Yo, @LastWeekTonight fam!
Sooooo, you probably heard about our state senator who spoke out in support of child brides last Tuesday.
The part of the story you're not hearing is that not one @MissouriGOP elected official has publically denounced it.
It's been a week.
(1/)
Missouri's a majority-GOP government.
They hold:
- 24 of 34 state Senate seats
- 111 of 163 state House seats
- all six statewide offices
- 6 of 8 U.S. House seats
- both U.S. Senate seats
They've had 149 chances to say "Hey, please don't marry kids."...aaaaand passed.
(2/)
Instead, this week:
- The Speaker Pro Tem talked shit on a rabbi with a trans child
- The Governor complained about "negative press coverage"
- A legislator who CONSTANTLY denounces "wokeness" on Twitter tweeted he "didn't have time to denounce every little thing folks say"
(3/)
*Just as an aside: @BenBakerMO DID have time to get into a Twitter war with @levarburton about book bans and defunding libraries over the weekend, though.
Priorities, I guess. (Baker seems to prioritize getting his ass handed to him. It happens pretty frequently on here.)
(4/)
The @MissouriGOP used the outrage as cover to pass bills in the dead of night to ban 4 trans kids in the state from playing sports with their friends, and....this, right after an old white guy shot a Black kid twice for ringing the wrong doorbell:
(5/)
We're not a red state. Using initiative petitions, Missourians have approved multiple progressive bills the GOP won't touch (other than to undo them) in recent years:
- legal weed
- Medicare expansion
- increased minimum wage
- election reform
- rejecting Right to Work
(6/)
The issue's gerrymandering. It crumpled the state Dem party. The DNC quit funding anything but our limited winnable races. Inevitability bred low voter turnout. Low turnout + lack of Dem candidates (its too expensive for most folks to lose alone, here) = big GOP majorities.
(7/)
Back to the story at hand, though:
I emailed my state rep and asked why he hadn't come out publically against Sen. Moon's comments. I said it made it seem like he was "okay" with what was said.
.@davegriffithmo called me back to tell me he thought what Sen. Moon said was "crazy" and "not Christian".
(9/)
Buuuuuut...he won't PUBLICALLY say that unless the local paper chooses to call him for a comment. He said a denouncement may show up in his regular newsletter...in two weeks.
(FYI: His most recent newsletter came THE DAY AFTER Moon's remarks.)
(10/)
So...why is an entire state party trying to pretend this isn't happening?
(Remember: In 2012, they criticized their own U.S. Senate candidate for talking about "legitimate rape".)
I mean.. it IS hella-embarassing. Maybe that's it?
bit.ly/3L2izBn
(11/)
Maybe...
kansascity.com/news/local/cri…
(12/)
Maybe...
(13/)
Maybe...
(14/)
Maybe...
(15/)
Maybe...
(16/)
Anywho, the time-crunched rep from before was once a Bible school dean, the anti-trans Speaker PT was a Christian rock singer, & our Governor was sheriff right next door to that Christian kidnapping school for YEARS. (He even invited their execs to his office as senator.)
(16/)
Probs just a coincidence. The @MissouriGOP has been courting #Christofascism heavily the last decade, tho.
Their "love thy neighbor" comes with caveats. They frequently dehumanize folks who aren't straight white Christian men. It's harmful to our state politics & culture.
(17/)
They're all too eager to take advantage of people they deem "weak" (i.e. "different"), SO NOW, NO ONE WANTS TO BE THE ONE TO BREAK FROM THE PACK ON ANY ISSUE.
That's bad, especially when they knowingly have a subset of legislators who think "child brides" are a good idea.
(18/)
It's not just a slippery slope, anymore. We're falling off a cliff.
This matters. It shouldn't get lost in the news cycle.
Can you help us (creatively) get the party on the record about this? (I know they've already had 149 chances, but what's 149 more among friends? 😃)
(19/)
Maybe — just maybe — we can let voters know the line they've crossed. What to look for. Who to avoid. How to push back. Some form of accountability. A change in our discourse.
I believe we CAN stop this...
...together...
...maybe.
#christofascism #moleg #mogov
(End/)
P.S. Oh, and our new Attorney General, @AGAndrewBailey, decided to bypass the legislature, strip all trans people of care access, and set up A REGISTRY OF TRANS KIDS instead of vehemently opposing them being married off this week.
Because THAT'S normal.
tiktok.com/t/ZTRTdMUMn/
UPDATE: @davegriffithmo just sent out his latest Capitol Report.
Surprise, surprise. It *DOES NOT* denounce @realmikemoon's support for child brides.🙄
It doesn't even mention it.🙄🙄
The @NewsTribune website has nothing from him, either.🙄🙄🙄
#moleg
The rest of @davegriffithmo's newsletter, for your viewing pleasure (I guess):
#moleg
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