I never thought I would see the day when the Wall Street Journal got into the business of outing sexual predators, but here we are. Even before Rupert Murdoch bought the WSJ, it would have seemed unthinkable that the editors would have greenlit an article accusing a major political donor and powerful white guy of rape, serial sexual harassment, abuse and assault. And now that the WSJ is part of Murdoch’s stable, it’s even more unthinkable. But, as I said, here we are. On Friday, the WSJ published an article accusing Steve Wynn of being a serial abuser, harasser and rapist. You can read the full piece here.
In the article, Wynn’s victims were the younger women who worked for him in various capacities, like in-house masseuses at his Las Vegas hotel, spa employees, salon employees, assistants, lower-level hotel managers and other hotel employees. One of the more disturbing details is that Wynn was usually accompanied by his two German Shepherds, and women were deathly afraid that if they didn’t do what he said, Wynn might command his dogs (in German) to attack. The complaints of harassment, abuse and assault go back for years and years – Wynn is 76 years old, and God only knows how long he’s been doing this. All of his adult life, probably.
So is this just a story about another powerful man being outed as a predator? For sure, but there’s a hyper-political twist to it too. When this article came out on Friday, Wynn was the Republican National Committee’s Finance Chair. Because of course he was. He was also a large donor to the RNC and to individual Republican candidates, and to Donald Trump’s campaign in particular. Even though Wynn denied these stories up and down to the Wall Street Journal, he still ended up resigning as the RNC’s Finance Chair. But there’s still a problem, because the current head of the RNC, Ronna McDaniel, was one of those Republicans eager to take swipes at the Democratic Party for Harvey Weinstein’s donations. These were her tweets in October 2017:
This New York Mag piece spells out the Republicans’ bad-faith arguments and their rank hypocrisy vis a vis Weinstein vs. Wynn. They were so eager to tie Weinstein – who was a big Democratic donor, but held no position in any Democratic Party organization – to ALL Democrats, and yet there are *crickets* when the sitting RNC Finance Chair is accused of serial rape, abuse, assault and harassment. And Wynn has donated millions to candidates too.
Trump photographed with Steve Wynn in November 2013 and posted on Trump’s Instagram account. pic.twitter.com/EAYlnT5ZPt
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 27, 2018
Photos courtesy of WENN.
GOP hypocrisy in overdrive. What the heck was Wynn doing as finance chair anyway? Business and politics should nor be in bed together.
Never. The GOP have zero fucks to give about everything and everyone. Two example off the top of my head: 1) sexual predator elected to POTUS; 2) 11th gun massacre for 2018 and it’s only January with absolutely no conversation about gun control. Those are just the first two that popped to mind, how many more can we list …??! 😕
11 gun massacres this year? Seriously? Wow.
No not gun massacres. SCHOOL SHOOTINGS. We’ve had 11 school shootings as of last week. that doesn’t include any other shootings…and i agree its horrific
I highly doubt it. They scold a bad mouth Democrats for something like this, but when the same thing or usually something worse happens involving the Republicans, they’re silent. People like Paul Ryan are spineless and don’t want to lose their jobs, so they ignore what happened. Complete hypocrisy
To say that Paul Ryan is spineless is to imply that he knows this is wrong, that he opposes it but lacks the courage to do anything about it. No. Paul Ryan is NOT spineless. He sees absolutely nothing wrong with this behavior, supports its, not only allows it to continue but encourages it. He has the spine and courage to support wrongful acts. What he lacks is conscience, ethics, and morals.
Ryan is simply an Ayn Rand f**k.
Paul Ryan is a lapdog of the Koch brothers.He accepted a large amount of campaign money from them following the vote on the tax reform bill.I also read this morning that the Kochs will be contributing an obscene amount of money to the midterm elections
Answer: no because republicans love to fling dirt and then remain silent when the call comes from inside the house
Well, quite. The GOP are second only to the Talibangelicals in extreme hypocrisy, but the Democrats will do literally anything but stand their ground and nail them to the wall for it, so why do better?
The Democrats throw their own under the bus but do nothing when it comes to messaging.
agreed. reasons i’m unaffiliated. the dnc is not getting my money either. i’ve been annoyed at them for years
Wynn is building a casino here in MA, just two miles from my house. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has opened an investigation into whether he is suitable to hold a gaming license. https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/01/26/gaming-commission-review-sexual-misconduct-allegations-against-steve-wynn/0zXXDCvwjY0AxrU882ArZO/story.html?p1=Article_Related_Box_Article
There was an interesting conversation about this on the most recent episode of Lovett or Leave it. Basically, debating whether giving the money back, while principled, is really any sort of “punishment” for the offender, and if the money is so “dirty,” you can’t really give it to a charity, where does it end, etc.
I’m not sure what I think about it, ultimately, but they made some good points.
OF COURSE Republicans are the most gigantic hypocrites ever. I expect nothing from a “family values” party who yawns at a porn scandal. But what really makes me angry is how useless Democrats are at making any of this stick. Republicans can scream about anything and it echoes around the news for weeks but somehow Democrats have zero voice, no outrage, no leaders who can do anything except whisper into the gale force wind of the right wing noise machine.
@Morgan, this is something that has troubled me for ages. How did the Republicans get so loud, and how are they able to be so loud for so long, and how are they able to be so loud for so long against (for a minor example, Mrs. Obama wearing a sleeveless dress) so many stupid and unimportant things, yet they are made completely of Teflon about vital and important, and nation-tearing apart important things ? How is it possible for the Democrats to be so silent, so quiet, so non-leadership like whilst the Republicans rape and pillage.? I just don’t understand this aspect of USA politics/policies. I just don’t get it…..
This is the reason I gave up on the Democrats and became an independent. They are weak. You only have to look at the mess of 2016 election. They were mad at Bernie instead of wondering why so many people were drawn to him. So they pissed off the progressives instead of bringing the rabid active voters into the fold. No lessons learned from that. No correcting it with someone else grassrootsy.
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer need to go. NOW. They are out of touch and will cause losses in the midterms. They focus so much on what they think the polls would say and how moderates feel. They obsess over getting those white suburban voters instead of paying attention to their base. They play Clintonian politics when Millenials like me think it seems old-fashioned and yesterday. I only know about the 90s because I grew up in a home where politics was the topic of conversation daily and with active members of my family. But it doesn’t resonate with me. Most people 35 and under aren’t moderates and minorities have caught on that they have a lot of power but little representation in the party.
They roll over, fail at messaging and lack the fighting instincts they need. They are better at turning on themselves than on the true enemy.
The GOP won’t give back the money because why should they? Why should they do anything they don’t want to?
They were mad at Bernie instead of wondering why so many people were drawn to him. So they pissed off the progressives instead of bringing the rabid active voters into the fold./
Yep. And they always try and placate the republicans. And they may be the less racist and less sexist house but there are still so incredibly sexist and racist.
They have the media.
That picture, two old gross men together, yuck!
Fun story about Ronna McDaniel. Her professional name was always Ronna Romney McDaniel. She’s Mitt Romney’s niece.
Before she took over as chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Trump asked her whether she would be willing to drop the Romney. She did.
The depths of the man’s pettiness, and his underlings’ cravenness…
Gross.
I really hope Mitt Romney wins Hatch’s seat. If it has to be a Republican, one that hates him is best.
Smdh, wow they all fall in line. King of petty.
LOVING THIS TAGLINE SO MUCH!
Probably about the same time the clintons return the millions from Weinstein?