What happened: Petty tyrant Alex Murdaugh, the Democratic donor convicted of brutally murdering his wife and 22-year-old son, was sentenced to life in prison last week. Murdaugh, who was represented at trial by Democratic donor Dick Harpootlian, made a maximum donation of $2,800 to President Joe Biden's campaign during the Democratic primary, less than a year before he gunned down his family in cold blood. He faces dozens of additional charges for stealing money from injured poor people, among other things.
Why it matters: Murdaugh's conviction and sentencing is the most recent example of an alarming trend: Democratic donors spending the rest of their lives in prison for unspeakable acts of cruelty and barbarism. We believe our readers should be alerted.
In addition to Murdaugh, at least three major Democratic donors are rotting in prison after being convicted of heinous crimes.
• Harvey Weinstein: The disgraced Hollywood mogul and Democratic Party patron was sentenced last month to 16 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. Weinstein, 70, was already serving 23 years following his conviction on separate charges of rape and sexual assault. He has donated more than half a million dollars to Democratic candidates and committees over the past two decades. Biden's most trusted aide, Anita Dunn, was among the communications experts Weinstein approached for "damage control" advice after being exposed as a serial rapist in 2016.
• Ed Buck: The California activist, who has donated more than half a million dollars to Democratic candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Adam Schiff, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in April 2022. Buck, 68, was found guilty of luring vulnerable young men to his home, injecting them with methamphetamine, and sexually assaulting them. Two of his victims died as a result of what prosecutors described as the Democratic donor's "lethal and unchecked pattern of reckless disregard for human life."
• Ghislaine Maxwell: When the Clinton pal and devoted sidekick of jet-setting pedophile Jeffrey Epstein became a U.S. citizen in 2002, she immediately wrote a check to first-time gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo (D., N.Y.). Maxwell attended Chelsea Clinton's wedding to failed hedge-fund manager Marc Mezvinsky in 2010 and reportedly had a signed copy of former president Bill Clinton's 2004 memoir, My Life, inscribed with the message, "To Ghislaine with love." In June 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking related to Epstein's serial abuse of underage girls.
Honorable mention: Bernie Madoff died in federal prison in 2021 while serving a 150-year sentence for orchestrating a $65 million Ponzi scheme. He donated $200,000 to Democratic Party committees and candidates including Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer (N.Y.). Madoff didn't murder anyone directly, but several of his victims committed suicide after realizing they'd been swindled out of their life savings.
Bottom line: Over the past several decades, the Democratic Party has been financed by some of history's greatest monsters.