CONSCIENCE

Iowa GOP Women’s Group President Resigns Over Trump

“This is truly a last resort for me.”

The president of an Iowa Republican women’s group has resigned over Donald Trump’s recent set of scandals. In a statement, Melissa Gesing, head of the Iowa Federation of Republican Women, wrote: “I cannot in good conscience lead this organization or look at myself in the mirror each morning if I do not take a stand against the racism, sexism and hate that Donald J. Trump continues to promote.” Gesing’s resignation followed a 2005 video that caught Trump making vulgar remarks about women. The Republican Party has been fracturing over the scandal this week, and BuzzFeed News published a story Wednesday morning claiming that the candidate walked in on teen girls changing in a Miss Teen USA dressing room in 1997. The report quotes contestants describing the real-estate mogul, who owned several beauty pageants for many years, as “creepy.” Trump has in the past bragged publicly about his ability to watch adult women changing in pageant dressing rooms while they were completely naked. Gesing wrote on Tuesday: “[I] cannot support Donald J. Trump for president, nor can I advocate for his election.” Her resignation letter was posted Tuesday evening and then shared via Twitter. “I am still a Republican and plan to work hard for our down ballot GOP candidates,” she wrote.