Since we didn’t give Lauren Boebert a break last week after her grope-show in a public movie theater, we can’t ignore Representative Jeff Duncan (R., S.C.), who allegedly cheated on his wife multiple times with a Washington, D.C., lobbyist.
Duncan’s wife and mother of his three children filed for divorce last week, due to her husband’s alleged affairs. A divorce-court filing claims that Duncan, who calls himself a “strong advocate for life and traditional family values,” has had numerous mistresses. Who knows how divorce proceedings will play out, or how much Duncan’s wife knew early on. But assuming these allegations are true, Duncan presented himself as a champion traditional family values while he was having extramarital affairs. This should give even those Republicans who usually stay out of politicians’ personal business pause.
According to the court filing, Duncan spoke to a crowd about his “loving” marriage at a “Faith and Freedom BBQ” fundraiser. The next day, he visited his mistress.
Standards and moral decency are good asks, especially of politicians who use their support of family values as political leverage. Duncan has, as have other Republicans, touted his own marriage vows to justify his social standing as a conservative. That’s fine, if politicians truly hold sacred their marriage vows. But hypocrites like Duncan give a bad name to Republicans who value and want to promote fidelity in marriage.