Yes, it’s that time of year when Ethics Alarms will be announcing as many Best of… and Worst of…ethics awards as I get around to posting. A bit of background, in case you rely on the New York Times for your Washington. D.C. news (the Times up to now has ignored the embarrassing—to Democrats–saga completely):
The American Spectator was the first to reveal that a staffer for Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md) regularly posted images and videos on Twitter (“X”) of himself having sex with a male partner. One such video was particularly provocative: the sex show was captured in a conference room in the Hart Senate Office Building, where his boss the Senator’s office is located. The star is shown naked except for a jock strap, on on all fours, facing away from the camera, with a cartoon of the Capitol Dome covering his posterior. The Daily Caller then posted the video, leading the Capitol police to investigate (Prof. Turley explains that the video may be evidence of a crime).
It wasn’t exactly a case requiring Columbo, since the staffer had made the video publicly available. He was identified as Cardin aide Aidan Maese-Czeropski, 24, and was quickly fired in a terse, “we don’t want to talk about it” statement from Cardin’s office.
Donald Trump wrapped up the Ethics Alarms Asshole of the Year award in April (he has won that award in other years), and has only confirmed my assessment since, including yesterday. However, this aspiring young porn star managed to ensure his second place finish (in a very tough field) by 1) showing complete disrespect for the Capitol, the Senate, and the nation’s history 2) embarrassing the Senator, his party, and the crucial LGBTQ Democratic constituency, which is fighting a still-strong bias against its members, 3) embarrassing President Biden, who had included this creep in an ad for his 2020 presidential campaign, and 4) claiming that he was being discriminated against for “who I love” (No, it’s about where you love him, asshole) in a LinkedIn post and threatening to sue, well, somebody, for mischaracterizing his actions. (Characterizations are opinions, you idiot.)
I’m happy that this guy’s name is being publicized far and wide. It will be fascinating to see who hires him after this. Twenty-four is very young to be cancelled, but if anyone deserves to be forced to wander in the wilderness, it’s Aidan.
Now watch another Democratic official hire him…
On to the headline…here’s how NBC ran the story:
Isn’t that NBC News headline something? That’s the best “Republicans pounce!” spin yet. A Democratic Senator’s staff member is caught making a pornographic video in a Senate hearing room, and the news is that “conservative outlets” got him fired. Those “conservative outlets” were doing their job: why did “conservative outlets” have to be the only ones willing to let the public know what kind of staffers are being hired by members of Congress these days? The NBC account also called the obscene video “leaked”; it wasn’t leaked. Maese-Czeropski posted it on social media himself.
It continues to be stunning how Democrats continue to flog the narrative that Donald Trump is dangerous because he doesn’t demonstrate proper respect for American institutions. I cannot recall any period in U.S. history when a political party has been involved in so many episodes involving officials, staff and supporters showing contempt for the dignity of our institutions and traditions. There was Sam Brinton, memorably. “Someone” left cocaine in the White House. We had the bare trans-boobs incident. A member of the Squad set off a false alarm to try to disrupt a House vote, and lied about it even after a video showed he was lying.
But Donald Trump is a threat to institutional norms.
Ethics Alarms 
“(No, it’s about where you love him, asshole)”
That’s a triple-entendre if I ever saw one.
-Jut
Laugh out loud.
I was going to write something about how apropos it was that this fag is in the running for [but not quite] “Asshole” of the Year. But Jut’s post one upped me.
Do avoid that slur here in future posts. Thanks.
+ 1
PWS
I apologize, from the heart. I respect Jack’s work, Ethics Alarms and all who post here. I read every post and each comment because I learn and gain something from them.
I am truly embarrassed for my lack of couth on this site.
What is not lost on me though, is that I am more ashamed of posting a slur than this guy is for virally sharing such an all around disgusting disrespectful video – Gay or hetero. He’s a sick individual making a mockery of our Senate. And the fact that the MSM gives him a pass makes my blood boil. Tired of it.
“What is not lost on me though, is that I am more ashamed of posting a slur than this guy is for virally sharing such an all around disgusting disrespectful video – Gay or hetero. He’s a sick individual making a mockery of our Senate. And the fact that the MSM gives him a pass makes my blood boil. Tired of it.”
I second without reservation.
How about pickle-cheddar? 😀 😮 If anyone earned a slam it’s this idiot.
The crazy thing to me is that this could have gotten himself buggered in a Senate committee room and gotten clean away with it – had he not insisted on filming the act, and posting said film on the Internet. Is this a particular malady of the Gen Z crowd, that they can’t even comprehend the possibility of not broadcasting something on social media, even if it’s intensely personal, or will get you fired, or is evidence of a crime?
I would think that my dear Senator Cardin deserves some of the credit for this asshole. As a senator he himself had the duty or responsibility to instill among those in his employ the type of behavior expected of those given the privilege of representing constituents. Every boss has a duty to imbue within his or her subordinates the culture the boss wants. Otherwise, bedlam results. This type of behavior did not occur in a vacuum; precursor behaviors or statements of implied approval must have originated from the top. Ben Cardin was an asshole to hire this guy just as the person that hired Sam Brinton put sexual ideology over competence and integrity.
You said “Donald Trump wrapped up the Ethics Alarms Asshole of the Year award in April (he has won that award in other years), and has only confirmed my assessment since, including yesterday.”
I am sure that he is worthy of the award. However the article to which you linked said he was referring to immigrants and not illegal, undocumented persons who have either avoided capture or were trafficked into the United States with the assistance of DHS. Trump has never belittled legal immigrants or tried to reduce the number of them coming to the U.S. to my knowledge.
To be honest, the word poisoning means to cause harm or death. His use of the phrase poisoning the blood of our country could mean either harming our national values or harming that which makes our society work. I don’t really care. The issue is that the unrelenting flow of undocumented illegally entering or remaining in the country is harming our social safety nets and public safety. It was just several days ago that Hamas operatives were caught trying to enter the US through our southern border. I read the Politico story and tend to agree with Trump’s assessment that unchecked illegal immigration is causing substantial harm to the United States. Would I say that it is poisoning the blood of this country? Not specifically the illegal activity but I will say that the media’s conflation of legal and illegal immigrants is creating a societal schism that is leading to social unrest and perhaps civil strife at some point. I suppose all deceptive propaganda poisons the blood of a nation.
I further believe that the administration’s unwillingness to use the remain in Mexico policy is a willful attempt to get as many people into the country during this administration as possible in order to demand amnesty for all somewhere down the line as part of a immigration reform bill. I consider those who take the oath of office that requires them to execute the laws faithfully and fairly and then fail to do so far bigger assholes than people demanding that those laws be enforced.
The politico article was a rehash of the anti-immigrant propaganda from 2016. I don’t think we can use known positions to reinforce a label that was bestowed on him in the past for the same statements.
I just posted on that quote in more detail.
I just saw it and I have no quarrel with your analysis. I do think think that those who are inclined to believe the worst intention will do so and some of us will give him some latitude because the only issue any conservative has been griping about is the illegal occupation of our country by unvetted foreign nationals that can use our birthright citizenship rules to establish a long term foothold in the country for other relatives.
“But Donald Trump is a threat to institutional norms.”
I find it difficult to believe that anything DJT has done is more harmful than some moron having sex in the most significant place in the nation and posting a video of it.
Trump may have amassed quite the volume of dumb things, none of them combined have desecrated the respect for our institutions as this.
In the current culture (on the left, anyway, nobody on the right has posted themselves online performing sex acts for money while running for office or in Senate hearing rooms) this has the effect of debasing respect for institutions across the board for the younger generation that will lead in the future in a way that Trump can’t get close to.
There’s a pernicious and perverse intent to debase a critically important institution involved in what the Virginia candidate and this dickweed did that Trump doesn’t get close to, no matter how maddening his word choice and actions have been.