The Final Collapse of a Liberal Democrat

Just a few years ago, Anthony Weiner was one of the leading left-wingers in the Democratic Party, a fire-breathing scourge of Republicans. For some time now he has been in disgrace, as a result of his unfortunate sexting habit. Given his former stature in the Democratic Party, Weiner’s downfall is of considerable interest, but that interest is naturally heightened by the fact that he is married to Hillary Clinton’s best friend/top aide, Huma Abedin.

After various purported efforts at reform, Weiner has now touched bottom. The Daily Mail reports that Weiner carried on a months-long virtual relationship with a 15-year-old high school girl.

Weiter apparently was well aware of his correspondent’s age.

Weiner was aware that the girl was underage, according to DailyMail.com interviews with the girl and her father, as well as a cache of online messages.

This exchange indicates that Weiner knew that the girl was in high school:

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Then there is this, about the high school girl’s boyfriend:

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In their texts, the girl talks repeatedly about her parents and at one point says that for her to be with older men like Weiner would be “illegal.” Weiner’s texts are often explicit, like when he said, “I would bust that tight p***y so hard and so often that you would leak and limp for a week.” Who knew that leading members of the Democratic Party talked like that to strangers?

When contacted by the Daily Mail, Weiner did not deny his relationship with the 15-year-old:

I have repeatedly demonstrated terrible judgement about the people I have communicated with online and the things I have sent.

I am filled with regret and heartbroken for those I have hurt.

While I have provided the Daily Mail with information showing that I have likely been the subject of a hoax, I have no one to blame but me for putting myself in this position.

I am sorry.

Weiner did not, however, supply any information that even remotely suggested that he was the “subject of a hoax.”

Anthony Weiner is some kind of nut: a once-powerful man who threw away everything because he couldn’t stop sexting with strangers, some of them teenagers. Professionals can try to diagnose what, exactly, is wrong with him. But I think the real point is this: until recently, Weiner was a powerful member of the political class. Even in disgrace, he retained a certain amount of clout because his wife was Hillary Clinton’s top confidante.

Weiner illustrates, in a particularly noxious way, a basic fact: the political class is no better than the rest of us. If you watch YouTube videos of Weiner when he was in Congress, what is most striking is the pose of moral superiority he adopted when excoriating Republicans. It was almost Biblical.

But Weiner’s pose was a fraud. The political class is not superior to the rest of us, morally or intellectually. Their pretensions are bogus. Therefore, we should give them less money and less power over our lives. This conclusion is fundamental to traditional conservatism, but it should also be noted that Trumpism–notwithstanding the fact that Trump has not been anything like a consistent conservative–is built in considerable part on this principle.

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