I’m now very curious to see the day-two stories about Jerry Falwell, Jr.
As you can see from the headline, after a day of equivocating, Falwell has now officially resigned his post at Liberty University. We now know pretty definitively what has been fairly obvious for a couple years about Jerry and Becki Falwell’s sexual practices. It seems highly likely that there will be other similar stories about other young men in the couple’s lives. But as we discussed yesterday, the really consequential news will be on the Falwell’s critical 2016 endorsement of then-candidate Trump and what role Trump and Michael Cohen’s knowledge of Falwell’s private life played in that decision.
This remains a very big and very important story because it’s not just or even mainly about Falwell but about the President of the United States and his path to power.
The additional part of the equation goes more to the governance of Liberty University. Presumably Liberty is not really a hotbed of swinger or cuckolding culture. But reporting especially over the last year makes it seem very likely that the Falwells’ personal lives and marriage have been an open secret, at least with the executive leadership of the University.
That picture on the yacht from a few weeks ago, followed by what sounded like a drunken mea sorta culpa radio interview, got Falwell suspended from his leadership of the University. But Falwell continued to lead the University for years despite having a semi-open private life that completely contradicted the school’s stated values and would have led to the immediate expulsion or firing of any students or faculty members. Presumably the combination of Falwell’s lineage and the big money he brought in made him untouchable.
It seems hard to imagine those facts will leave the board unscathed.
