THEY DO KNOW DONALD WAS PALS WITH EPSTEIN?:

In August, the South Florida Sun Sentinel resurfaced old Facebook posts of Mast's in which the veteran bantered with Florida man Rocco LeDonni, a friend-turned-campaign manager, about sex with 15 year olds.

In 2009, LeDonni was vacationing in South Africa and posted an image of a bar. "i'm so proud of you," Mast commented. "i hope you hook up with at least fifteen 15 year olds over there.... its legal there right."

Two years later, LeDonni queried his Facebook friends. "Anyone have any good pick up lines for this weekend considering according to the crazy christian radio guy the world may end on sunday?"

Mast had one at the ready: "How about don't turn this rape into a murder."

Mast apologized for the remarks this summer, saying he was ashamed of them and was striving to be a better man. In the heat of a typical congressional race, the one-day story may have moved on from there.

   

Mast has the apparent upper hand in the 18th Congressional District, which covers parts of West Palm Beach as well as Martin and St. Lucie counties. The Cook Political Report lists it as R+5, meaning it has a substantial Republican advantage.

But unfortunately for Mast, an independent candidate on the ballot, K.W. Miller, is publicly associated with QAnon, and Mast's remarks could hardly have been better tuned to send the movement's supporters fleeing from him and toward Miller. In fact, Miller was the first to call for him to resign from Congress in the wake of the news of the comments, noted Sabra Ingeman, a spokesperson for Miller's campaign. "As soon as the Sun Sentinel article came out, that night K.W. put up a video calling for his resignation, and then a bunch of other groups piled on to that," Ingeman said, adding that particularly among women, some of whom have protested his office, the comment has deeply resonated in a negative way.

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