Bob Dole’s death serves as a reminder that the roots of Trumpism were planted decades ago

With his vocal opposition to LGBTQ rights and general callousness, the former Presidential candidate personified many of the traits that are now considered essential for GOP leaders.

President Donald J. Trump embraces and kisses former U.S. Senator Bob Dole, R-KS, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, as Dole was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Former Sen. Bob Dole died yesterday at the age of 98. His death is an excuse for the media to reminisce about what the Republican Party ‘used to be.’ As the party’s nominee for president in 1996 and as a Senator from Kansas for a quarter of a century, Dole earned a reputation for compromise with Democrats that led to the creation of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), a major legislative milestone that would be unthinkable in today’s GOP.

Dole was also the last GOP presidential nominee who didn’t make the religious right the core of his base, at a time when that group was exerted increased control over the party. That resulted in one of the strangest episodes in Dole’s presidential campaign.

Related: Dr. Oz is running for Senate as a Pennsylvania Republican. He lives in New Jersey.

In 1995, the Log Cabin Republicans sent Dole’s campaign a check for $1,000. In a move widely interpreted as an effort to shore up his credibility with the right wing, Dole returned the check.

“I don’t agree with their agenda — I assume that’s why it was returned,” Dole said at the time.

Then, after two months of defending the decision, Dole abruptly shifted course, blaming the check’s return on his staff.

“I think if they had consulted me, they wouldn’t have done that,” Dole said then. “I just didn’t agree with what happened.”

Predictably, no one was happy with the flip flop. The religious right was particularly incensed. “Dole still doesn’t seem to understand that accepting money from a radical homosexual activist group is not in keeping with some of his family value themes,” Robert H. Knight, director of the Family Research Council at the time, complained.

It’s not as if Dole was secretly friendly to LGBTQ causes. Dole reportedly…

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