President Donald Trump did not get into office on his own. Republicans proved comfortable with his racism, sexism, and other well documented antagonisms of marginalized communities, and now, there’s a new case of karma coming for one of those Republicans who practiced plenty of that outlandish bigotry on his own time. The Florida Bar Association has now delivered a 91-day suspension from practicing law in the state and a $1,386 fine to retired Pasco County lawyer and recent judicial candidate Donald McBath over a wave of comments he made on social media that derided the LGBTQ community, Muslims, immigrants, and others.
In a public Florida Bar press release that also chronicles new disciplinary measures against more than a dozen other lawyers in the state, the organization explains:
‘McBath, as a judicial candidate, made written and oral statements concerning his political affiliations and his views of classes of parties and issues that were hate-filled, unprofessional and inappropriate.’
Separately, the Bar added that McBath “failed to maintain the dignity appropriate to judicial office and act in a manner that is consistent with impartiality, integrity, and the independence of the judiciary.”
The complaint that the Bar formulated against McBath — who’s been disciplined numerous times before — included 15 examples of his public bigotry. For instance, he commented that one should “never trust a Muslim,” that LGBTQ people should “abstain” if they “really have that mental illness,” and separately, he also added that those targeted by Trump’s repeated travel bans are supposedly “leeches on our system.”
McBath didn’t even come close to winning the Republican primary race for the south Florida judgeship that he was after, having lost to former prosecutor Doneene Loar by a margin of more than 16 percent, but how many people’s cases did he grossly mishandle over the years of his legal work thanks to his bigotry?
McBath apparently retired from his law practice last year, so it’s unclear that he’ll even try to take on any cases again. His most recent discipline prior to this latest suspension was a year-long suspension from practicing law after he “mishandled a client’s family law case in 2016.” He was also “admonished” in 2014 for sending a threatening cease and desist letter, suspended for three weeks in 2007 over “frivolous paperwork in a divorce case,” publicly reprimanded over “trust account violations” in 2002, and all the way back in 1997, he was “admonished for not competently representing a client and communicating poorly,” according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Of course that kind of person would find a home with Trumpism. The House formally condemned the president this summer when he tweeted that certain women of color should “go back” where they came from, although most of them were born in the United States. It was just racism when he tweeted:
‘So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe… Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.’
He eventually brought out the same complaint at a rally, which earned him loud applause.
….and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
