Shameful and Gross

In May of 2001, a young congressional staffer went missing in Washington, DC. Her name was Chandra Levy. She had been murdered in a park in Washington and her remains were not found until a year later.

During the course of the investigation, work leaded out of the Washington, DC police that Levy might have been having an affair with then California Congressman Gary Condit. Media speculation went rampant, more so after Levy’s body was found in the 2002 election year. Condit went on to lose his race.

A few months after Levy died, a young woman working in the Fort Walton Beach, FL office of then Congressman Joe Scarborough fell over dead in his office. On July 20, 2001, Lori Klausutis’s body was found. She had fallen over, struck her head, and died. The coroner determined she had an undiagnosed heart condition, which had caused her to fall, strike her head, and die.

As Americans headed into the 2002 election season after 9/11, political tempers began to flare and with speculation on Gary Condit, some leftwing activists wanted a “whataboutism” to combat the attention. They settled on Joe Scarborough and Lori Klausutis.

The fever swamps of the left, as Scarborough’s career rose, got louder. The leftwing activists as DailyKos, a pretty establishment website for leftwing activists, let the rumors about Scarborough fly. Propagandist and noted communist sympathizer Michael Moore even registered a website domain to promote the conspiracy that Scarborough was a murderer.

Over the years, the allegations went away. They resurfaced in 2009 as an immigrant from Central America was fingered for killing Chandra Levy. Then they went away again.

They have resurfaced with President Trump.

I don’t really care what you think about Joe Scarborough, but no American deserves to have the President of the United States targeting him with accusations of murder. No American deserves the President of the United States tweeting out salacious and unproven accusations suggesting murder and conspiracy. The deceased’s family does not deserve it. Her widower husband does not deserve it. That President Trump does not seem to understand that should bother every one of us.

There’s no whataboutism here. There’s no “two can play that game.” There’s no decency in this.

If you really think these sorts of things are justified then you are no better than the people you hate. You have become what you hate. The President, in doing this, has become no better than the Michael Moores of the world.

It is shameful and gross. It suggests as well that the President is more focused on score-settling than winning re-election and that should bother you as one of the President’s supporters. Joe Scarborough is not on the ballot. Joe Biden is. Today, like yesterday, the President has spent more time focused on accusing an innocent man of murder and dredging up the pain of loss for a dead woman’s family than focusing on a man who could fill seats on the Supreme Court and who is ahead in most polls of the swing states the President needs to win.