Congressional Lemmings Line Up Behind Trump And His Money
Former President trump has raised more than $34 million for his 2024 reelection campaign since the start of the year, fueled by a big boost in donations after he was indicted last month.
Given the likelihood of further indictments, trump could count many millions more in campaign contributions proving the adage that crime does pay.
That explains why 48 members of congress have jumped on the trump 2024 bandwagon, hoping to cash in on the gravy train for their own campaigns.
Other factors are that these lawmakers are mindless, ignorant zombies obeying their leader, believing that trump embodies all of their rage and disappointments as they abandon all ethics and the democratic process and are ready for a dictator.
How else can anyone explain support for a person who is generally considered to be the worst U.S. president ever. He has been twice impeached, indicted on assorted charges, is under investigation for trying to fix the 2020 election, stealing top secret documents and fomenting an insurrection. He had no concrete successes in office and numerous failures, from delaying action on the COVID-19 pandemic causing death to hundreds of thousands of people to spending billions on a ridiculous wall to egging on supporters to riot at the Capitol to all of the shady dealings by trump and his family.
One thing trump does masterfully is to echo the anger and fears of his constituents, even if he has no plans to do anything to abate those fears.
Here is the list of Republicans who have come out in favor of trump for 2024, so far:
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., Rep. Dale Strong , R-Ala., Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Rep. Mike Carey, R-Ohio, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, Rep. Russell Fry, R-S.C., Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, Rep. Randy Weber, R-Texas, Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va. and Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo.
Here are a few comments from the alternate universe of trump.
In announcing his support, Tuberville said trump is “the leader America needs” in 2024. Budd said trump will lead the “return of the America First agenda to restore prosperity and peace.” Graham said he was “for Trump not because of the flaws of anyone else. I am for Donald Trump because I know what I’m gonna get.” Mullin called trump “the strongest president of my lifetime.”
Blackburn said trump will fix the economy and secure the border.
“He did it once, and he will do it again. President Trump will Make America Great Again, and I look forward to having him back in the White House,” Blackburn, said.
Moore said that he wishes he could endorse Trump “five more times” after he was indicted. Van Drew, a former Democrat who switched parties while trump was president, said he was endorsing trump because he is a “loyal guy.”
Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., heaped the Saccharin praise on trump.
“I really loved his policies, thought it was one of the most successful presidencies in America in terms of energy policy, the economy, tax policy, regulatory policy,” Hudson said.
Trump’s support is predominantly in southern states and is by far strongest in Texas. Many of his supporters are members of the ultra right wing Freedom Caucus and were in lockstep with trump’s ridiculous claims that voter fraud cost him a second term. Many are familiar names from the far right fringe, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, Elise Stefanik, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Lindsay Graham and J.D. Vance.
But there are other, lesser known figures, like Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., who was swept into her first term in office by defeating incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney who committed political suicide when she was among the few Republicans who saw trump for what he was. For that Cheney was roundly excoriated by Republicans, with trump at the helm. Hageman is big on oil, keeping migrants out of the U.S. and restoring power to the states. Other freshman lawmakers who have swallowed the cool aid include Dale Strong and Eli Crane. Both got trump endorsements and now, as they say, it’s payback time, just like the Godfather said.
A member of the Freedom Caucus, Crane promoted trump’s false theory that there were “massive amounts of fraud” in the 2020 Presidential election. Crane called upon the Arizona State Legislature to decertify Joe Biden’s victory in the state and for the Attorney General of Arizona to launch a criminal investigation into alleged voter fraud. Crane served in the Navy SEALs unit and later co-founded “Bottle Breacher,” a company that manufactures bottle openers made of 50-caliber shell casings.
Byron Donalds, is one of two African Americans behind trump, who has shown himself to be racist, misogynist and xenophobic. The other is freshman lawmaker, Wesley Hunt.
Donalds is a member of the Freedom Caucus, and participated in 2020 in the “Freedom Force,” a group of incoming House Republicans who “say they’re fighting against socialism in America.” Donalds described himself as a “Trump supporting, gun owning, liberty loving, pro-life, politically incorrect Black man.” He was blocked from joining the Congressional Black Caucus.
Cindy Hyde-Smith is a rebel to the core. She is notable for having attended Lawrence County Academy in Monticello, Miss., a segregation academy established in response to Supreme Court rulings ordering the desegregation of public schools. The school’s team nickname was the Rebels; the mascot was a “Col. Reb” who carried a Confederate flag. In 2007, Hyde-Smith voted for a resolution that praised a Confederate States Army soldier for his efforts to “defend his homeland.” During her first term in the Mississippi Senate, she unsuccessfully proposed renaming a state highway after Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In 2014, Hyde-Smith posted a photo of herself at Davis’s home in Beauvoir, wearing a Confederate cap and carrying a rifle, with the caption “Mississippi history at its best!”
Mike Carey is chairman of the board of the Ohio Coal Association and was vice president of government affairs for American Consolidated Natural Resources, a coal company. During the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, Carey developed negative campaign ads against Democratic nominees John Kerry and Barack Obama. Trump endorsed the MAGA enthusiast for Congress.
Chuck Fleischmann is of Italian, English and Austro-Hungarian descent and is a distant relative of the magician, Harry Houdini. Fleischmann supports legislation that “allows licensed firearm owners to carry out their God-given right more freely” because “the right to carry a firearm is a right that allows law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and is crucial to the freedom of our country.”
Brian Babin, a dentist, joined others in a losing effort to overturn Biden’s presidential victory. In a text to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the outcome of the election, Babin urged Meadows to “[f]ight like hell and find a way. We’re with you down here in Texas and refuse to live under a corrupt Marxist dictatorship. Liberty!” Babin wants to impeach Biden, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Rep. Roger Williams was drafted in 1971 by the Atlanta Braves, playing in the farm system and reaching the Class A Western Carolinas League. He owns an automobile dealership that he inherited and has a net worth of $27.7 million. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Williams’s Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership in Weatherford, Texas, received a loan of between $1 million and $2 million as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. Williams also is a fan of smaller, less intrusive government.
Rep. Alex Mooney is a member of the Freedom Caucus and is the first Hispanic elected to Congress from West Virginia.
In two May 2022 reports, the Office of Congressional Ethics determined that Mooney had “likely violated House rules and federal law” by accepting gifts and using official resources for personal purposes. The reports found that Mooney and his family had accepted more than $10,800 from a company tied to Mooney on a vacation to Aruba; that Mooney had stayed at a Capitol Hill home owned by the same company’s founders for free around 20 times from 2015 to 2021, using it for lodging, congressional business, and campaign events; that Mooney had regularly diverted official resources (including staff time) for personal and family matters, and sometimes for campaign activities; and that Mooney had “likely” provided false testimony and withheld evidence in the course of an OCE investigation against him. The OCE transmitted the reports to the House Ethics Committee, which opened an ongoing investigation into Mooney’s conduct.