If you were born in 2003, the #Speaker of the United States House of Representatives at that time was Republican Dennis Hastert. If any #Republican ever tries to finger-wag you about "protecting the children," you have every right to remind them confidently how incredibly popular Hastert was with Illinois Republicans and among his Republican peers in congress. As a matter of fact, House Republicans even scrapped their own term limit on the Speaker position in 2003 while he was in that role. On June 1, 2006, Hastert became the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history.

Oh yea, and he ultimately left Congress in disgrace for paying hush money to cover up "past #misconduct." If you don't know the story, you should.

This is not ancient history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hastert

Dennis Hastert - Wikipedia

This asshole was a high school wrestling coach btw.

What is it with Republican wrestling coaches !
(looking at you Gym Jordan)

Dennis Hastert's Sexual Abuse Victim Describes 'Darkest Secret' of Incident When He Was 17 Years Old

Judge calls Hastert a “child molester” and sentences him to 15 months in prison.

ABC News

A *lot* of Republicans defended Hastert before they even knew any of the facts. They didn't need to know whether he was a serial abuser of minors under his care. They just needed to know what he was good at getting shit done.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-dennis-hastert-letters-met-20160422-story.html

More than 40 letters in support of Hastert made public before sentencing

A judge ordered that the letters be made public if Hastert's lawyers wanted him to consider them in deciding his sentence Wednesday.

Chicago Tribune

Anyway, just look at this vomit-inducing piece of shit.

This is the quintessential Republican rock star. Very little has changed.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/15/hastert-settles-child-sexual-abuse-suit-511972

Hastert settles child sexual abuse payments suit

Dennis Hastert paid $1.7 million over four years but stopped the payments after the FBI questioned him in 2014.

POLITICO