The Duncan Hunter Reality TV Show keeps finding new ways to jump the shark. My eyebrows have been getting quite a workout, from
his vaping in Congress to
his kids' flying rabbit to
blaming his wife for the misappropriation of campaign funds, when some of the misappropriated funds were spent on five of his extramarital affairs (you've gotta give him chutzpah points on that one) to
his defending the SEAL accused of war crimes by saying that he was guilty of the same thing.
Hunter may seem to be a fluke, but he's actually a convenient illustration of the Republican Party's tried and true strategy of remaining loyally united behind Republican incumbents, no matter what. Few Republican candidates want to throw their hats in the ring to challenge a Republican incumbent, because the Party leaders really discourage disunity. Republican voters will cheerfully forgive Republican candidates if they are unfaithful to their wives, but they will never, ever forgive them if they are unfaithful to the sanctity of their party's endorsement and can thus be blamed for dividing the vote and allowing a Democrat to win. Given that California has an open primary system--the top two finishers for all state and federal offices except US President advance to the November General Election--Hunter's Republican-dominated congressional district should have had two Republican candidates to choose between in November 2018. But the Republican Party leadership in San Diego County insisted that all of its members needed to unite behind Hunter in the primary election, so the top two finishers in the primary ended up being Hunter (by a landslide), and the Democratic candidate.
Several [Edited to say: Okay, four] Republicans I know in that district, including one who had run against Hunter in the primary, told me that they could not in good conscience vote for either of those two choices in November 2018. And it's not possible to vote for write-in candidates in run-off elections. So they just skipped that contest on their November 2018 ballots. Three of them told me that they had done the same for the Presidential contest, too.
The local Republican Party's strategy might be different in the March 2020 primary if Hunter actually goes to prison, as seems likely--his trial is in September 2019--but I wouldn't count on it. And I won't be at all surprised if Donald Trump pardons Hunter. Out of loyalty, again. Hunter was one of the first two Congressmembers to endorse Trump in 2016. (The other?
Chris Collins--also in hot water legally, for insider trading.)
Like Trump himself, Hunter is yet another poster child for the Prime Directive of the modern Republican Party, which is "Never, Ever Apologize or Admit Fault for Anything." (Unless it's "When Caught in a Lie, Just Keep on Lying, and Then Say That the Media's Fact-Checkers Are Biased Against You.")