Mark Foley is a former Florida lawmaker who was forced to resign from office after a scandal broke that revealed that he had a proclivity for sexually soliciting teenage boys. How did this come out, you might ask? He repeatedly emailed underage boys who had worked on Capitol Hill, many of them as pages. Since the disgraceful exit, Foley hasn’t been in the news much lately - until Wednesday.
NBC’s Katy Tur, who covers the Trump campaign, spotted Foley at Donald Trump’s rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was even sitting right front and center, right behind Trump himself.
Disgraced former FL congressman Mark Foley is sitting behind Trump tonight in Sunshine. pic.twitter.com/7WkiElk48E
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) August 11, 2016
Foley offered the following explanation for his presence at the rally:
I’ve been a friend of Mr. Trump’s since 1987. I’ve admired so much of what he’s done. He’s a different breed of leader and a different reed of candidate.
Foley says the he thinks Trump will have support in his area of the Sunshine State because “is a pretty hospitable area for Trump.” (Note: Trump’s losing in Florida according to the latest polls.)
The internet certainly isn’t hospitable for Foley, however, especially considering the gross hypocrisy of it all. After all, Trump railed Hillary Clinton earlier in the week when Orlando shooter Omar Mateen’s father showed up at one of her rallies, unbeknownst to the Clinton campaign. Trump said of the incident:
Wasn’t it terrible when the father of the animal that killed the wonderful people in Orlando was sitting with a big smile on his face right behind Hillary Clinton? And by the way … a lot of the people here — how many of you people know me? A lot of you people know me.
When you get those seats you sort of know the campaign, so when she said well we didn’t knew, he knew, they knew.
Here are just a few of the tweets that came in regarding Foley’s surfacing at the Trump rally:
OK, media. Time to do your jobs and look into whether Mark Foley was invited to sit behind Donald Trump… /1
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) August 11, 2016
Mark Foley speaks glowingly of Donald Trump/Pretty cool for @GOP congressman DISGRACED 4 STALKING YOUNG MALE INTERNS https://t.co/MjuoQLE36A
— C'estMoi! (@mostwiselatina) August 11, 2016
#DonaldTrump has disgraced x #GOP congressman Mark Foley @ rally, he sent sexually explicit text messages to boys. pic.twitter.com/AFiKOx936G
— Anthony (@hollywoodblvd1) August 11, 2016
Trump supporter & child molester Mark Foley sitting right behind DT at a Florida rally tonight. https://t.co/CVmlzkICGH
— Chappaqua 4 Hill&Tim (@Neighbors4Hill) August 11, 2016
"OK, so Florida Rep. Mark Foley sent sexually explicit messages to underage boys, but he supports me and [tiny thumbs up]" - Donald Trump
— Born Miserable (@bornmiserable) August 11, 2016
Attn: Trump supporters: lock up your underage sons. Mark Foley is hip to hip with Donald Trump. https://t.co/doWnq9Nqp5
— Jeffrey Jon Smith (@jeffreyjonsmith) August 11, 2016
Donald Trump has made $8500 in contributions to Mark Foley over the years, according to FEC records: pic.twitter.com/WqMZmvPonb
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 11, 2016
Donald #Trump was a donor to disgraced Rep. Mark Foley, who sent NSFW pics to teens pic.twitter.com/iT7SQUlWIc
— Jacob Goldstein (@GoldsteinStreet) August 11, 2016
Donald Trump was criticizing Hillary for the Orlando shooter's dad sitting on the stage last night - WHILE MARK FOLEY WAS RIGHT BEHIND HIM!
— 89. (@signedsirelle) August 11, 2016
Donald Trump sure does like hanging with the pedophiles Jeff Epstein Mark Foley #NAMBLA
— SummersTheOne (@ethereal226) August 11, 2016
@KatyTurNBC not only that but mark foley at the rally of fraudster and rapist Donald Trump!
— Minka Stewart (@MinkaStewart) August 11, 2016
And these are just a few, and the tweets are still rolling in. Everyone sees the gross hypocrisy - as well as just plain grossness - of the idea of the likes of Mark Foley in The Donald’s corner, especially considering the absolutely creepy way Trump acts with and talks about his own daughter.
Good going, GOP. You guys have some real winners here.
Featured image via screen capture from Katy Tur Twitter
