The Dunces of June: The Month's Most Foolish Politicians and Pundits
Hunting Republicans, Inflation Blame Game, Fringe Texas Platform, and Endangering Justices
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The list of “dunces” in June is never-ending, in part thanks to the revelations of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol. I’ve addressed many of those in other columns, so this “dunces” column is dedicated to my monthly search of other unintelligent in the political class, and I still didn’t have to look very hard.
Let’s Go Shoot Fellow Republicans
That sub-headline sounds insane, doesn’t it?
Ah, but nothing is inconceivable in American politics these days. Witness this campaign ad from Former Missouri governor Eric Greitens:
That’s Greitens, who is now running for a Senate seat in the Show-Me State. He shamefully released a campaign ad in which he and other armed men in tactical gear burst into a house after a shotgun-toting Greitens says “We’re going RINO hunting.”
RINO, of course, means “Republican in name only,” a term long used to disparage Republicans who act like Democrats.
But former President Trump weaponized it to attack anyone he didn’t like, no matter how conservative they are.
Trump, like Greitens, ignored former President Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment that “Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.”
Here’s just a small list of those deemed RINOs by Trump: Former President George W. Bush, former Senator John McCain, Senator Mitt Romney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Ben Sasse, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, and Congressman Adam Kinzinger.
So, the last GOP president before Trump and the two other non-Trump Republican presidential nominees this century are RINOs, according to Trump’s warped view, where blind loyalty to him is the only relevant measure. Gen. Colin Powell, Lt. Col. Adam Kinzinger, and Capt. John McCain all served their country with distinction in combat, while Trump came up with excuses to dodge joining the military.
Most Republicans should be proud to call themselves RINOs, if those listed above are the company they keep.
The added irony is that Trump himself used to be referred to as a RINO, having had a long history of supporting Democrats and saying he was “very pro-choice.”
Despite the criticism over the ad, Greitens doubled down a redefined the word "sophomoric" by handing out "RINO hunting permit" stickers.
THE DUNCE RATING
For effectively calling for violence against fellow Republicans Greitens deserves:
What Happened to “The Buck Stops Here”?
President Biden intensified his blame game on inflation in June, embarrassingly ignoring a fellow Democrat, former President Harry Truman, and his famous maxim about the responsibility of the occupant of the Oval Office.
For Biden, the buck stops everywhere but the presidency.
After he and many members of the administration moved slowly on supply chain issues and downplayed and misrepresented the threat from inflation for months, despite columnists like me repeatedly highlighting the problem, now Biden is blaming the issue on everybody else. In various remarks over the past month, he blamed inflation on corporate greed, gas station owners, the MAGA agenda, the so-called “Putin price hike," and even claimed it was “bizarre” to say his American Rescue Plan’s injection of $1.9 billion into the economy was inflationary.
Of course, inflation and supply-chain issues are not all Biden’s fault. But it’s just plain silly and unpresidential to refuse to accept responsibility, to not acknowledge that the stimulus might have been overcooked (even Obama administration economists admit it fueled inflation), to not recognize that he and his administration falsely called inflation "transitory," and to deflect blame at every turn.
In fact, Biden’s own chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, directly contradicted how the president has faulted the war in Ukraine as a primary driver of inflation. Powell testified before Congress on June 22, 2022, saying, “Inflation was high before, certainly before the war in Ukraine broke out.”
THE DUNCE RATING
For continuing to obfuscate the inflation problem, the issue that currently most concerns American households, Biden deserves:
Texas GOP’s Fringe Platform
I am not going to fully relitigate the absurd "Stop the Steal" claims here. Suffice it to say that Biden beat Trump by 7,060,347 votes, 51.3%-46.8%, the second largest this century. He also defeated Trump by 306 to 232 electoral votes. As eminent GOP election lawyer Ben Ginsberg testified before the 1/6 committee, “The 2020 election was not close.” In fact, for Trump to have won the election, multiple states would have needed to shift more votes than have ever been shifted in any American election. It also would have required a conspiracy of a magnitude that’s almost inconceivable, and impeccably secret coordination among numerous states and thousands of people. Of course, that did not happen, and the Trump campaign had no evidence it took place, as 61 out of 62 courts found. Many of those judges were GOP appointees, including some nominated by Trump. The one case the campaign won involved an inconsequential number of mail-in votes not received by a deadline.
Additionally, in the election Trump won in 2016, which no Trump supporter has objected to, Trump also lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, and his margin of victory is some states was lower than that of Biden's in 2020. Trump losing again in 2020 should have been no surprise, as virtually every pre-election poll indicated. And I suspect no Trump supporter will object to the November 2022 midterms, where I fully expect Republicans to retake control of Congress. In other words, according to MAGA world "reasoning," the only fraudulent election was 2020's.
In that context, the approval by the Republican Party of Texas of its platform at this year’s convention is a major embarrassment. It says, in part, “We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States.” Of course, no evidence is provided. Shame on the Texas GOP.
Oh, and the platform adds that “Homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice,” takes a tough stance against LGBTQ+ rights, and opposes any penalties against people who oppose homosexuality. Double shame on them.
THE DUNCE RATING
For embracing the lies about the 2020 election, undermining American democracy and institutions, rejecting dozens of court decisions on the 2020 election, and ignoring laws and Supreme Court rulings on LGBTQ+ rights, the Texas Republican Party deserves:
Electing a Republican Latina to Congress Is White Supremacy?
That’s certainly what Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York, a member of the “Squad,” implied.
After Republican Mayra Flores easily won a special election to fill an open congressional seat in South Texas, making her the first Mexican-born congresswoman, Elon Musk tweeted that he voted for Flores. He said it was the first time he’d voted Republican, adding “Massive red wave in 2022.”
Bowman retweeted Musk's Flores tweet and attacked him, accusing the world’s richest man of supporting “white supremacy and authoritarianism because he doesn’t want his workers to unionize or to pay his fair share in taxes.”
Sure, Congressman. Maybe it’s you who’s missing the point and ignoring working-class immigrants? Flores flipped a congressional seat in an area that had voted Democrat for 150 years.
Rep. Mayra Flores (R-TX) stands outside the Capitol Building after being sworn in on June 21, 2022, in Washington, D.C. Flores was elected to fill the seat held by Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela, who resigned from office in March. She is the first Mexican-born woman elected to Congress. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
There are a few caveats to those who are making the Flores win sound like the death knell for Democrats: A regular election for the seat will take place in November, the district is being redrawn in a way that favors Democrats, the DNC mostly ignored this special election, and Flores outspent her opponent by 16-1.
Still, the district’s vote was a huge swing in favor of Republicans, and survey after survey has found that the GOP is making significant inroads among Latino voters. Dismissive and offensive comments like Bowman’s aren’t going to help Democrats.
THE DUNCE RATING
For playing the race card in the context of a historic first for Mexican Americans, Bowman deserves:
RBG Would Not Be Happy
I have written about the Supreme Court's abortion ruling elsewhere. This “dunce” is dedicated to a group that has taken the name of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in vain. RBG would most certainly object to the “Ruth Sent Us” group’s dangerous antics.
On June 8, the group sent a tweet identifying Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s church and the school her children attend. So, in the name of rejecting Barrett's position on abortion, the group apparently thinks it’s OK to endanger a Supreme Court justice and her children.
With particularly bad timing, the tweet was sent two days after a man from California was arrested by U.S. Marshals outside the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The man has since been charged with attempted murder. He said he found Kavanaugh’s address on the internet. Ruth Sent Us had published information about where the justices live in May.
While calls for specific violence against justices and the court itself are obviously illegal, they have been common in the aftermath of the leak of the draft of the court opinion that ended up overturning Roe V. Wade. Even the protests at the justices’ homes violate federal law, according to legal experts interviewed by The Washington Post. But don’t hold your breath on the Biden administration prosecuting anyone. At least Congress acted and Biden signed into law a bill that that will give 24-hour protection to the families of Supreme Court justices.
No matter how angry many Americans are about the court’s sharp tilt rightward, nothing justifies endangering the lives of justices or those of their families. If you support that behavior, then very little differentiates you from those who shamefully attacked the Capitol. They too, incomprehensibly, thought they were justified.
THE DUNCE RATING
For endangering Supreme Court justices and their families and illegally protesting at their homes, Ruth Sent Us deserves:
Putting the Fox in Charge of the Henhouse
If you were to ask fifth graders whether it would make sense to put North Korea, the worst violator of international treaties on nuclear nonproliferation (in addition to violations of nine United Nations Security Council resolutions regarding its nuclear and missile activities), the kids would ask if you were joking.
Unfortunately, it’s no joke in the UN’s universe. On June 3, 2022, North Korea’s representative took over for a rotation as the head of the UN-backed Conference on Disarmament, the world’s only permanent and multilateral forum for disarmament. (Before any purist complains, the Conference is not formally a part of the UN, but it is for all practical purposes.)
So, you heard it right, the Hermit Kingdom, the land the time forgot, which is in the process of expanding work at a nuclear test site, has tested an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles this year, and is reportedly preparing new nuclear tests, presided over the 65-nation group whose mission it is to work on nuclear policy and de-escalation.
You can’t make this stuff up. It would be like putting China, Cuba, and Venezuela on the UN Human Rights Council. Oops. They already are.
If you expected North Korea to quietly assume the position (which, fortunately, was only for the month of June), I have the proverbial bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. Sparking further outrage, Pyongyang’s ambassador to the disarmament group said, “My country is still at war with the United States.” That's just who you want to lead an organization dedicated to peace.
THE DUNCE RATING
For foolishness on nuclear disarmament, an issue that should harbor no room for stupidity, the UN and the Conference for Disarmament deserve:
That’s it for this month. I’m already at 1800+ words, so I’ve got to stop, even though I’ve got many other deserving candidates.
For the country’s sake, I hope July provides me with less "dunce" fodder.
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Cover photo: Former Republican Missouri Governor Eric Greitens calls for hunting "RINOs" (Republicans in name only) in a campaign ad. In the ad, he and other armed men burst into a home purportedly hunting fellow Republicans they deem RINOs.