Smart, Ethical Republicans, Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are
I don’t think that all Republicans are stupid and corrupt but I do believe that many of the Republicans in Congress are about as dumb as a doorknob and have the ethics of a slug, and I apologize for denigrating doorknobs and slugs.
Of course, it goes without saying but bears repeating, that trump is dumb, maybe he is politically sharp, maybe, but otherwise he is dumb. Most recently, he insisted that anyone involved in any of the multitude of prosecutions against him should be immediately fired. Trump had a real tantrum over the real prospect he may be indicted for any number of alleged crimes.
Manhattan Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg is expected to meet Monday with a grand jury hearing evidence on whether trump broke the law in organizing and concealing a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Special counsel Jack Smith is overseeing an investigation into trump’s alleged mishandling of classified records at Mar-a-Lago as well as trump’s alleged effort to stop the transition of power after the 2020 election.
New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James has brought a civil fraud suit against trump. Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the case, told the parties that the trial would start as scheduled on Oct. 2.
And in Georgia, Fulton County Democratic District Attorney Fani Willis has been leading the investigation into trump’s alleged efforts to influence the 2020 election. Willis said in January that charging decisions for multiple defendants are “imminent.”
Here’s what trump screamed on his “Truth Social” media site.
“District Attorney Bragg is a danger to our Country, and should be removed immediately, along with Radical Lunatic Bombthrower Jack Smith, who is harassing and intimidating innocent people at levels not seen before, ‘Get Trump’ Letitia James, the worst Attorney General in the United States, and Atlanta D.A. Fani Willis, who is trying to make PERFECT phone calls into a plot to destroy America, but reigns over the most violent Crime Scene in America, and does nothing about it!”
Classy, as usual.
Moving on, a Rhode Island Republican lawmaker, Rep. Robert Quattrocchi, was an obscure politician until this week when he made national news after asking a lesbian colleague if she was a “pedophile” during a debate over an equity and inclusion bill.
Lawmakers were discussing HB 5763, a bill that would require all legislation submitted in the general assembly to include an “equity impact” statement on how it might affect “historically disadvantaged” populations.
During the hearing, Quattrocchi raised his concerns that the bill was “very, very broad.” He asked the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Rep. Rebecca Kislak, if the bill would mean legislators would need to take into account the impact on “Satanists on Rhode Island.” Then he comments on whether “pedophiles” would need to be considered when exploring the equity impact of sexual orientation.
Kislak, who is a lesbian, told the offending lawmaker, “First, I want to point out that pedophile is not a sexual orientation” and said the question was “really offensive.”
Quattrocchi said he “didn’t mean to” be offensive but then asked “Are you a pedophile? I’m sorry.”
Quattrocchi, in office since 2017, is a partner in Quatro Brothers Concrete Finishing and is the former owner of Quatro Motorcycle Company. He also is a graduate of the American Motorcycle Institute in Daytona, Fla. He has not issued a public apology, but provided a statement to local media outlets calling the incident a “misunderstanding.”
Then there were the comments by that font of empathy and scholarship, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who went after Vice President Kamala Harris because of complimentary comments Harris had made to a transgender actor.
While ranting, Boebert congratulated women whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex, also known as “cis” or “cisgender.”
Boebert was terribly offended because Harris had sent a letter of support to influencer and actor, Dylan Mulvaney, who has been been documenting her transition on TikTok and recently marked her 365th day living as a woman by hosting a live cabaret show in New York. As of March 2023, Mulvaney has more than 10 million followers on TikTok, while her video series, “Days of Girlhood,” has received more than one billion views.
Mulvaney came out as a trans woman during the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting in March 2022, she has documented her gender transition in a daily series of videos published on TikTok titled “Days of Girlhood.”
“I send you my warmest greeting as you celebrate your 365th day of living authentically,” Harris wrote. “Thank you for courageously sharing your story and your journey. Our administration stands with the LGBTQ+ community in the ongoing struggle for true equity and equality and against hate and discrimination in all forms.”
Boebert couldn’t control her longstanding anger over the LGBTQ+ community.
“Since Kamala Harris is now sending out letters to congratulate men for dressing up as women, I’m sending this tweet as a shoutout to all the REAL women,” Boebert wrote. “Keep doing what you are doing and don’t let all this insanity get you down!”
This brings us to another heretofore, relatively obscure lawmaker, Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y.
Tenney also garnered national headlines when she said trump could simply not show up in court and escape any trial for the Stormy Daniels payoffs. Tenney spoke on the far right, Newsmax TV network, and said the Daniels matter was a “garbage” case.
“It’s really the worst of our system on display here and it’s unfortunate,” said Tenney. “But I think this is all going to blow over because I don’t see any way that they’re actually going to get Donald Trump to appear in a court for sentencing, or I mean for indictment, or for any type of charge.”
It is an outrageous statement, coming from a lawyer, but no worse than calls by Republican members of Congress that the New York district attorney should explain his prosecution to congress. Somewhere it’s written that interfering with a legal proceeding is illegal.
Trump defense lawyer Joe Tacopina said the former president and 2024 GOP presidential candidate would surrender to authorities without complication if he’s charged. We shall see.
Tenney assumed office on Feb. 11, 2021. She previously served in the N.Y. State Assembly. Tenney has a law degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Law and her father was New York State Supreme Court Justice John R. Tenney.
A staunch trump supporter, Tenney said in a radio interview shortly after the February 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla., that “so many of these people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats.” Needless to say, she was wrong.
Like her mentor, Tenney has called for criminal investigations into a number of former Obama administration officials and high-ranking Justice Department officials, including former FBI Director James Comey, former acting attorney general Sally Yates, former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, former acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, former senior counterintelligence official Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page.
Tenney also has supported trump’s discredited claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in favor of President Joe Biden.
In the fall of 2022, after an intruder attacked and seriously injured Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Tenney joined with a number of Republicans who circulated a baseless allegation that the attacker was a male prostitute.
Ignominious, thy name is Joe Harding.
The former Florida Republican state legislator, who sponsored the state’s infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill, is facing 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud charges. Harding also admitted to money laundering and making false statements in connection with defrauding the federal coronavirus loan program for small businesses.
Harding, 35, was elected in 2020 but resigned in early December, a day after his indictment. He was the House sponsor of the Parental Rights in Education law, which restricts classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3, a key of the so-called “woke” platform of Republican presidential hopeful, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
In 2022, Harding offered an amendment to the bill requiring public schools to out gay children to their parents once the schools learn that the child is not heterosexual. The amendment was later withdrawn.
Harding was awarded $150,000 in relief funds after he had applied for a Small Business Administration COVID-19 loan, referring to one of his dormant businesses and making false statements about its employees and revenue. He then transferred fraudulently-obtained money into his joint bank account, a credit card payment and a bank account of a third-party business.
Harding studied construction management at the College of Central Florida and Florida International University, but left both schools without receiving a degree. He worked as a project manager in the construction industry for several years before founding Stripes Lawn Care in 2018.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., has refused to hold trump accountable for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection and she has consistently backed trump’s bogus claims that widespread voter fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election. Luna also was endorsed by trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.
Luna, however, has demanded that actor Jane Fonda be arrested for suggesting “murder” as a solution to combating anti-abortion laws in the U.S. Fonda was on the TV show, “The View,” when she was asked what ways, besides protests and marching, pro-abortion activists could take action. Fonda responded, “Murder.” She later explained that she was using hyperbole and was not being literal.
“While women’s reproductive rights are a very serious issue and extremely important to me, my comment on The View was obviously made in jest,” Fonda said in statement. “My body language and tone made it clear to those in the room — and to anyone watching — that I was using hyperbole to make a point.”
With more than a hint of hypocrisy, Luna has insisted on protecting the lives of abortion supporters and reported Fonda to Capitol Police “for threatening public officials.”
“Charges should be brought against her for threatening public officials. This gross type of intimidation and calls for violence should never be acceptable, regardless of political ideology,” Luna told Fox News, who else.