Four Republican candidates in the 1st Congressional District covered the usual issues — taxes, abortion, guns, immigration — during a Tuesday night forum at Tulsa Tech’s Lemley Campus, but the biggest commotion came near the end, when Danny Stockstill rose to moderator Russell Mills’ invitation to criticize President Donald Trump.
In truth, Stockstill did not chide Trump so much as he did fellow Republicans who won’t hold the president accountable for his actions, especially toward women.
“We like President Trump because he says what he says and he means what he says,” Stockstill said in response to Mills’ question. “So why are we so afraid to say, ‘There’s no way I want my son to act like (Trump)’?
“If my daughter ever dates a man who treated her like he treats women, I’m going to use my Second Amendment,” Stockstill said. “If I ever find out my son has treated women the way he has, I don’t care how old (my son) is, I’m going to come down on him.
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“If we can’t stand up and say out loud, ‘I disagree with President Trump in the way he treats people,’ shame on us.”
“Shame on you!” shouted a woman near the stage.
Stockstill’s remarks were otherwise met with a scattering of applause, grumbling and silence.
Stockstill was responding to a question Mills had asked of four gubernatorial candidates one night earlier and repeated Tuesday: What did they think of U.S. Sen. James Lankford’s remark that he does not consider Trump a role model for children?
Andy Coleman and Tim Harris said it is up to parents to be role models for children, not the president.
Stockstill, a long-shot in the five-way primary, jumped right in.
“I despise the fact he thinks it’s OK to have an affair with a porn star, pay her off and pretend like it doesn’t matter,” Stockstill said. “It’s one thing to say we don’t have one man and one woman anymore, but for us to say it’s OK to have one man and five women is a disgrace.
“We’ve got to separate. He is not a role model. Is he a good president so far? I think he’s doing a pretty good job. Is he a role model for my kids? Not as long as I’m alive.”
State Sen. Nathan Dahm, going last, said most claims of improper behavior by Trump occurred before he became president and that since taking office, “Yes, I would say he has been a good role model.”
Dahm said cutting taxes and regulations, appointing Neal Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, and moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem make Trump a good presidential role model.
“In his personal life, that’s a different story.”
The forum, sponsored by the Tulsa Area Republican Assembly, the 9-12 Project and the Tulsa Republican Men’s Club, lasted about two hours. One of the five candidates in the field, businessman Kevin Hern, was unable to attend.
Coleman, a former military intelligence officer, promised to serve no more than four terms if elected. He said he wants to eliminate federal funding of all family planning programs.
“If families want to practice birth control, they can, but we don’t have to fund it,” he said.
Coleman touted his experience in the Middle East and his ties to past and current members of Congress associated with the Freedom Caucus.
Harris, a former Tulsa County district attorney, said his experience as a prosecutor and negotiator give him the best “skill set.”
Harris said he opposes an Article V convention to amend the U.S. Constitution because “in all this LGBT ‘what is my sex today,’ ‘what bathroom am I going to use,’ ‘I have a gender identity issue,’ what is going to control the left from commandeering that convention (with) those kinds of issues that we don’t want to deal with.”
Dahm said his record in the Legislature proves his conservative mettle. He said he has been endorsed by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and the National Rifle Association, and he got a big hand for his defense of Trump after Stockstill’s mini-sermon.
Stockstill, a Southern Baptist minister, has consistently taken the most moderate positions of the five 1st District Republican candidates. He seemed to trouble his audience Tuesday by saying he thinks a border wall (but not border security) is a waste of money and that government has an obligation to see that everyone has a chance in life.
