I just went through the Twitters of all 126 House Republicans who signed on to that Texas lawsuit petition.
A few thoughts: [Thread]
The first takeaway is that the vast majority of these members — probably close to 100 — seem to have said nothing at all about the petition.
They didn’t note that they signed on, and they haven’t noted that the Supreme Court quickly rejected the case.
My best guess is that the majority of these Republicans would love to memory-hole the fact that they signed on to an effort to toss out the election results and disenfranchise millions of voters.
It’s simply another act of service for Trump to them.
Only a few Republicans have tweeted about the petition since the Supreme Court rejected it.
Of the few, they are generally the most pro-Trump members in Congress:
I saw two Republicans at the moment who were trying to spin the lawsuit into something that it’s not, defending their actions as, like, ‘letting the legal process play out.’
I saw one Republican who signed the amicus brief who seemed to think the rejection of the lawsuit was the final moment of Trump’s effort to overturn the election: Bruce Westerman.
Another takeaway was just how seldom some members of Congress tweet.
The most egregious case was current Rep. and Montana Governor-elect Greg Gianforte. He actually hasn’t tweeted in more than a year!
Also pretty clear how many Republicans take messaging advice from the GOP conference.
I can’t tell you how many times I saw this Happy Hannukkah image.
But to get back to the point a bit more, GOP leaders haven’t really spoken or tweeted about the petition.
Again, they’d just you rather forget about this.
Another takeaway was just how many Republicans were nearly anonymous, rank-and-file guys. A lot of these members aren’t guys you see on Fox News screaming about, like, Eric Swalwell.
(Although Eric Swalwell was a very common Twitter topic for a lot of these Republicans!)
My final takeaway is that there are members on that list who are very surprising.
I know every Republican has gotten behind Trump, but I’m not even sure Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Mike Simpson, or Bill Flores votes for Trump in 2016.
They all signed on to the petition.
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This whole exchange is pretty informative, because the reality is this is the GOP position on health care: If you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t get it.
It really is just like a dress shirt to them. And some staffer got in trouble for telling the truth.
Tillis hasn’t apologized to Bev, though they’ve apparently “reprimanded” the staffer.
Bev’s husband theorized that Tillis hasn’t apologized because he doesn’t have an answer for what they should do. His position was accurately described by the staffer.
Here’s what you need to know when someone claims the GOP health care bill — the AHCA — covered people with pre-existing conditions:
(Thread)
The AHCA allowed insurers to take into account “health status” when setting premiums. That means they could charge more for pre-existing conditions.
So while insurers couldn’t *deny* sick people, they absolutely could charge them more — an unaffordable amount more.
Under the bill, states that wanted to allow insurers to charge those people more would have to set up a “high-risk pool,” where sick people could get coverage.
The problem is those high-risk pools are notoriously underfunded, so people with pre-existing conditions pay more.
I don't want to turn this horrible shooting into a finger-pointing game, but I was struck by similarities between what the New Zealand shooter wrote and some of the things current Members of Congress say about immigration.
So, a thread:
Here's the shooter talking about the "invasion" of immigration.
And here's Louioe Gohmert talking about how immigration is an "invasion" at levels unseen since D-Day.
We just lost another good Congressman: Walter Jones.
Years ago, I wondered who the Congressman was who crossed party lines the most. By a long shot, it was Jones. He voted for every Dem motion that benefitted veterans, and he was happy to pay the price.
We had a long chat about his career one night, and at some point, he started talking about why he cared about veterans.
Through tears, Jones told me he came to Congress and discovered that his grandfather was gassed in the Argonne Forest in WWI and eventually killed himself.
Walter Jones famously changed his mind about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he was very open for years that his biggest regret in life was voting to authorize those wars.
Republicans wouldn’t let him have an Armed Services subcommittee chairmanship because he spoke out.
I thought I might have some competition on the congressional playlist front. But judging by the artists on this thing — Lynyrd Skynyrd, Flo Rida, Travis Scott — I think I'm gonna be just fine.
*sees a Congressman trying to make playlists part of his brand*
Well, guess it's time I drop everything and make a playlist.
My extensive research into The Teens has led me to believe that making Post Malone my first song will attract a larger audience, even though it opens my playlist up to very fair criticism.