WASHINGTON ― A handful of Republican candidates across the country abandoned Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the immediate aftermath of the release tape revealing him bragging about sexually assaulting women. To comedian and actor Rob Delaney, this was a disgusting and craven display of political calculation that should not go unpunished.
Delaney, star of the Amazon show “Catastrophe,” quickly set up a page on ActBlue, the Democratic Party fundraising hub, to raise money for the Democratic challengers to the Republican congressional and state-level candidates who only decided to bail on Trump at the last possible moment. So far, he’s gotten more than 1,100 people to contribute more than $65,000.
“These people who are jumping ship at the end are just so obviously trying to save their hides,” Delaney told The Huffington Post. “And it was just so transparent and I had an allergic reaction to it and I wanted to embarrass these people ― make them feel bad and make them feel sad.”
In a blog post announcing the fundraising campaign, Delaney further explained, “That’s what it took for you to disavow him? Since I’m not a total moron, I know that what really happened is that it finally became clear to anyone who knows how elections work that Trump was definitely going to lose.”
There were already many points for these politicians to get off the Trump Train. When he called Mexicans “rapists,” called for a ban on Muslims entering the country, attacked a judge for his Mexican heritage, mocked a disabled reporter or, of course, he many previously reported comments about women and how he believes they should be treated.
The politicians targeted by Delaney’s fundraising campaign include Republicans running in key Senate seats like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Senate candidate Joe Heck (R-Nev.), Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). Another 14 candidates for Senate, House and Governor are included in the list.
Delaney, who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the Democratic primary and now supports Hillary Clinton, acknowledges that the fundraising pitch is “stunty,” but he believes it will get people more interested in down ballot races to help bolster Democratic strength in Congress, to confirm a Supreme Court justice and further increase access to health care.
“I know [Clinton] can’t achieve the goals she has for those things without some help from the Senate and as little obstruction from the House as possible,” he said.
The stunt extends to trolling Trump supporters on Twitter to get them to contribute to the fund.
Delaney gained a huge online following in 2012 with his constant Twitter ribbing of Mitt Romney, then the Republican presidential candidate. His tweets mocked the former Massachusetts governor as a bumbling straight man:
An out-and-out bigot:
And as the face of class war against the poor:
Delaney said he’s never thought Trump has a chance of winning the general election, and hoped to spend less time engaged in the presidential race on twitter this year. But, the opportunism of Republicans ditching Trump made him change his mind.
That opportunism has since been magnified in the days since Delaney launched his fundraising drive. Four Republicans who unendorsed Trump have since re-endorsed him.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularlyincitespolitical violence and is a
