The Cleveland suburbs offer a microcosm of what Donald Trump has done to the Republican party. Prior to the 2022 election, they were represented by Anthony Gonzalez, son of Cuban immigrants, star football player for Ohio State, professionally played for the Indianapolis Colts. He got an MBA from Stanford and was a successful small businessman and then a principled moderate and conservative in Congress. It was the whole package. Gonzalez looked like the Republican Party future, but a man of conscience, he voted for impeachment after Trump instigated the deathly January 6 riot at the Capitol. That was it. He was verbally attacked, physically threatened, and he decided to get out.
He was replaced by a small time Trump flunky, Max Miller, who parlayed his wealthy father’s political connections. Miller had a history of disorderly conduct and some years ago, and in the White House, he dated press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who later described a physically abusive relationship with him. Winning a congressional seat, Miller married the daughter of Ohio Republican big shot, Bernie Marino, now a Senator.
They shortly divorced and she has accused him of domestic violence, including throwing boiling water at her in front of their child. You know, he’s a bully, a serial abuser. Legislatively, he’s an obedient Trump follower with a higher than usual absentee rate.
I bring all this up, which the larger point is to go from Anthony Gonzalez to Max Miller from a star to a sleaze is a dramatic decline in caliber and character and says so much about what Trump is doing to the Republican Party.