The Dunces of July: The Month's Most Foolish Politicians and Pundits
The Squad and Gaetz, the President and First Lady, and Election Deniers
Want to read a balanced perspective on the news? Please subscribe to A View from the Center for free. I won't clutter your inbox, just send you one or two new posts every week. Also, please follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, where we get into some pretty good discussions. And please support independent journalism by sharing this with friends!
My monthly search for unintelligent life in America’s political class got off to a late start in July. I was even worried that I wouldn’t have enough good candidates. But politicians and pundits never disappoint, so I found so many good (or bad?) candidates that I can’t fit them all in.
Who’s the Most Odious Congressman?
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R.-Fla.) is doing his best to claim the title of most odious member of Congress, although he’s got lots of competition (more on that below). Aside from being one of the most polarizing politicians in the U.S., Gaetz has embroiled himself in all sorts of ethics controversies, and the House Ethics Committee is investigating his alleged misconduct, including illegal drug use and sex trafficking.
Now, he’s repugnantly insulted women across the country. Addressing students at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa on Saturday, July 23, 2022, Gaetz revealed his misogyny: “Have you watched these pro-abortion, pro-murder rallies?” he asked. “The people are just disgusting. But why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pregnant are the ones most worried about having abortions? Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb. These people are odious on the inside and out. They’re like 5’2”, 350 pounds.”
If you really want to be disgusted, you can Gaetz’s more extended comments on this here, or watch the video below:
You’d think that insulting any group of women by calling them disgusting and fat would be the death knell for a political career. Incredibly, in this divisive political environment, some people will even celebrate him, as you can hear from the applause Gaetz received for his offensive comments.
Olivia Julianna, 19-year-old activist from Texas, decided to fight back. She gave Gaetz some of his own medicine on Twitter:
An unrepentant Gaetz then tweeted Julianna’s picture to his followers and body-shamed a teenager. So, Julianna turned it into a fundraiser for abortion rights organizations. By Friday, July 29, she had raised more than $1.5 million.
THE DUNCE RATING
For inexcusable and unrepentant misogyny that backfired, Gaetz deserves:
The Squad, the Squad, the Squad
Not wanting to be to terribly “outdunced,” two members of the “Squad” make July’s list, with Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D.-N.Y.) earning the dubious honor for the second month in a row. Bowman tweeted that “Granting 46 million Americans financial freedom from their student debt would help cool down inflation.”
I’ll leave the student-debt debate for another day, but Bowman needs to take Economics 101. He might learn that pardoning $1.75 trillion in student debt would do anything but reduce inflation.
It would do the opposite. No longer having to make debt payments, borrowers would be able to use the freed-up funds to spend on whatever they’d like. With more money in hand, demand and prices will go up. The congressman should brush up on the law of supply and demand.
THE DUNCE RATING
For publicly displaying economic ignorance, Bowman deserves:
The Squad (Again)
Fellow Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D.-Minn.) hasn’t made a “Dunces” appearance in a few months, but she must have wanted to give Bowman some company.
At a town hall in Minneapolis, Omar said she was exposed to more violence after arriving in Minnesota than at a Somali refugee camp: "For six years, I had the privilege of not seeing any violence until I moved to Minnesota," the congresswoman said.
From left to right, "Squad" members Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D.-Mich.), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D.-Minn.) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D.-N.Y.) take questions during a news conference about Islamophobia on Capitol Hill on November 30, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
She either has a short memory or makes comments based on political convenience. Omar lived for four years at the huge Dadaab Refugee Complex in Kenya. In a 2020 Elle Magazine interview, she described life there as “hostile” and “survival of the fittest.” The Kenyan government has reportedly considered closing the camp, which authorities describe as a “security nightmare.” Other reports over the past decade refer to “high levels of rape and sexual violence” and human rights abuses by police.
Minneapolis is worse, Rep. Omar?
THE DUNCE RATING
For intellectual inconsistency and demagoguery, Omar deserves:
Enough Already! Trump Lost!
I have no doubt that history will render a very harsh verdict on election deniers. I’m not going to get into the absurdity of the lies about the 2020 election in this column, but I did in another, where I included the fact that polls have consistently found that large majorities of Americans believe Joe Biden’s election as president was legitimate.
However, FiveThirtyEight found that at least 531 GOP candidates this year for the Senate, the House, governor, attorney general, and secretary of state fully denied or raised concerns about the election results.
Courtesy: FiveThirtyEight
The cynical behavior of politicians who are putting career before country and propagating the false claims that the election was stolen from Trump will also hurt the GOP. These candidates might win their primaries, but the election deniers will struggle to get votes from independents and establishment Republicans.
THE DUNCE RATING
For cynically undermining democracy, these candidates deserve:
Comparing Latinos to Tacos and Blossoms
First lady Jill Biden is making her debut appearance in a “Dunce” column thanks to ill-advised comments in a speech to UnidosUS, a Latino civil rights group, in San Antonio on July 11, 2022.
“The diversity of this community — as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio — is your strength,” the first lady said.
Republicans pounced, as did the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (full disclosure: I’m a lifetime member). The NAHJ put out a statement about the “tacos” part, saying that the comment evidenced “a lack of cultural knowledge and sensitivity to the diversity of Latinos in the region.” The statement added that “We are not tacos.”
I’m sure Latinos in the New York area weren’t thrilled to be reduced to “bodegas” (which the first lady mispronounced). I know those of us here in Miami don’t think of ourselves as “blossoms.”
How did nobody in the East Wing of the White House, including the first lady, fail to figure out that the comparing people to tacos was dumb and offensive? The first lady’s office quickly apologized.
THE DUNCE RATING
For patronizing comments in a prepared speech, Jill Biden deserves:
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses
The president of the United States, unfortunately, will almost always make the monthly “Dunce” list. I have often criticized the White House for its terrible messaging on inflation (most recently here). As part of that messaging, President Biden has blamed everyone for high prices, from the pandemic to Putin. In July, he found a new target – gas station owners.
On July 2, Biden tweeted: “My message to the companies running gas stations and setting prices at the pump is simple: this is a time of war and global peril. Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you're paying for the product. And do it now.”
First, the tweet ignores that most gas stations aren’t owned by what Biden seems to think are big bad companies. According to the National Association of Convenience Stores, more than 60% of the retail stations in the US are owned by an individual or family that owns a single store. Second, gas stations aren’t making tons of money, especially from gas, according to NACS data and reporting from The Hustle. Third, retailers have little room to “bring down the price” of gas, unless they sell at a loss, because an average gas station only makes about 10 cents per gallon according to the NACS. In other words, gas station profits are simply not a significant part of the pain Americans are feeling at the pump.
The backlash against Biden was swift, from energy companies to gas station owners and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who slammed the president in a tweet:
THE DUNCE RATING
For either economic illiteracy or intentional misrepresentation for political purposes, Biden deserves:
Dishonorable Mentions
· Capitol Hill Republicans who are resisting a bill to enshrine same-sex marriage into law. The House passed the bill with 47 Republicans joining all Democrats, but it’s facing resistance in the Senate. Folks, the Supreme Court acknowledged a right to same-sex marriage, and polls show overwhelming support for it among the American people.
· The Hypocritical Mayors of NIMBY, otherwise known as New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, because they are begging for federal money to help them with asylum seekers who have been sent to their so-called “sanctuary cities” from border states. The not-in-my-backyard attitude shows tremendous hypocrisy. It’s fine for the mayors to support undocumented migration and Biden immigration policies, but only when it’s not them who are bearing the burden.
We are only four days into August and I’ve already got four major dunces vying for inclusion in my next “Dunces” column. I’ll aim to publish that just before Labor Day Weekend.
Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. You can also do so on my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/antoniomoraTV1/). Please subscribe (it's free) and share the link: https://aviewfromthecenter.bulletin.com/subscribe.
Cover photo: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R.-Fla.) speaks during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit held at the Tampa Convention Center on July 23, 2022, in Tampa, Florida. Gaetz made disparaging comments about women who support abortion rights. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)