Conyers and Franken. Moore and Trump. Compare and contrast. You may wish to consider, as part of your answer, issues related to allegations to do with sexual harassment.
This could be an essay title from a Modern American history course.
Allow me to offer a response.
Al Franken and John Conyers are both Democratic politicians, whilst Roy Moore and Donald Trump are Republicans.
From the perspective of things they have in common, it must be pointed out that, aside from being politicians, they are all persons who have a higher-than-commonplace public profile and appear reasonably frequently on TV.
In two cases, Al Franken and Donald Trump, they have also enjoyed lucrative TV careers. Al Franken on Saturday Night Live during the 1970s and 80s and Donald Trump on The Apprentice in the early to mid 2000s.
John Conyers and Roy Moore are both trained in law, with Roy Moore being a judge and former chief justice, whilst John Conyers was a legal counsel to a number of labour unions in the Detroit area.
John Conyers and Roy Moore both served in the military. Neither Donald Trump nor Al Franken have military backgrounds.
All four men either are married or have been divorced. They all have children. All four men have been accused by a number of women of inappropriate sexual behaviour. Three of the four men have denied these allegations. One has characterised the (recorded) conversations which demonstrate such behaviour as ‘locker room talk’.
Clearly, allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour are damaging to a politician’s reputation. Also they damage the reputation of the politician’s party. Two of the politicians have resigned whilst the allegations are investigated: Al Franken and John Conyers. Two politicians have not resigned. Indeed, they have maintained a high political profile, with both recently seeking and, in one case, attaining office: Roy Moore and Donald Trump.
Of the two politicians who have resigned, there is an expression of bitterness from one, Al Franken, when he says that there is “...some irony in the fact that I am leaving (office) while a man who has bragged on tape of his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office.” He goes on to lament the fact that a man (Roy Moore) who “repeatedly preyed on young girls” campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party.
President Trump actively supported the campaign, shouting, over Twitter, “VOTE ROY MOORE!” as Moore fought to attain a seat in the Senate. Meanwhile, the GOP was sitting uncomfortably between the rock of a maverick, almost nose-snubbing Republican in the Senate and the hard place of a Democrat, in his stead. Donald Trump seemed to arrange things so that he could claim credit if Moore won while allowing himself to claim some distance if Moore lost.
In the event, as the recent days have shown, the hard place won. The GOP has to suffer the indignity of a Democrat senator representing Alabama, for the first time in more than two decades. The majority that they enjoy is eroded to just 51-49. This will diminish President Trump’s authority mightily.