H/T Scissorhead Dennis Cole

Junior Mints, the ne’er do well son of Hair Füror Donald Trump, has some ‘splaining to do to Daddy Dearest. You see, Junior was the person who encouraged Senior to endorse the Senate candidacy of Sean Parnell, who has now famously lost custody of his kids because in addition to being a wife-beater is also credibly accused of being a child abuser:

Republican Sean Parnell, who was endorsed by former president Donald Trump in a closely watched Pennsylvania Senate race, said Monday he will not continue with his campaign, hours after it was made public that a judge had granted his estranged wife primary custody of the couple’s three children. The judge’s order last week, made public in court documents Monday, outlined in detail the allegations of domestic and other abuse Laurie Snell had made against her estranged husband, and concluded that “Parnell did commit some acts of abuse in the past.” Parnell has denied the allegations.

In his decision to award primary physical and sole legal custody of the children to Snell, Senior Judge James Arner deemed Snell “the more credible witness” who “can truthfully give regular status reports to Sean Parnell and, as may be needed, to the court.”

Snell has accused Parnell of multiple forms of abuse before their separation, including choking her and hitting one of their children so hard he left a “full handprint” mark on the child’s back. She testified that Parnell has thrown chairs across the room toward her; pinned her down and screamed profanities at her; called her crazy in front of the children; and once dropped her off on Interstate 79 when she was six months pregnant and told her to get an abortion.

Later that day…

“I strongly disagree with the ruling today and I’m devastated by the decision,” Parnell said in a statement. “I plan on asking the court to reconsider this decision. In the order, two of the leading factors that weighed heavily in the judge’s decision revolved around me being a leading Senate candidate. There is nothing more important to me than my children, and while I plan to ask the court to reconsider, I can’t continue with a Senate campaign. My focus right now is 100 percent on my children, and I want them to know I do not have any other priorities and will never stop fighting for them.”

So he’s quitting the race to spend more time with his victims, er, kids on the weekends instead of campaigning, and one hopes that there are always responsible adults supervising or at least witnessing. But I digest...

The less charitable explanation is that the judge’s ruling (legally?) confirmed that Parnell is violent, wife-beating, child-abusing jerk, and so made him unelectable. Even to Republicans, and that takes some doing!

So the question remains? Who will be the finest people to get Hair Füror’s recommendation now? Tiger Beat on the Potomac (thanks Charlie!) morning email thingie has the under-over! (Emphasis theirs!)

GOP SEEKS PLAN B IN PA — With SEAN PARNELL dropping his campaign for Senate in Pennsylvania, some of his former supporters who are close to DONALD TRUMP JR. are now pushing hedge fund millionaire DAVID MCCORMICK to run. A source close to McCormick said he’s “seriously considering doing it now more than ever” and is prepared to put tens of millions of dollars of his own money into a campaign. McCormick, the husband of former Trump White House official DINA POWELL MCCORMICK, had been waiting to announce his candidacy until the verdict in Parnell’s custody battle as a way to win over his supporters, sources tell Playbook.

While MEHMET OZ, aka Dr. Oz, has signaled interest in running for the seat, two Republican donors said they’re waiting to see if he’s willing to spend his own money on the race. “Without knowing what he’s putting forward financially, it’s kind of a gimmick,” said one donor in Pennsylvania. With the Trump-backed Parnell finished, and many of his supporters still angry at GOP candidate JEFF BARTOS for openly sharing details of Parnell’s domestic issues, many see McCormick as the most viable option who could win Trump’s endorsement. He could be the saving grace for Trump Jr., who pushed his father to endorse Parnell and now needs a plan B in a must-win race.

It’s important to note that Hair Füror stood by his man, unflinchingly, as to run away would be to admit making a mistake. I’m not a betting man (totally a betting man), but if I were, I’d put my Quatloos on Dr. Oz, because Hair Füror likely has seen him on the TeeVee machine, and also it takes a sleaze ball to know a sleaze ball.