Donald Trump has been busy recently endorsing the worst candidates he can find in upcoming elections nationwide. He endorsed longtime wellness grifter Dr. Oz. He endorsed J.D. Vance, the Hillbilly Elegy author-turned-professional Twitter troll.
Although despite endorsing Vance, Trump doesn’t seem very invested. Here he is at a Nebraska rally this weekend, literally not being able to remember Vance’s name:
Trump: We’ve endorsed Dr.Oz. We’ve endorsed JP right? JD Mandell. He’s doing great pic.twitter.com/wkP3KetanL
— Acyn (@Acyn) May 1, 2022
Meanwhile, the man Trump was in Nebraska to endorse is Charles Herbster, a major GOP donor, sometimes beauty pageant judge, and now gubernatorial candidate, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault.
A few weeks ago, Julie Slama, a Republican State Senator from Nebraska, came forward to say she had been groped by Herbster at a GOP dinner in 2019.
“As I was walking to my table, I felt a hand reach up my skirt, up my dress and the hand was Charles Herbster’s,” Slama said in an interview with News Radio KFAB. “I was in shock. I was mortified. It’s one of the most traumatizing things I’ve ever been through.”
Slama also said, “I watched as five minutes later he grabbed the buttocks of another young woman,” noting that “this was witnessed by several people at the event.”
Indeed, eight women including Slama told the Nebraska Examiner they had been groped or otherwise assaulted by Herbster and the paper found witnesses to corroborate six of the allegations. “The other two women told at least one person about the incident on the same day it occurred,” the outlet’s report read.
Slama was the only woman to attach her name to her account—until now. On Friday, a former Nebraska legislative assistant named Elizabeth Todsen spoke on the record with the Examiner, saying she was groped by Herbster at the same dinner as Slama.
That night in 2019, Todsen was one of several young Republicans from Lincoln who attended the dinner. They were sitting with friends from Omaha. They all knew that Herbster had paid for their table.
Todsen’s description of what happened next meshed with what others have described. Herbster stopped by to greet the group at the table. He shook hands with the men. Todsen said she then extended her hand. She said Herbster shook hands with her and then “pulled me into an aggressive” embrace.
“It was more than a hug,” Todsen said. “His hand went to my butt. It was a grab. At that point, I tried to push away, but I couldn’t. It was like he knew that I couldn’t say anything,” she said, as if he thought “he had sponsored this table, so why would I say anything?”
Every female member of the Nebraska state Senate, including all five Republicans, has signed a letter condemning Herbster’s “completely unacceptable” alleged behavior and declaring him “unfit to serve” as governor. Slama’s female Republican colleagues have also announced efforts to fundraise money to cover the legal costs for any other women considering speaking out with their own allegations about Herbster.
Meanwhile, here’s how at least one prominent man in Nebraska politics has been addressing the issue:
Spoke w/ Former Omaha Mayor Hal Daub, who’s endorsed Herbster.
— Jon Kipper (@jonnykip21) April 14, 2022
He questioned the timing of the story, the Ricketts apparatus that he believes pushed it, says it’s a hit job.
Says he wants to put Sen. Slama on the witness stand.
“I’d like to ask her what she was wearing.”
Predictably, Trump defended Herbster (who has denied the allegations) at that rally this weekend. Trump called him “innocent” and “a very good man” who was being “maligned.”
I don’t know if sexual assault allegations against a candidate are a requirement to get Trump’s endorsement but they certainly don’t hurt. As The Washington Post wrote Sunday:
Trump, who has faced and denied multiple allegations ranging from sexual harassment to rape, has backed other candidates who have been accused of sexual misconduct or domestic violence and denied the allegations.
They include Herschel Walker, a U.S. Senate candidate in Georgia who has been accused of threatening the lives of two women, as well as Sean Parnell, who ended his U.S. Senate campaign in Pennsylvania last year amid domestic abuse allegations, and Roy Moore, a 2017 candidate for U.S. Senate in Alabama who was accused by two women of initiating unwanted sexual encounters when Moore was in his 30s and they were 16 and 14.
When it comes to getting Trump’s endorsement, the worse your public reputation, the better, really. I guess just don’t expect him to remember your name.
(image: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Published: May 2, 2022 02:12 pm