We’ve known for some time now that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is a complete idiot whose only purpose in life seems to be self-promotion. It’s the Donald Trump school of politics: Always keep your name in the news.
Of course, much of the publicity Gaetz has received in recent months is due to his alleged sexual trafficking of an underage girl, which could send him to prison for the rest of his life.
And yet, Gaetz continues to draw attention to himself, as if desperate to make a complete fool of himself on social media, which he did once again Wednesday after reading an article on a right-wing blog that suggested Twitter was allowing the Taliban to post on the social media site.
That led the congressman to post this tweet:
Taliban and Trump should both be on Twitter.
More legitimate than the last government in Afghanistan or the current government here. https://t.co/VN7oxtCHk8
So Matt Gaetz wants to see the Taliban and Trump on Twitter. And he thinks their “government” is more legitimate than the one that was elected overwhelmingly by the American people last November. Wow! That’s some serious flirting with outright treason.
As for Trump still being banned from Twitter, Gaetz and other Trump acolytes forget that he was repeatedly warned about his postings and ignored those warnings. He violated Twitter’s terms of service, and that’s why he got the boot.
Gaetz, on the other hand, is just a douchebag who loves Trump more than he loves almost anything except underage girls. And he got some serious pushback for his tweet:
I would have never believed it possible for elected official @RepMattGaetz to stoop any lower, to be even less patriotic, until he began rooting for a global terrorist group whose agenda is to annihilate America. #GOPDomesticTerroristshttps://t.co/xD3TrUi3um
The Taliban killed some 2,448 US service members you pathetic weasel. You’re cheering on our enemy for political points. Don’t you wave the flag in our faces anymore and don’t ever claim you support our veterans. Traitorous cartoon faced jackass.
Maybe when he gets to prison, Matty can brag to his fellow inmates about how much he loves the Taliban right before they tell him to shut up and put on the dress they gave him.
For his willingness to cooperate with his Democratic Senate colleagues and help pass an infrastructure bill that will provide $4.6 for highways in his home state, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has been censured by the Aiken County Republican Party, proving that many in the GOP are opposed to compromise and reaching across the aisle even when it benefits them and their constituents.
“The local party this week accused the powerful South Carolina Republican of playing both sides of the political aisle to his advantage, consciously violating Republican principles, backing bills ‘that target our freedoms,’ and, ultimately, wandering too far to the left.”
The $1.1 trillion dollar bipartisan infrastructure bill passed the Senate this week by a final vote of 69-30, with 19 Republicans cross the aisle to give their consent to the legislation, which will provide billions in funding for states and also be a boon to employment across the country.
After the bill passed, Graham issued a statement saying it was good for the Palmetto State:
“It provides much-needed help for our roads, bridges, ports, and expands broadband internet access. I have always been supportive of infrastructure investment and wish we had passed this years ago. This bill provides American infrastructure with a much-needed face-lift.”
But Republicans in Aiken County dubbed the bill a mistake, and claimed that it “degrades the rights of existing American businesses.” Their censure also included this about Graham:
“(His vote) shows a purposeful neglect to act within the fiscal conservative agenda that the Republicans elected him to diligently uphold.”
Interestingly, former President Donald Trump was also opposed to the bipartisan infrastructure bill, issuing a statement after it passed that read:
“Nobody will ever understand why Mitch McConnell allowed this non-infrastructure bill to be passed. He has given up all of his leverage for the big whopper of a bill that will follow. I have quietly said for years that Mitch McConnell is the most overrated man in politics—now I don’t have to be quiet anymore. He is working so hard to give Biden a victory, now they’ll go for the big one, including the biggest tax increases in the history of our Country.”
Sounds like sour grapes from Trump, who repeatedly talked about it being “infrastructure week” during his failed single term in office, but never actually got around to doing so with legislation or a package of suggestions for Congress, even though the GOP had control of both houses of Congress for Trump’s first two years in office.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) thought she’d try to explain her thoughts on the COVID-19 vaccine, vaccine mandates, protective masks, and the rights of individuals as laid out in the U.S. Constitution, but only succeeded in proving her complete ignorance of the law and how pandemics are controlled.
In an op-ed she wrote Fox News that was published on the network’s website, Boebert argued that vaccinations were a matter of personal choice and masking mandates are what she called “anti-American bullcrap.”
“For those that want the vaccine and believe it works, take it and don’t be so concerned about those who made the decision not to. For those choosing not to, make sure it is an informed decision with your doctor.
“For those deemed most at-risk, please seek medical advice from a doctor on how best to protect yourself. That does not mean forcing the rest of us from living our lives, shutting down our businesses, closing our schools or forcing us to wear masks and stripping away our right to health care privacy.”
Of course, the more people who refuse to get the vaccine, the less chance we’ll all have to live our lives and move forward to herd immunity, but the congresswoman conveniently neglected to mention that.
Proving that she only cares about herself and no one else, Boebert quickly shifted the focus of the op-ed to herself:
“So far, my family and I have personally experienced all of that and think it is anti-American bullcrap.
“They started by giving us good advice to wash our hands, avoid touching our faces and keep distanced from those that were sick for a couple of weeks.”
What’s really bullcrap is putting yourself above others and refusing to do what you can to help control a public health crisis that has so far killed over 615,000 Americans and is once again filling up hospitals with new patients who are infected and near death.
Boebert was quickly hit with backlash, with many readers telling her she clearly has no idea what the Constitution actually says.
You don't have to get the vax.
But you CAN be barred from participating in society if you choose not to.
This is constitution 101 stuff. And why Barrett upheld the university vaccine mandate requirement.
The success or failure of any government in the final analysis must be measured by the well-being of its citizens. Nothing can be more important to a state than its public health; the state's paramount concern should be the health of its people. https://t.co/TP8tcWcqjQ
No the US government cannot hold you down and force you to be vaccinated but they can set mandates that dictate who can do what we can do what based upon their vaccination status.
So, what exactly is your plan to reduce COVID cases in the US. If you choose to endanger others by not getting a vaccine or wearing a mask, you should choose to stay home. The choices you make come with responsibilities.
Let everyone who chooses to not get vaccinated and not wear a mask to also agree to not burden our health care professionals and hospitals. Seems only fair. You know that whole “when it’s my time to go” thing.
Novelist Stephen King has created some incredibly memorable villains in his books, but he doesn’t think Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has what it takes to be among them.
As King explained during an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the novelist was asked about some of the tweets he’s sent out recently that were highly critical of DeSantis, and he made it clear that while the governor is certainly evil enough with his absurd COVID-19 policies, he doubts that the Floridian has enough brains to carry off any actual evil plans:
“Ron DeSantis is probably not the brightest bulb in the chandelier at the best of times.”
That led Colbert to ask:
“So, not an evil genius? Not a mastermind?”
King responded:
“No, I wouldn’t say so. You know, he’s got that deer-in-the-headlights look somehow.”
“Deer in the headlights hoping that’s two motorcycles that are going to go right by him.”
It should be noted that King — who is a native of Maine — now spends half the year in Sarasota, so he’s had a chance to observe DeSantis up close, and he’s not impressed, firing off tweets making it clear that he thinks the Florida governor is a few cans short of a six pack:
DeSantis is right! Masks should be banned in schools! And (as Dan Rather says) let's ban helmets in football. Let's ban padded gloves in boxing. Surgeons should go barefaced. I have a right to light up a butt in Publix. BUT A WOMAN'S RIGHT TO CHOOSE? NEVER!
DeSantis policies are right-wing "the individual rules and to hell with what happens" policies. They are turning a beautiful state into a big ICU ward where even healthy people can barely breathe.
Hey, Florida–here's your man Ron DeSantis: Not only are COVID infections in Florida sky high, the beaches are almost uninhabitable due to red tide from the Piney Point disaster, and the fish kill is in the mega tons.
Or, to put it another way, consider what the AV Club had to say about DeSantis not being fit for a King novel. They pretty much hit the proverbial nail on the head:
“So that’s evil, but is it Stephen King evil? Not according to King, who greeted Colbert’s pitch for a future fictional Florida governor villain with the dismissive shrug of a guy who knows what makes a truly compelling antagonist. After all, your best Stephen King monsters (your Greg Stillsons, your Randall Flaggs) couple their nefarious machinations with a complexity of thought and more than a little charisma, whereas, in King’s authorial estimation, Florida is currently being led by a garden variety venal, callous dope, whose threadbare conservative posturing couldn’t sustain even the shortest tale of terror.”
But if you want to think of something truly terrifying, just imagine Ron DeSantis as president. Now THAT’S enough to give you nightmares.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) wants to be president so damn badly! How badly? Enough so that he’s willing to let thousands of Floridians die of COVID-19 while he pretends that everything is just fine in the Sunshine State. He insists mask mandates won’t be allowed on his watch, no matter how many children and senior citizens wind up on ventilators and die in complete isolation, unable to see their families as they take their last, labored breath.
So it should come as no surprise that DeSantis would snipe at the current resident of the White House, President Joe Biden, simply because Biden made this remark on Wednesday while discussing the rise in COVID cases being seen in the states of Florida and Texas:
“I say to these governors: Please help. But if you aren’t going to help, at least get out of the way. The people are trying to do the right thing. Use your power to save lives.”
Biden is trying to save lives, even in Republican-controlled states, because he’s doing what he promised he’d do when he was running in 2020: Be a president for all Americans.
How did DeSantis react to Biden’s remarks? Like a spoiled child. Like a man who cannot accept constructive criticism. We’ve had a president like that, and his name was Donald Trump. He’s one of the main reasons we’re in the fix we see before us right now as it pertains to the coronavirus.
DeSantis told reporters this while he was visiting Panama City and was asked about what the president had said:
“Why don’t you do your job. Why don’t you get this border secured, and until you do that I don’t want to hear a blip about Covid from you.”
Shortly after DeSantis made that snippy soundbite, he was also using it to try and raise money for his reelection efforts in 2022, sending out a blast email in which he pretended to be a tough guy:
“Joe Biden has the nerve to tell me to get out of the way on COVID while he lets COVID-infected migrants pour over our southern border by the hundreds of thousands. No elected official is doing more to enable the transmission of COVID in America than Joe Biden with his open borders policies.”
The governor wants us to believe the reason COVID is spreading is because of immigrants coming into the United States, though he has never presented a scintilla of evidence to support his allegation. He’s bullshitting. He’s lying. He’s using hatred and fear of “the other” to try and cover up his own heartlessness and incompetence.
Or, to put it another way, Ron DeSantis is pulling a Trump.
But White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had the perfect response to Gov. DeSantis, telling reporters at Thursday’s daily press briefing:
“25% of hospitalizations in the country are in Florida.
“It is also a fact that the governor has taken steps that are counter to public health recommendations. So, we’re here to state the facts. Frankly, our view is that this is too serious, deadly serious to be doing partisan name calling. That’s what we’re not doing here, we’re focused on providing public health data information to the people of Florida, to make sure they understand what steps they should be taking, even if those are not steps taken at the top of the leadership in that state.”
“This is too serious—deadly serious—to be doing partisan name-calling.”
That’s how you deal with an empty suit, wannabe tough guy like Ron DeSantis. The governor should be ashamed of himself. But to feel shame, you have to possess a conscience. Clearly, DeSantis has no conscience. Just hubris, bluster, and bile.