The Messing Link

Note: This article is a revised version of the first part of an article that I had posted on January 15. The second part of this article is posted here.

Triple Amputee Iraqi War veteran Brian Kolfage was sick and tired of waiting for the government to provide funds to build Trump's Wall along the Southern border, so he took matters into his own hands by starting a GoFundMe campaign to fund the Wall. The campaign's goal is ambitious--Kolfage wants to raise $1 Billion of the $5 billion that Trump says he wants to start the Wall. Kolfage's campaign relies on the voluntary contributions of those who want the Wall to pay for it. As such, it has zero chance of receiving significant money from the one half to two thirds of the population who either oppose to the Wall or who do not see it as a priority.

Tom Reed's campaign and his supporters are making a big stink about some very ill-considered remarks posted by one of Tracy Mitrano's staffers on her Instagram account. Reed has posted this photo from the Instagram post, along with the caption  "WARNING: Explicit Language – Extreme Ithaca Liberal Post" on his Extreme Ithaca Liberal site.

I have made many less than warm remarks about my Congressman, Tom Reed. Now it is time for me to say something nice about him.

It is hard for me to find just one thing to admire about Tom Reed. I actually can't choose between his bravery and his loyalty. Tom Reed showed true bravery in last year while some of his fellow Republicans were running away from angry constituents who were furious that their Representatives were jeopardizing their lives by trying to kill the Affordable Health Care Act and replace it with a plan that did not guarantee coverage of pre-existing conditions. Witness Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman who snuck out a side door before a community meeting even began January 2017 when he saw that over 150 angry constituents showed up. Or California Congressman Tom McClintock who scurried away from his constituents in February 2017.  Only 13 Republicans held Town Halls during June 2017 because the rest were avoiding their constituents, yet Reed held four.

And through it all Tom Reed stood tall at town hall meetings and bravely "agreed to disagree" with those who thought his recklessness would drive them into bankruptcy or prevent them from getting the health care needed for their children. It takes true guts to take a feces fajita and try to palm it off as a filet mignon.

Tom Reed is constantly touting his pride in being a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus--a small bipartisan group of legislators who are willing to reach across the aisle to develop compromise legislation to be passed by Congress. While I applaud his effort to reach across the aisle to get things done, there are several things we must keep in mind when evaluating his role in this caucus.

Matthew McGowen’s October 9 article in the Cornell Daily Sun about Congressman Tom Reed’s visit to campus emphasized Republican students’ fears about being subjected to social backlash if they wore their MAGA hats on campus. Senator Rand Paul recently said that political divisiveness will lead to “an assassination” and that “someone is going to be killed and that those who are ratcheting up the conversation ... they have to realize that they bear some responsibility if this elevates to violence.”  Tom Reed’s website claims that his staff members have been threatened by his opponent, Tracy Mitrano’s, supporters and blamed Representative Maxine Waters for encouraging harassment of public servants. And Republicans are quick to point out the attempted assassination of GOP Representative Steve Scalise in June 2016.

It is time to put Republican claims of perpetual victimhood in context.

Ever since the election in which he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 3 million votes, Donald Trump and the Republicans have been screaming, "Voter Fraud! Voter Fraud! Voter Fraud!" Again and again Donald Trump has claimed that he would have won the election had millions of illegal votes not been cast for Hillary.  Trump's being a sore winner would be comical except for the fact that Republicans have used his allegations of voter fraud to justify various schemes to suppress the vote. But the basic assumption that there is widespread voter fraud is a pure, unadulterated lie. Here are some articles that discuss this lie in more detail.

RealClearPolitics posted Hugh Hewitt's interview with Bob Woodward under the headline, "Woodward: No Evidence Of Trump-Russia Collusion, I Searched For Two Years".  And indeed, the following exchange did occur between Hewitt and Woodward.

"Very last question, Bob Woodward, I just want to confirm, at the end of two years of writing this book, this intensive effort, you saw no effort, you, personally, had no evidence of collusion or espionage by the president presented to you?" Hewitt asked.

 

"That is correct," Woodward said. 

This is, on its face, a stunning statement. It needs to be examined more closely.

Tom Reed devoted a page of his website to claims that his campaign staff was

threatened, harassed and insulted following this weekend’s Tracy Mitrano Rally in Olean which was hosted by a coalition of liberal activist groups including Citizens for a Better Southern Tier, the group whose leader was recently arrested for stealing Tom Reed campaign signs. 

Reed tried to tie the harassment to Congresswoman Maxine Waters who he claimed encouraged harassment of "public servants" by telling a crowd of her supporters

Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from [President Trump’s] Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.

Reed neglected to mention that Waters clarified her comments the next day when she told Chris Hayes,

I did not call for harm for anybody . . .As a matter of fact I believe in peaceful protest. . . . I believe that protest is at the centerpiece of our democracy. I believe that the constitution guarantees us freedom of speech. And I think that protest is civil.

Donald Trump's weak performance at Helsinki was so outrageous that even many of his Republican supporters have expressed outrage or at least embarrassment. Former Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh was perhaps the most outraged. When you read the following series of tweets you should keep in mind that he is no Extreme Ithaca Liberal. In fact, during the 2016 campaign Walsh tweeted, "if Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket". Walsh is singing a very different tune now.

This press conference is an absolute disgrace. Trump won't even side with America.

What Trump did today was commit treason. He cannot be supported anymore. He is a clear & present danger to America. Republicans can no longer be quiet.

I won't be quiet. I am done with him.

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) July 16, 2018

I just formally renounced my support for him. I will never support him again. https://t.co/EPgvjVF9mT

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) July 16, 2018

What you saw today was "collusion" on the world stage.

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) July 16, 2018

Trump was a traitor today. I cannot & will not support a traitor.

No decent American should.

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) July 16, 2018

Look, I'm no big deal, but today is the final straw for me. I will never support Trump again. If that makes me a NeverTrumper, so be it.

I am a tea party conservative, that will never change. But Trump was a traitor to this country today. That must not be accepted.

Speak out.

— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) July 16, 2018

What is it with Repubilcans and child endangerment and sexual molestation? Republicans used to claim to be the party of family values.  Well, maybe they could claim that label today if they want to say they are the party of Manson Family values. To be fair, the Republicans haven't gone on a murder spree, though their leader, Donald Trump, has declared Vladimir Putin to be a "fine" person and Vladimir Putin's critics have a nasty habit of turning up dead. But only a family that was nearly as depraved as the Manson Family could delight in some of the people the Republicans have been supporting and some of the actions they have been taking lately.