Wexner’s had enough; will other Republicans speak out, too?

For all the impact that billionaire retail magnate Les Wexner has had on central Ohio and the state, it hasn’t typically been because of anything he said in public. Usually he lets his investments in community institutions and his own businesses speak for him. Politically, he’s been a major donor to GOP committees and some Democrats, but rarely has spoken personally.

Friday was different. Wexner, Ohio’s wealthiest person and a stalwart Republican since college, seemed to speak from his heart when he told an audience of fellow business titans that he’s done with the party of Donald Trump.

“I just decided I’m no longer a Republican,” Wexner told members of the Columbus Partnership, the area’s most influential business leaders, and YPO, a group of under-45 executives. “I won’t support this nonsense in the Republican Party.” He said he already has written personally to friends who are GOP officeholders to tell them he is now an independent.

He may or may not have mentioned President Donald Trump, but he didn’t have to. Wexner made his feelings known about the president a year ago, after the whitesupremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, when Trump declared that “both sides” included “very fine people.” Wexner said then that the president’s remarks made him lose sleep and feel “dirty” and “ashamed.”

Since then, Trump’s near-constant lying, bullying, childish bragging and destructive impulses have grown worse. The conflicts of interest posed by his and his children’s business deals are an insult to decent government. His attacks on the federal justice system and the free press, both of which are investigating him, are the stuff of tin-pot dictatorships, not the United States. Wexner surely isn’t the only Republican who is appalled at what has become of the party.

But is he the only one who will say so?

The nation is faced with a president who is manifestly unfit for any public office, let alone the world’s highest. Yet the only Republicans who will speak this truth are those who are retiring from their offices or who speak anonymously.

Ohio is served by competent, honorable Republicans such as Sen. Rob Portman, U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers and state Attorney General Mike DeWine, who would be governor. So far they have offered just faint disapproval of Trump’s worst outbursts.

If they lack the courage to stand up for what’s right, perhaps Wexner, who has given $1.5 million to Ohio Republican causes since 2012, can loan them some.

Here’s one easy way for Republicans and Democrats in Congress to show a bipartisan willingness to govern in the best interest of all Americans: Act now to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act before it expires on Sept. 30.

The 24-year-old law provides critical funding for organizations that operate domestic-violence hotlines, shelters and countless programs to prevent domestic violence or help women and children recover from it. It has been reauthorized three times since its signing in 1994, always with bipartisan support.

This time only Democrats have sponsored a reauthorization bill, but nearly 50 House Republicans, including Rep. Steve Stivers of Upper Arlington, have voiced their support.

House Speaker Paul Ryan should bring the bill up for a vote. Surely common sense and compassion are not too far gone from Congress to save this essential legislation.