Our congressman, while worshipping at the altar of Marjorie Taylor Green and George Santos, feigns ‘outrage’ at the indictment of former President Donald J. Trump. He calls it “an egregious violation of the very foundation upon which our nation was built.”

We must take pause to laugh. 

I am fairly sure that our Founding Fathers did not spend much time worrying about hush money paid to a porn star, as Rep. William Timmons does.  “The foundation upon which our nation was built?”  Too absurd to even contemplate. 

The Founding Fathers did, however, worry a good deal about autocratic zealots fomenting an insurrection aimed at the violent overthrow of a duly elected government. A substantial portion of the US Constitution and its amendments are dedicated to that subject. But no matter that, we have porn stars to fret over here in the 4th Congressional District.

Such a real “egregious violation” of our democratic institutions, however, doesn’t seem to worry Timmons much. Not once in his ‘Statement on Domestic Terrorism at the US Capitol’ does he mention Trump’s name. I suppose he thinks the spark that lit the flame of violence and destruction was some kind of spontaneous combustion. Or perhaps he agrees with the Tucker Carlson narrative that the insurrectionists were just peaceful tourists who meant no harm. 

Timmons is so beholden to and enamored of the former President that he cannot even begin to think for himself. 

Take two examples. 

First, on the stump, Timmons constantly extols the virtues of Trump’s  foreign policy. In fact, he compares Trump to Reagan in that regard. 

While president, however, Trump was an unstudied loose cannon, insulting allies and trashing multilateral institutions:

• On Germany, Trump stated that, “I know the f—cking Krauts…” that Angela Merkle is a “bitch;”
• On Canada, Trump stated that Prime Minister Trudeau was “two-faced, dishonest and weak;”
• On France, Trump stated that he had intelligence on French President Macron’s sex life and called him a “Wuss guy;”
• On NATO, Trump characterized our most important military alliance as simply “obsolete and…unfair.” I am sure that would be interesting news to the Ukrainians.

At the same time, Trump extolled the virtues of the most heinous triumvirate of international henchmen in this century, his buddies Putin (a “genius” and “savvy”), Kim Jong Il (“we fell in love; we just get along”) and China’s Xi (“we love each other”). 

Really? Embarrass all of our Western allies while loving up on Russia, China and North Korea? Reagan would have lost his mind over such senselessness. 

Timmons’ silence on gun violence is even worse. He is a charter member of the ‘thoughts and prayers’ club’…those Members of Congress who issue press releases and write letters with language like, “ I mourn the loss of…” and “my heart goes out to…” yet do nothing to curb gun violence. Timmons was elected to Congress in 2018, and since 2018, there have been 157 school shootings in which one person was killed or injured. These school shootings alone have resulted in the death of 111 people including 63 children. What has he done…? The title of his press release of June 8, 2022, in the wake of the Uvalde tragedy says it all, “Timmons Votes to Protect Second Amendment Rights.” 

Which brings us back to ‘outrage.’  There is so much to be outraged by in this political moment.  If Timmons chooses to be so outraged about a payoff to a prostitute, lord only knows how he’ll react when Trump is indicted thrice more. We will await the press releases.  

Billy Webster is an educator, entrepreneur, and civic leader. He has been appointed to various positions by two presidents – George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, serving in the Agency for International Development, The Department of Education, and the White House, among other postings. A resident of Spartanburg, Webster has served on numerous boards for organizations serving the Upstate.