I published a story on Daily Kos six weeks ago titled “My Question is, Who else is Compromised?” In the blog, I posited that the bizarre, full-throated support Jerry Falwell Jr. has given to trump may perhaps be explained by the allegations of racy photographs, sketchy real estate deals, and Michael Cohen “fixing.” I mean, color me naive, but why would the President of the largest Evangelical Christian college in the world, the son of the founder of the “Moral Majority,” support a man who embodies literally every spirit, attitude, and practice that Christ was against? Am I discounting the chance that Falwell Jr. may just be mercenary, hypocritical, and greedy of political power and access? Of course not. But long before I heard about the Falwells’ friendship with a pool boy and the possibility of compromising photographs, I told people that I felt trump “had something” on Falwell Jr. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will.
Except maybe not. In the last day and a half there have been articles in the Miami Herald, the New York Times and elsewhere about the photos, the pool boy, the Falwell investment in a gay-friendly hostel, and the ongoing cover-up.
If you haven’t heard about the allegations, try this for size: Falwell said in an interview “There are no compromising or embarrassing photos of me.” Yeah. (“Faith, here’s an equivocator” Shakespeare’s drunken porter said.) The photos, apparently viewed by the Herald, are of Falwell’s wife, Rebecca. And in a taped conversation with Tom Arnold, the now imprisoned Michael Cohen said “I actually have one of the photos. It’s terrible.”
It’s obnoxious when anyone says “I knew it!” Even more so when it’s some anonymous online person. But seriously, I feel so vindicated. Still, that’s hardly the point. What I want to know now is, when will someone squeal — I mean, really squeal? Would it take that much moral courage for Jerry Falwell Jr. to say “Using compromising information, trump blackmailed me for my endorsement” (if that, in fact, is what happened)? I know Omarosa let loose some bombshells, but she has all the credibility of the woodchuck that lives in my back field. Michael Cohen probably could have said a lot more than he did. What I want is one of those movies when the citizens decide they have finally had enough of being intimidated and decide, en masse, to testify against the drug kingpin. Think about it: how many people has trump intimidated, silenced through payoffs or threats or ludicrous non-disclosure agreements? What if five, ten, twenty people spoke up and revealed the dirt that they knew and had gone along with?
Looking at you, Jerry Falwell Jr. Oh never mind, your honesty and moral integrity left the building long ago.