Duncan Hunter and looming moral bankruptcy

Thirty tequila shots: $462.

Helping Democrats retake the majority in 2018 and maybe even the White House in 2020: Priceless.

There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there was the campaign account of Rep. Duncan Hunter.

Now Hunter is at risk of permanently hurting his party the longer the California Republican sticks around. He was just the second congressman to endorse Donald Trump for president behind Rep. Chris Collins, the New York Republican recently arrested and indicted for insider trading. Hunter is the latest to bring public shame on his party.

But Hunter and Collins aren’t even the worst of the lot. They join an inglorious list that includes Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser who lied to Vice President Mike Pence; Michael Cohen, the former lawyer-fixer of the president who admitted to breaking campaign finance law; and Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign manager who did business with Ukrainian mobsters.

[Also read: Duncan Hunter shifts blame to his wife: ‘Whatever she did, that will be looked at’]

What bad luck Trump has, constantly finding himself surrounded by crooks and grifters! What good luck the Democrats have, constantly getting gifts from the other party.

A humming economy can only hide so many ethical lapses for so long. Citizens will want the swamp to drain at some point and, when they do, Democrats can make a persuasive case that Republicans are the problem, not the solution. Right now, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has best positioned herself to make this case in 2020. She unveiled an ambitious and sweeping package of anti-corruption reforms. Granted, that progressive superstar predictably but nonsensically sees more government as the antidote to corruption.

Republicans won’t have an honest answer and, if the economy isn’t great, Republicans won’t have any more excuses. They are at risk of going morally bankrupt.