Jackson Free Press

If our state's political leaders were looking for an easy opt-out of supporting Donald Trump for president, they missed that precious 48-hour window of opportunity to speak out and say so.

Last week's NBC video revealing Trump's disparaging comments that condone sexual assault was a get-out-of-Trumpland-free-card for the GOP. Several Republican leaders around the U.S. reached out and grabbed it. Next door, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican, formally announced he would not be voting for Trump for president.

"I endorsed Governor John Kasich for president because I felt like he was the most qualified and the best person to lead our nation," an emailed statement to AL.com says. "I certainly won't vote for Hillary Clinton, but I cannot and will not vote for Donald Trump."

Alabama Republican Rep. Martha Roby withdrew her support on Twitter. "Donald Trump's behavior makes him unacceptable as a candidate for president, and I won't vote for him," her statement says. "Hillary Clinton must not be president, but with Trump leading the ticket, she will be."

Arizona Sen. John McCain took back his endorsement of Trump. Beyond Trump's "locker room talk," McCain cited Trump's treatment of the Khan Gold Star family and the Central Park Five, a group of men wrongfully convicted for a rape in Central Park. Trump again declared the group guilty last week in an on-air interview, despite the DNA evidence that helped exonerate them all.

"Donald Trump's behavior this week, concluding with the disclosure of his demeaning comments about women and his boasts about sexual assaults, make it impossible to continue to offer even conditional support for his candidacy," McCain said.

So where are all the Mississippi leaders swallowing their pride and un-endorsing the man they praised a few months ago at the Coliseum? Nowhere. While some state GOP leaders condemned Trump's women comments, they stopped short of un-endorsing him. Gov. Phil Bryant told the Associated Press that his comments "do not square with the man I have gotten to know the past few months. He has done the right thing and apologized."

These leaders are showing hypocrisy on the values they claim to hold dear as they watch a businessman who doesn't pay taxes destroy them, presumably because they want the tax cuts he is promising (and which economists say would be devastating to the U.S.). Would our leaders not have more to gain by tossing their candidate out the window?

By redefining their values (which does not have to include endorsing Clinton), they could offer to citizens an informed conservatism, one that doesn't disparage women, promote racist policing tactics (stop-and-frisk), or demonize immigrants and Muslims at every turn.

By not rising up to this moment—and actually taking a "risk" by un-endorsing their candidate, these leaders choose to keep Mississippi where it is—firmly in last place, including in public opinion. And they cement their own future legacies by being willing to go down in flames with a sexist, bigoted madman. Not smart. And, we'd bet they will embarrass their own families for years to come.