The Partisan Difference in Political Scandals

Jonathan Bernstein: “The other thing worth emphasizing when these stories come up is that there is now almost certainly a partisan difference, with Republican politicians more likely to commit criminal or otherwise heinous or scandalous acts (some empirical support can be found looking through here, here and here).”

“This didn’t used to be the case, and I do not believe that Republicans or conservatives are any more prone to such thing than Democrats. What has changed, however, is the incentive structure. Once upon a time both parties were equally likely to rid themselves of bad actors; now Republicans are far more likely to tolerate, and in some cases even celebrate, behavior they once would have shunned.”

“Of course, the most famous of these is Donald Trump — both for his own misdeeds, and those he tolerates in others. It is absolutely inconceivable, for example, that a Democratic president-elect would nominate and stick with someone who had generated the accusations that have been lodged against Pete Hegseth. It’s not just that Democratic Senators would revolt; we would see multiple resignations from any transition team stocked with Democrats who were faced with that situation.”