It doesn’t take a genius to know that there’s usually something very closeted and scandalous brewing in MAGA world. But there are degrees: for every Josh Hawley rumored makeout sesh and Lindsey Graham posthoumous s*x scandal, there are a million other quiet scandals happening under our very noses. Sometimes it takes mere minutes for these tales to hit the front page. Other times, it’s a slow-burning process that keeps us guessing until the very last minute.
Consider GOP Senator Bernie Moreno. In 2024, the Ohio representative faced scandal after reporters uncovered an account on the site Adult Friend Finder from 2008. The profile “Men for 1-on-1 sex” was linked to Moreno’s email, which was quite awkward considering that Moreno had recently categorized LGBTQ+ rights as part of a “radical” liberal agenda. The Tr*mp-backed candidate was in trouble, and tried to pass the whole thing off as a joke. Surprisingly, that tactic worked. But it wouldn’t be the last time the former “car czar’s” allegedly closeted past would come back to haunt him.
Politics, but make it gay!
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Today, Moreno is in the headlines again, for a different, darker reason. As reported by queer YouTube Matt Cullen, Moreno’s old scandal is resurfacing in the wake of an ongoing family feud between the GOP Senator and his son-in-law, fellow Ohio Rep. Max Miller.
In a shocking Mother Jones report from mid-July, we learned about the shocking domestic abuse claims against Miller. In recent court filings, Miller faces allegations of “misogyny and verbal abuse, and violent behavior against multiple women,” including his wife Emily Moreno, Bernie’s daughter, and the toddler-aged child Miller and Moreno share. The filings also note that Miller allegedly “threatened” his father-in-law.
The question is, with what?
“Everyone is going to get to know you better than your wife does,” Miller texted Moreno in one of the references included in Emily Moreno’s restraining order motion. “Enjoy the ride brother, I wouldn’t have to do this if you could keep your lying daughter under control.”
What, exactly, does Miller know about Moreno that the rest of us don’t? Whatever it is, it has to be strong enough to keep Moreno from pouncing on his daughter’s abuser with a vengeance. Which is where the speculation comes in.
The Tr*mp-endorsed candidate Moreno didn’t always stand against LGBTQ+ rights. In 2014, he showed support for the Gay Games in Cleveland. In 2016, he stood by his openly gay son, and a year later he signed a letter denouncing an anti-gay hate crime on the Cleveland State campus. Then, he became Tr*mp-aligned, and things changed.
But this contradiction is well-documented: what Miller potentially has on Moreno is not. Adult Friend Finder, the site where Moreno allegedly made that 2008 profile, had a huge 2016 data breach that allowed reporters to link Moreno’s geolocation and email—along with other identifying factors—to his profile. “The AP could not confirm Bernie created the profile himself,” Matt Cullen explains, but Moreno’s team insists it was a “prank” done by one of his staffers.
To which we say: sure, Jan. Unsurprisingly, so does everyone else: even Adam Kinzinger wondered aloud last week why Moreno was staying relatively silent about his daughter’s abuse.
Now, Moreno is finally speaking up as the alleged abuse against his daughter and granddaughter escalates. It’s still not clear what Miller feels he has on his father-in-law. But that’s not stopping people from filling in the gaps themselves.
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