of President Trump, even time spent in prison can be turned into a positive talking point, demonstrating a candidate’s battle scars in a broader fight against what he perceives as liberal corruption.
In a startling shift from “law-and-order Republicans,” Trump has attacked some branches of law enforcement, especially those pursuing white-collar malfeasance, as his allies and former campaign officials are ensnared in various investigations.
...
More at link.
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