Hovde lets his Christian nationalist flag fly

With just under a month to go before the election, every poll consistently shows California banker Eric “Pornstache” Hovde trailing Sen. Tammy Baldwin by five to seven points. Hovde is also widely criticized for being a carpetbagger, stashing money in the Cayman Islands and doing business with a dodgy Mexican bank that deals with drug cartels. Needless to say, old Pornstache is feeling a little desperate these days.

So Hovde did what any Trump-loving, hateful Republican would do: he raised his Christian nationalist freak flag!

He exploited the fears of his base by drumming up their transphobic and homophobic bigotry.

Hovde began accusing Baldwin of soliciting and receiving funding for an agency that he accused of providing gender-affirming care without informing parents:

During a September 16 appearance on the Vicki McKenna Show on WIBA at 1310, Hovde pursued Baldwin for a federal earmark she had applied for for a Madison-area organization that serves at-risk youth.

By doing so, Hovde claimed, Baldwin “gave our taxpayer money to a transgender clinic, confirming that a clinic — which is their buzzword — does this without even telling parents.”

When asked for evidence, Hovde’s campaign produced nothing. Baldwin did get money for a youth group in Madison, but it was for their homeless teen program. And while the organization had a separate support group for LGBTQ youth, they did not do so in secret or provide medical care.

And it’s kind of strange that Hovde would have an inkling that Baldwin would help homeless children, since he bragged about doing the same for children in third world countries.

But Hovde wasn’t done with that transphobic boogeyman yet. Then he came out with another lie about trans youth and suicides:

Eric Hovde, the Republican businessman who challenged U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, claimed on a conservative radio talk show in Wisconsin that transgender youth have the highest suicide rate in the United States as a result of regretting their gender transition.

Scientific studies show that this is wrong on both counts: the percentage and the regret.

“The highest suicide rate in our country is young people who have gone through a transition. They wake up and realize that this has not cured their underlying mental health issues, and now they are even more confused and are committing suicide at the highest rate of any group in our society,” Hovde told the Conservative last Thursday radio host Joe Giganti on “The Regular Joe Show.” The nationally syndicated show originates from Green Bay.

In reality, however, the group with the highest suicide rate consists of people over 85 years old. The group with the fastest growing percentage are men over 25 years old, who live in rural areas and have easy access to guns.

It should be noted that Hovde is not only transphobic, but also has a great hatred of homosexuals. In one of his recent commercials he accuses Baldwin of undisclosed conflicts of interest and corruption. The gist of his ad is that Baldwin regulates the biotech industry, while her partner is a financial advisor to people in the biotech industry. He then jumps on the fact that they share inside information and use it to get rich. But the real emphasis is on the fact that Baldwin and her partner – GASP! – lesbians! Hovde even went so far as to end his ad with this not-so-subtle tagline:

Hovde’s gay-baiting came to the fore during a recent interview. Before Baldwin could respond, Rep. Gwen Moore rained down righteous hellfire:

But U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat and an ally of Baldwin, intervened, saying Hovde and Republicans did not raise these issues because they were concerned about a potential conflict of interest. Instead, Moore said she believes Hovde, a banking and real estate magnate from Madison, and other Republicans are using the issue to remind voters that Baldwin is a lesbian.

“I think they just want to make sure everyone knows about her,” Moore said, referring to Brisbane.

“That I have a girlfriend,” Baldwin clarified.

“That’s right,” Moore added. “Her being LGBTQ – I think that’s the whole point. When I hear them say she’s ‘in bed (with Wall Street)’ the whole point is about her personal life.”

The anticipation of returning this porn star to Laguna Beach will linger in the hearts of many Wisconsinites for the next four weeks.