Not a headline you expect to see on a progressive site – but in this case, it’s accurate. Good on you, KY Republican leadership.
By now, you certainly have seen the story about the Bullitt county pastor running as a Republican for the state House, who posted amazingly racist and xenophobic pictures on his Facebook page. It’s bad enough that there are people who post these, and even worse that there are people who think these are acceptable in any way, much less funny – but to have these posted by a man who is both a pastor and a candidate for elected office? I. can’t. even.
However, unlike the Republican candidate for President, who initially refused to disavow a KKK leader’s endorsement, and who hired the head of the alt-right site Breitbart to help run his campaign – unlike them, the KY Republican party got this one right. As soon as the local station (WDRB) reached out for comment, Mac Brown, the chair of the party, released this statement:
Dan Johnson’s comments and social media posts are outrageous and have no place in today’s political discourse. They represent the rankest sort of prejudice present in our society and do not in any way, shape or form represent the views of the Republican Party of Kentucky or the many fine candidates representing us on the ballot this November. I want to apologize to the members of Kentucky’s African-American community and assure them that this man’s opinions do not reflect those of this party. We are proud to carry on our heritage as the party of Lincoln and we will continue to fight for the freedoms of each and every Kentuckian, regardless of race, to thrive and flourish here in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
National, state, and local Republican leaders continue to support Donald Trump, refusing to call out his words or actions and looking the other way and whistling softly no matter what he does. Their complicity in the rise of Trumpism is there for all to see.
But in this case, without hesitation, our KY Republican party disavowed this man’s behavior, even though he is one of their candidates. They took a stand, the right stand, and for that, all persons of good will on both sides of the aisle say “Thank you.”
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