NYT: Toomey ‘often twists his face into a grimace and races away from reporters before they can ask him about Donald J. Trump’

One year ago today, “the world’s most insecure billionaire rode down his escalator and into our nightmares.” Donald Trump has since secured the Republican presidential nomination, exposing members of his party like Pat Toomey for their political opportunism, extremism and cowardice.

Not even Wilson from Castaway could have missed some of the disgusting things Trump has said over the past 365 days. But as a helpful reminder, our friends at the DSCC put together a “Reader’s Digest” version of some lowlights. (See below).

You might be thinking, “Wow, that’s insane! I would never want to be friends with or publicly associated with that guy!”

Not Pat Toomey. He has steadfastly said he would support the Republican presidential nominee and acknowledged as recently as last week that he’s open to campaigning with Trump.

Toomey’s embrace of the Donald puts him in the unenviable position of being asked fair questions about how he squares his support with his chosen nominee’s fusillade of insanity.

Let’s just say Toomey hasn’t handled things gracefully, and The Times is ON IT.

Zoomed in:

The GOP standard-bearer:

• Accused most Mexican immigrants of most likely being “rapists,” drug traffickers, or criminals

• Mocked a disabled reporter

• Taunted John McCain for being a POW

• Declared that a federal judge from Indiana could not fairly judge him due to the judge’s Mexican heritage

• Said Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever”

• Continued to cling to thoroughly debunked birther theories about Obama and even Ted Cruz

• Argued there should be “some form of punishment” for women who get abortions

• Been hammered by revelations on lawsuits by former students of Trump University accusing it of fraud among other claims

• Referred to reporters and the media in general as “absolute scum” and casually wondered if he would kill them (the answer, after careful consideration, was no)

• Refused to condemn his notably white supremacist and neo-Nazi supporters, like David Duke

• Repeatedly supported and encouraged violence against protesters at his rallies

• Suggested widespread nuclear proliferation would not be “a bad thing for us”

• Called for a total shutdown of Muslim immigration into the US, repeatedly

• Had a self-described white nationalist listed as a California delegate

• Implied that Ted Cruz’s father played a part in the JFK assassination

• Praised – and been praised by – Putin

• Said North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un deserved “credit” for taking out his rivals

• Claimed that President Obama supports ISIS