Roskam is wild card in IL Sixth District

The most outrageous endorsement of a presidential candidate by a congressman in the 17 elections I've followed was Peter J. Roskam's astonishing rationale for endorsing Donald J. Trump.

"I do think time is Donald Trump's friend. I think people are saying... alright, I'm ready to hear this guy out, see what he has got to say with the flash and dash aside. Trump's comments (on grabbing women's genitals) are disgusting and corrosive....they fly in the face of every lesson wife Elizabeth and I taught our daughters and sons about how men and women interact. However, this election is a binary choice in which I am choosing to vote for a wild card over an unworthy candidate."

Once in office, Trump fulfilled Roskam's 'wide card' moniker in spades, degrading the office of president with virtually every statement and action. Talking peace in the Middle East one day; then ratcheting up the bombing in seven Muslim countries the next, we haven't a clue of a coherent Trump foreign policy. Using every public speech before non-political groups to reveal his gargantuan insecurities and petty grievances is unprecedented in American politics. Never has a president lied so effortlessly and transparently. Never has a president made his signature domestic issue to take heath care from 22 million, resulting in over 200,000 unnecessary deaths over a decade to lavish tax cuts on the already wealthy. Trump campaigned as best buddy of the LGBT community; then pivoted to placate the homophobe wing of his base with his disparagement of courageous, patriotic transgender soldiers. Does 'wild card' include colluding with Russia to win the election?

Roskam's wild card endorsement was pure politics designed to retain his ultraconservative base. Roskam knew, like every other informed American, of Trump's moral and intellectual unfitness for office. Roskam was not alone in endorsing the most unfit presidential candidate in history. Not a single Republican congressman disowned him. But no one offered the insulting sophistry that posited, 'genital grabbing and flash and dash aside....he still represents mainstream Republican values.'

Trump may be our wild card president for the next 3 years, but for the past ten in the Illinois Sixth, the real wild card has been Peter J. Roskam.