Roy Moore, the nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, has recently been accused of sexual assault by multiple women. The Washington Post reports a detailed account given by Leigh Corfman, accusing Moore of sexually assaulting her in 1979 when she was only 14 years-old.
With the Dec. 12 Alabama election swiftly approaching, many Republicans have pulled their endorsements from Moore and are asking for him to remove himself from the race.
“The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying,” Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said. “He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of.”
Moore’s campaign refers to these accusations as “fake news,” and has denied all of the claims. “These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign,” Moore said in a written statement.
Many people are skeptical and awaiting the GOP’s next move, and some would argue the way they play this will determine the future of the party. They say if Moore is elected and not expelled by the Senate, the party could be extremely tarnished. From the surface level, a diminished GOP could be beneficial for Democrats. It’ll make it much easier for the Democratic Party to win elections across all levels. However, a clearer road to victory is what would make this so troublesome. Lack of competition could be detrimental to our republic, and a two-party system is the bare minimum our nation can operate on.
These Moore accusations clearly raise concerns for the American people. Nevertheless, they won’t demolish the Republican party – the nomination and election of Trump proves this.
Not only has our president been accused of sexual assault by numerous women, including his ex-wife Ivana Trump, but he’s been recorded bragging about groping them. Nonetheless, our country still elected him to the highest office in the nation. So, clearly there are people in this country who don’t mind having sexual assaulters representing them.
Though it may not come as a surprise, Roy Moore still has supporters. The pastor of Capitol Hill Independent Baptist Ministries Franklin Raddish told AL, an Alabama media group, these allegations were simply a “war on men.”
“More women are sexual predators than men,” Raddish said. “Women are chasing young boys up and down the road, but we don’t hear about that because it’s not PC.”
While such heinous accusations may not demolish an entire party, it certainly feeds into our country’s despicable rape culture. The fact Trump and Moore’s campaigns have come out and verbally called their accusers liars is absolutely disgusting. These women are victims of a crime and are coming forth to see powerful men, who view themselves as untouchable, receive their just punishments. Meanwhile, they’re the ones called liars — this is a reason why victims of sexual assault don’t always report such crimes.
Ultimately, sexual assault is a heinous act. Roy Moore needs to remove himself from the ballot for U.S. Senate and be charged with several crimes; this is something all Americans should agree upon. If Moore takes office and avoids expulsion, it should have the capability to demolish the Republican party — but, it won’t. As a nation, we’ve got to stop giving these powerful men passes. Once we begin holding them accountable, we’ll begin seeing a change in our country’s shameful rape culture.
Clarke Perkins is a 21-year-old political science senior from New Orleans, Louisiana.
