Once Again Gobsmacked In Congress
‘Nobody Cares’ about Jan. 6 rebellion, says Wisconsin lawmaker
Getting gobsmacked is nothing new in the hallowed halls of congress, as in the case of Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., who is most likely a total stranger to everyone, other than those who live in Wisconsin’s 58th District.
“You guys obsess over Jan. 6. Nobody cares,” Grothman told reporters after Wednesday’s closed door meeting between House Republicans and House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “It’s history. We view it as history.”
The insanity is that Grothman may be right and he is not alone in congress.
“One thing is for sure, for certain, somebody is trying to get us off our priorities and distract us and disunify us,” Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said after the meeting. “This won’t be the last time that that happens. And let’s keep our eyes on the prize, which is the issues that are important to the American people and us getting the majority.”
Or this from Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C.
“What was said in Jan. 6, and those days, it was a tough time for the country. … I don’t think it’s in Trump’s interest to re-litigate that,” Graham said.
Rep. Robert B. Aderholt, R-Ala., said it all on Wednesday.
“At this point, we’re seeing most of the members standing behind the leadership,” Aderholt said.
And so, today, trump is headed to Nebraska, where he is slated to appear at a rally with Republican gubernatorial hopeful Charles Herbster, a longtime political ally who has been accused of sexually assaulting a number of women. And yet another outrageous revelation is just water off the proverbial duck’s back. Actually, I would be gobsmacked if things like this didn’t happen.
The revelation involves McCarthy, who has been dancing the best two-step you’ve ever seen to avoid getting on trump’s bad side. McCarthy, you see, needs trump’s backing if he is to realize his dream of being named House Speaker if the Republicans seize control of the House next year.
That’s why McCarthy denied saying that then-president trump should resign after trump supporters attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. So wasn’t McCarthy surprised when he learned that his comments were taped.
He also was recorded saying that some of his own members should be kicked off Twitter and that he blamed some of them for fueling violence after the Jan. 6 riot. The thing is that McCarthy was right on the money with his comments. So the ethically-devoid legislator spoke at Wednesday’s private meeting with Republicans and defended himself saying his comments were taken out of context and were just a “conversation about scenarios” and then McCarthy received a standing ovation from the room filled with the hypocrites, liars and seditionists who decide the future of the nation.
The issue is important because McCarthy’s comments undermine the illusion that all Republicans genuflect to trump and his attempt to subvert the constitution to remain in office. But trump’s iron grip on the GOP scene has again won the day and anyone who criticized trump is either denying it or running away with tail between legs. And as the worm turns, trump is still scheduled to appear at a major fundraiser for McCarthy and House Republicans on May 9 in Dallas, and the two are set to meet in early May.
So let’s take a deep dive into three of these denizens of the far right. Grothman, 66, a lawyer, lives in the Town of Greenbush in Sheboygan County and was elected in 2014. The 6th district has a long history of farming livestock in rural areas and is a major producer of both milk and grains and maybe that’s why he wants to decriminalize the sale of raw milk.
A trumpian genuflector par excellence, Grothman had the highest trump loyalty index in congress. Among his more lurid positions:
He wanted to defund Wisconsin’s kindergarten program for 4-year-olds, claiming incorrectly that any academic benefits disappear by fourth grade.
He wants everyone to have the right to carry a concealed weapon anywhere, except in bars.
Grothman wants to repeal Wisconsin’s Equal Pay Act, because he claimed, again mistakenly, that there’s no difference in pay between married an unmarried people and that “You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious. To attribute everything to a so-called bias in the workplace is just not true.”
Sex education, Grothman said, has no place in education in public schools. The congressman has said instructors who lead discussion on sex have an “agenda” to persuade students to become gay.
“Part of that agenda which is left unsaid is that some of those who throw it out as an option would like it if more kids became homosexuals,” Grothman said.
His flaming homophobia led him to express concerns about what God might think in April 2014 when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced plans to send scientists to Uganda in response to a new law against homosexuality.
“We had such a great country in the relatively recent past,” Grothman said. “Now America, supposed to be the light of the world, instead we’re the light going in the opposite direction.”
Of course, Grothman also is against same-sex marriage.
Never missing a chance to sound like an utter neanderthal, in a December 2012 press release, Grothman said that Kwanzaa is not a real holiday.
“Of course, almost no black people today care about Kwanzaa — just white left-wingers who try to shove this down black people’s throats in an effort to divide Americans,” he said unashamedly.
On other issues, he is against chlorination of groundwater in municipal water systems and he opposed legislation to boost funding for anti-smoking programs from $10 million to $30 million.
“Everybody knows you’re not supposed to smoke!” he wrote.
During a debate on the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Grothman declared on the House floor that Black Lives Matter supporters do not care about the “old-fashioned family.”
Grothman lives in Glenbeulah, a village in Sheboygan County, with a grand total of 463 residents.
Arrington, 50, represents Texas’s 19th congressional district and he is another fine reason to allow the Lone Star State to secede, along with Florida.
Arrington defended a proposal to cut access to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as the Food Stamp Program. To support his position, the good Texan cited the Biblical passage, Thessalonians 3:10, that orders, “If a man will not work he shall not eat.”
In December 2020, Arrington was one of 126 House Republicans to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit contesting the Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The lawsuit was later rejected by the Supreme Court.
He opposed certifying the electoral vote count in the 2020 presidential election, citing “millions of American voters” who felt, with no evidence, that the election “was not conducted in an equitable or accurate manner.” He later condemned the attack on the Capitol and later voted against trump’s second impeachment.
Aderholt, 57, has represented Alabama’s 4th congressional district since 1997. He was one of 147 Republican who voted to overturn results in the 2020 presidential election. During the attack on the Capitol, Aderholt tweeted a prayer to God to “guide & protect this nation.” In a video message, he later said that some of the attackers “crossed the line” though he still supported overturning the election and he voted against trump’s second impeachment.
So then we have trump campaigning in Nebraska for Charles Herbster, a kindred spirit and GOP gubernatorial candidate, who has been accused of numerous sexual assaults. Last October, Trump endorsed Herbster, a longtime, major GOP contributor and this past April, he was accused of groping eight women, including Republican State Sen. Julie Slama in 2019. Other women also accused Herbster of touching them inappropriately between 2017 and 2022 at events such as beauty pageants or political fundraisers. One woman also alleged that Herbster had privately grabbed and forcibly kissed her. Herbster denied all the allegations reported by the Nebraska Examiner as “libelous fake news.” I seem to recall one bad-haired deviant who also said claims of sexual assault against him were “fake news.”
Trump was expected to speak today at a political rally in Greenwood, Neb.