The hypocrisy of GOP candidates

Controversial statements made by various GOP candidates ranging from Ben Carson’s statement that a Muslim should not be a president to Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee’s support of our favorite converted Christian rights advocate, Kim Davis, have been heavily publicized in the media.

While these comments make it very difficult for anyone other than the far right to sympathize, it also shows a total lack of awareness of their own problems, especially when it comes to their inability to stop contradicting themselves.

The Italian Mobster-esque candidate from New Jersey, Chris Christie, who claims that “after decades of gross mismanagement and shortsighted budgeting practices,” he saved the state of New Jersey’s finances. In actuality, he literally ate a pretty large sum of his budget.

According to the Washington Post, a sum of $95,000 was given to Christie as his state allowance; in order to fund various business or senatorial functions, he spent around $82,000 of this on concession stand food. This was all taxpayer money and the only saving grace for Christie was that the NJGOP refunded the state for the lost funds.

Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee take the cake as the two most religiously fanatical choices available. While Huckabee became the object of Survivor’s lawsuits for playing their song “Eye of the Tiger” at a Kim Davis rally, Ted Cruz is hosting a “Rally for Religious Liberty.”

Both have also attended the Kim Davis rally, which is ironic because she is not a true religious icon for breaking every law on marriage the Bible has to offer and for lying about the private one on one meeting with Pope Francis (who was instead met with an old gay student).

Cruz and Huckabee attended a rally hosted by a preacher who spoke of homosexuality being punishable by death. The irony of the support of these beliefs is the fact that Ted Cruz advertises himself as “a passionate fighter for … the Constitution,” and Huckabee pledges to “adhere to the Constitution” and while supporting Kim Davis, have essentially shown that they believe that the right to be Christian stands above all other laws.

Both forget, as supporters of the Constitution, that the concept of religious freedom extends to not only Christians but to all religions as well as the fact that the founders of America were escaping religious oppression, the same kind of oppression being directed towards the LGBT population.

The top two most hypocritical candidates are, as always, Ben Carson and Donald Trump. While the stoic, silent neurosurgeon becomes the figurehead for the Anti-Muslim movement as he heavily appeals towards Christian conservatives with his story of finding Jesus after trying to stab a close relative, he also falsified his biography, claiming acceptance into West Point.

Whether that and other false statements were attempts to pander or were just a moment of idiocy on his part is unknown, but what is truly confusing is his lack of a specific platform. Carson is running on absolutely nothing. His platform for a balanced budget is a four-paragraph proposal of less than two hundred words. The real issue is whether or not he should even be considered a candidate, as he seems to not be taking it very seriously.

The number one candidate of contradictory statements, no one can surpass the marshmallow-haired Donald Trump. His love of women far outweighs his compassion for the many immigrants who work at his company, despite especially vicious comments about Carly Fiorina’s face and his stance against Planned Parenthood.

While stating that there will be a “great and beautiful wall” along the Mexican border, Trump is also quick to forget his German and Scottish heritage, two of the many groups of immigrants allowed through Ellis Island. He also blames Obama for the crisis in the Middle East while completely forgetting who the major players were which was very evident by his mixing of the Kurds and the Quds, and trying to cover for it by saying he will learn them when he’s in office.

Trump also continuously states that he has never gone bankrupt, despite four of his companies going bankrupt, and citing this business knowledge as a reason for why he would be fiscally responsible. At this point, Trump has lied more times than Hillary Clinton while still managing to insult every other candidate out there, and commends himself on his imminent friendship with Vladimir Putin.

While there are problems with all of the candidates, especially Clinton, there is a point where the lying is too much and the instability of their platforms seriously leads to doubt as to whether or not they should be considered viable candidates. They all agree that there is a problem with the U.S. that needs to be fixed. While they think that they might be the solution, most of them certainly are not. We can only hope we get the proper president for the time being and that they will do the least evil.

Editorial by: Rachael Wojciechowki, Contributing Columnist