<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the f***, man?\u201d <\/span>commented<\/a> a self-identified Republican turned Democrat. \u201cYou literally voted for a pedo grapist and Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s best friend!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But even disregarding Trump, the Republican Party has a long history of fervently backing highly controversial candidates. In recent years, the party has put its weight behind Herschel Walker, the 2022 Georgia Senate candidate who faced alarming domestic violence allegations; and George Santos, the New York lawmaker who fabricated practically everything he shared about himself and was later ousted from Congress and <\/span>sentenced<\/a> to 87 months in prison for fraud. Trump prematurely commuted his sentence via an unprecedented presidential pardon.<\/span><\/p>\n The GOP also remained behind Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, who <\/span>pleaded guilty<\/a> to physically assaulting a journalist; Rick Scott, who was <\/span>tied<\/a> to a massive Medicaid and Medicare fraud scandal in the late 1990s; and former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz, despite a <\/span>House Ethics investigation<\/a> that found \u201csubstantial evidence\u201d that Gaetz had violated House rules prohibiting \u201cprostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, acceptance of impermissible gifts, the provision of special favors and privileges, and obstruction of Congress.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n