Last week news broke with allegations that 50-year-old American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp had “groped” and “fondled” a younger male Hershel Walker campaign staffer. This happened against the staffer’s will as he was assigned to drive Schlapp around town while the Conservative Union chairman was visiting the Walker campaign in Georgia back in October. According to the staffer, who has remained anonymous, Schlapp had pursued him while at bars, drinking throughout the evening, and began groping him in the car on the ride back to Schlapp’s hotel.
According to the accusation, Schlapp grabbed the Republican strategist’s crotch before asking him up to his hotel room. The staffer declined and then reported the incident to the campaign. This campaign staffer, identified as being in his 30s, was taken off of that job for the remainder of Schlapp’s visit.
Schlapp is a powerful conservative figure who runs CPAC—the event where Republicans go to get big donor money. It is the same event that Schlapp thought it was best to have Hungary’s Christian Nationalist authoritarian antisemitic and homophobic leader Viktor Orban to speak at this past year. It is at these events that the Republican Party attacks the LGBTQ community and calls them sexual groomers. Schlapp, through his attorney, has denied the groping ever happened, telling CNN: “The attack is false and Mr. Schlapp denies any improper behavior. We are evaluating legal options for response.”
It looks like that evaluation might need a few more days as CNN revealed some new texts that the staffer provided to them.
RELATED STORY: Male Herschel Walker staffer alleges ACU Chair Matt Schlapp ‘groped’ and ‘fondled’ his crotch
It is important to note here that the reason this is news is not because Schlapp may be a philanderer or might be gay or bisexual. This is a story because of how vociferously anti-LBGTQ Schlapp and his political party is. It is even more important to note here that one of the most insidious angles taken by Schlapp and others over the past year is to attack an even more marginalized group of children, trans and nonbinary identifying kids, with the umbrella statement that the entire movement is one created by sexually deviant adults who are trying to groom younger people for sexy-time stuff.
Here’s Schlapp’s wife, Mercedes, on Wednesday, a week after the allegations became public.
You get it? A story comes out that gas stoves might be bad for children’s health and conservatives freak out and return to the only joke they have: “People telling me to call them by names and pronouns they prefer stresses me out!” You see, according to conservatives like the Schlapps, the changing of one’s pronouns is both so silly it is absurd, and it is also the secret plot of blood-drinking baby molesters! Who says hypocrites can’t have it all?
According to CNN, who has reviewed more of the alleged victim’s text exchanges, there is definitely more fire here than smoke. In the first exchange, the staffer is texting Schlapp the following morning to inform him that he will no longer be driving him around.
STAFFER: I did want to say I was uncomfortable with what happened last night. The campaign does have a driver who is available to get you to Macon and back to the airport.
According to phone logs that CNN reviewed, Schlapp attempts calling the staffer “a couple of times,” but the staffer does not pick up those calls. And then a couple of hours later Schlapp texts back to the staffer writing:
SCHLAPP: If you could see it in your heart to call me at the end of the day. I would appreciate it. If not I wish you luck on the campaign and hope you keep up the good work.
Another set of text messages that CNN reviewed were between the staffer and a political acquaintance of his exchanged the same night as the alleged incident, with whom the staffer was commiserating about what transpired.
STAFFER: He’s pissed I didn’t follow him to his hotel room.
ACQUAINTANCE: I’m so sorry man
ACQUAINTANCE: What a f***ing creep
STAFFER: I just don’t know how to say it to my superiors thst heir surrogate fondled my junk without my consent
Here’s the video covering these new texts.
Happy New Year! Daily Kos’ Joan McCarter is on the show today to talk about the wild garbage fire that was the Republican speaker of the House vote. Kerry and Markos also break down what this onionskin-thin conservative majority can and cannot do in the coming year, as well as what the Democratic representatives can do to make Kevin McCarthy’s life just that much tougher.
