Liars and Racists and Crooks, Oh My
The GOP is such a hot mess these days, there’s a danger the country will grow numb to their mendacity, bigotry and criminality. Each day, it seems there is a new outrage and a new low. Jim Jordan’s whistleblowers are being paid by Kash Patel! Lauren Boebert can’t do basic math on migrants! James Comer “lost” his informant! Paul Gosar hired a neo-Nazi intern!
It’s exhausting.
But the Democratic leadership appears to understand the assignment. They are moving to counter what Steve Bannon has urged, namely to “flood the zone with shit.” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in particular is a master at focusing and distilling the message, and he refuses to play whack-a-MAGA.
Yesterday, Leader Jeffries held a press conference where his discipline was evident. Understanding that he must put faces and names to the GOP absurdity and drive home his message in the clearest terms, he chose three: “House Republicans have increasingly become the party of Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene and George Santos,” Jeffries stated, standing beside photographs of the latter two. “That is a very sad state of affairs.”
The attaching of Greene and Santos to Trump ups the stakes in the House considerably, especially given the drama surrounding those two members in the past week. As Jeffries pointed out,
I think it’s an incredible contrast that on Wednesday, extreme MAGA Republicans in the House defend, coddle, and continue to play footsie with serial fraudster George Santos, and on Thursday, they want to impeach the President of the United States of America, the FBI Director who was appointed by a Republican president, and the Homeland Security Secretary. And who is the face of this effort? Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Let’s take a look, one by one, at how Democrats are already successfully casting these three GOP villains in the worst political light possible. As you’ll see, it often is as simple as using their own words and actions against them.
Trump killed Roe
Trump understands that he still needs to win the GOP primary to run against Biden in 2024. And for that he will need the support of far-right evangelicals. To win them over, however, he has realized that he needs to highlight the one thing he did to most gain their approval: getting rid of the federal right to abortion.
“After 50 years of failure, with nobody even coming close, I was able to kill Roe v. Wade,” Trump bragged on his propaganda platform Truth Social. “Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to.”
Joe Biden wasted no time capitalizing on this. “That’s about as clear as it gets,” Biden responded, circling in red Trump’s damning words in his own mega-tweet that already has been viewed 10.6 million times. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are responsible for killing Roe v. Wade. And if you vote for them, they’ll go even further.”
In a more informed, saner world, pinning the loss of abortion rights on MAGA Republicans wouldn’t fall to the Democrats. But as a Vox deep dive into middle-of-the-road voters recently showed, much of the electorate, even among women voters, still remains unclear about whose fault it really is that abortion is now banned in many places. That’s because the loss of Roe protections happened last year with Joe Biden in the White House. Average Americans often simply don’t understand that the Supreme Court, with three decisive votes by justices appointed by Trump, acts independently from the president, or at least is supposed to.
“Trump killed Roe” is a very clear framing that happens to also be what the ex-president is saying to win over those far-right primary voters. Expect to see much more pin-the-tale-on-the-ass from Biden and other Democrats as abortion remains a top motivating issue for millions of women voters.
They’re protecting George Santos from accountability
On Tuesday, House Democrats, led by Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), sought to advance a special resolution to expel George Santos from Congress. They brought the motion to put House GOP members on record over whether they actually support a criminal and liar like Santos or not.
Speaker McCarthy, wishing to avoid the embarrassment of that vote, responded by having the chamber refer the matter to the House Committee on Ethics, where an investigation of Santos is underway. This has the effect of delaying any House vote or action on Santos while preserving his vote in the GOP’s narrow majority. All Republicans voted for the referral bill.
“This is what is so cynical about the extreme MAGA Republican effort to shield a serial fraudster from accountability,” blasted Leader Jeffries before reporters. “All Democrats asked for was an up or down vote,” he emphasized. “The Ethics Committee has had the George Santos matter for months. Months! So what are you referring to the Ethics Committee? It’s already before the Ethics Committee.” He added, “This was an effort to bury accountability” because Santos “is critical to their ability to govern.”
“George Santos was the deciding vote in passing the Default on America Act. The deciding vote! And to me, that explains in part the actions that have been taken,” he concluded.
Other Democrats from Santos’s home state of New York also aren’t allowing the attention on Santos to die back. When Santos held a press conference on the steps of the Capitol, promising to “fight the witch hunt” and clear his name, two New York House members, Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, shouted over him to resign, given his indictment on 13 federal counts of fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and false statements to Congress.
“You gotta go. You gotta give it up,” Ocasio-Cortez said to Santos.
“Kick him out! He’s gotta go!” Rep. Bowman cried as reporters interviewed Santos. He urged Santos to step down and “have some dignity.” He added, “New Yorkers need better.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene is the worst
The ruckus between Santos and his colleagues from New York drew out a rare Santos supporter: none other than Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who rather oddly began to chant “impeach Biden!” over Rep. Bowman’s words.
Rep. Bowman is known for getting into public spats with MAGA extremists, including last month with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) over his stance on gun regulation following the Nashville school shootings. In their public confrontation on Wednesday, Bowman reminded Greene that the GOP is “hanging by a thread” and urged her to “save the party.” He added, “No more QAnon, no more MAGA, no more debt ceiling nonsense.” He told Greene to do something about guns; Greene responded that he should close the border.
In a press conference on Thursday, following her rather insane calls for impeachment of several administration officials including the president, Greene was asked about why she stepped forward to support Santos. She backpedaled swiftly, claiming she “never defended George Santos” and that “no one should report that, that would be a lie.” Democrats no doubt took note: Even Marjorie Taylor Greene knows that Santos is simply too toxic to support openly.
Then Greene pivoted to attack Bowman in the aftermath of their argument. She claimed to reporters that he had shouted “at the top of his lungs” and cursed at her while calling her a white supremacist, to which she said she takes “great offense.”
“That is like calling a person of color the N-word, which should never happen,” she said with a straight face. “Calling me a white supremacist is equal to that, and that is wrong.” Greene also claimed she had been “swarmed” and feared for her life.
(Narrator: She did not fear for her life.)
As a gross bonus, she then deployed a racist trope against Bowman. She claimed he has a “history of aggression” toward her and others that she is “very concerned” about. “Yelling, shouting, raising his voice…. His physical mannerisms are aggressive,” she alleged, even though he never invaded her personal space and even though she too was shouting. “I think there’s a lot of concern about Jamaal Bowman, and I am concerned about it. I feel threatened by him.”
Bowman immediately called out her white woman panic BS. “Throughout history, Black men have continually been characterized as aggressive because, one, of our skin color, but two, because we happen to be outspoken and passionate about certain issues,” he said.
Some takeaways
Democrats are often criticized for their failure to message properly, but this framing of the three poster children of the GOP is a sign they are on track and on point. It’s smart to keep the spotlight on the very worst examples within the GOP and not spread the critiques so wide as to be diluted.
Trump may be “Teflon Don,” but even he has previously blamed GOP losses in 2022 on extremism over the abortion question. That’s why it is surprising that Trump has waded into this issue claiming he killed Roe, even if to secure the support of the far right. It’s a hot button that is not only notable but readily exploitable by Biden and other Democrats.
Focusing on Santos’s lies and crimes, along with the GOP’s coddling and protecting of him, will drive home the point that Republicans have no principles and seek to hold power at whatever cost. The GOP House majority could be lost in 2024 simply by flipping the seats they won in Biden districts in New York alone—including NY-3 currently represented by Santos.
And giving Greene multiple chances to open her mouth about race, bizarre conspiracies, and impeachments could solidify the notion in voters’ minds that the GOP is truly the home of Christian nationalist white supremacists. This could help mobilize critical African American voters who stayed home in the recent midterms.
The emerging strategy represents an extension of Biden’s successful wedging of the extreme MAGA wing in 2022. That resulted in enough peeling off of independents and Republican crossover voters to hold the Senate, keep McCarthy to a highly dysfunctional majority in the House, and flip a number of state legislatures. Democrats should take their cue from Jeffries and Biden and ensure that the face of the GOP remains Trump, Santos and Greene.
* * *
A special shout out to my paid supporters, who make it possible for me to devote my time to this substack in a meaningful way. Not everyone is in a position to help, and I deeply appreciate all who have stepped up with monthly or annual support.
Lately, new pledges have slowed to just a handful a day, which may not prove sustainable. I’ve found when I make the occasional special ask, as I’m doing today, I can make up lost ground! If you’ve found my work of value, and have been meaning to support it but haven’t gotten around just yet, please consider upgrading your subscription today. And if you’re already a supporter, you get a big virtual hug from me! — Jay
Excellent idea to keep the focus on that trio. As a bonus it might be worthwhile to play a few clips of Jim Jordan upon occasion.
Prithee you are able to continue. As for the subject of today's commentary. I shall warrant the penultimate sentence in obituary of most current members of the House Republican Caucus will be: (Insert name) fell from the top of the stupid tree, hit every branch on the way down, climbed to the top, and repeated the exercise.