One disturbing common denominator is emerging among many Trump-endorsed Republican candidates for the 2022 elections: They have been accused of violent crimes, according to a new report published by Slate.
The report highlights Sean Parnell, a right-wing Pennsylvania activist and former Army Ranger who earned Trump’s endorsement in his state’s 2022 Senate primary two months ago, has been accused of strangling his ex-wife and assaulting their children.
In response, Parnell appeared on a Fox Nation talk show in which he blamed feminism for creating “women tyrants” and asserted that “men don’t want to put up with the BS of high-maintenance narcissistic women,” Slate reports.
The news outlet also points out “similar accusations have been made against three other candidates in potentially competitive 2022 races who have either been endorsed by Trump:
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• In Georgia, Trump has endorsed the Senate campaign of former football player Herschel Walker. Walker’s ex-wife and one of his ex-girlfriends have both accused him of threatening to kill them; his ex-wife, who received a protective order against him, said he once pointed a gun at her. Walker denies the ex-girlfriend’s accusations and has said he does not remember threatening his now-ex-wife.
• In Ohio’s 16th District—currently represented by Republican Anthony Gonzalez, who has decided not to run for reelection after becoming an outcast in his party for voting to impeach Trump after Jan. 6—the former president has endorsed a onetime aide of his named Max Miller. Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham says Miller pushed her against a wall and slapped her while they were dating during Trump’s term. (Miller denies it.) Per the Washington Post, Miller also pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges related to an alleged 2007 assault (the charges were later dismissed as part of a program for first-time offenders) and guilty to a disorderly conduct charge related to a fight outside a hookah bar in 2010.
• In Missouri, former Gov. Eric Greitens, who is running for Senate, has appeared with Rudy Giuliani and hired Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle as the national chair of his campaign. Greitens resigned as governor in 2018 after a woman who was not his wife said he had slapped her, intimidated her into performing oral sex on him, and taken a nude photo of her without her permission that he told her he would release if she spoke about their affair. He denies the allegations and says the affair was consensual; an investigative committee of state legislators found the woman’s version of events “credible.”
As slates notes, “historical models and precedents don’t account for one party being controlled by someone like Donald Trump, who judges potential congressional candidates only by whether they support his absurd claim that he won the previous election, ignoring other factors that are traditionally used to screen potential nominees, such as whether they have a personality and record that might appeal to a specific electorate, or whether they have been accused of violent crimes.”
