Crazy Pants

It’s really hard to understand what some of our legislators and politicians are doing. Really hard. 

Let me just point out some of the things these politicians have said and done. I’m focusing on a few key players, but there are plenty of other nutballs out there. 

Ron DeSantis

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has been trying to impose his Victorian values on his entire state. To punish them for being LGBT positive, he famously picked a fight with the world’s favorite entertainment company, Disney. His poor judgment has been displayed in many other ways, however. 

Florida was just hit with two major hurricanes. But Ron DeSantis says his state does not need more federal help. “We have it handled,” he said. DeSantis might be eager to downplay the damage to the state in part because in May he joined other Republican leaders in an attack on Biden’s actions to address climate change. 

He signed into law a measure that erased any references to climate change in state law. The new law prohibited cities and counties from approving restrictions on energy policy, relaxed regulations on natural gas pipelines, and prohibited state and local governments from taking environmental concerns into consideration in their investing policies. DeSantis also rejected more than $350 million in federal funding for initiatives to promote energy efficiency, and $320 million for reducing vehicle emissions. The governor posted a graphic on X that said the law would “INSULATE FLORIDA FROM GREEN ZEALOTS….”

One of the state’s lawyers recently resigned because he didn’t want to have any part in letters that threatened Florida TV stations. The letters threatened criminal penalties if the stations aired an ad backing a referendum that would repeal the state’s six-week abortion ban. The letters came directly from Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office. Attorney John Wilson said that he resigned as general counsel for the Florida Department of Health rather than “complying with the directives” of DeSantis’s executive staff to send more cease-and-desist letters to TV stations. (Washington Post, 10/22/24)

Maybe worst of all, DeSantis signed into law a measure intended to prohibit local workplace standards requiring drinking water for workers who toil in high temperatures. The law prohibits cooling measures, recovery periods, posting or distributing materials informing workers how to protect themselves, and requiring first aid or emergency responses. Didn’t Jesus say something about giving a cup of cool water? (Matt. 10: 42) (citizen.org, April 15, 2024)

Ted Cruz 

Ted Cruz from Texas made a name for himself by abandoning his state during the power grid’s collapse after Winter storm Uri. Cruz decided to wait things out in a hotel room in Cancun, Mexico. 

He doesn’t seem to exercise common sense. After 19 school children and 2 teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Cruz attended an NRA convention three days later. He was unresponsive to parents who asked him to help ban assault weapons.

He has voted against capping the cost of insulin, called Social Security a Ponzi scheme, and talked about raising the retirement age. When a Marine named Trevor Reed was detained in Russia, Cruz was so unhelpful that Reed’s father said, “Ted Cruz didn’t lift a finger for us when everybody else in the state did.”

Instead of dealing with real issues, he’s been going after Mr. Potato Head, Mickey and Pluto, and, believe it or not, the Muppets. He has demonized popular characters on “Sesame Street,” specifically Big Bird and loveable little Elmo. Ted rants he has proof that Muppets are covert tools of “government propaganda.” C is for Cruz. And Crazy. 

Marjorie Taylor Greene

One of the most hairbrained players in our political world is Marjorie Taylor Greene, from Georgia. 

In a post on X representative Greene wrote: “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.” The Guardian Oct 7 24

in 2018 she wrote a Facebook post that said a massive California wildfire had been sparked by a “laser beam or a light beam” being sent down from space as PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) was trying to make way for a cleaner form of energy.   Wash Post Apr 18, 24

She has said that if you join the military, you are throwing your life away. 

She also has a plan to stop drug trafficking: Bomb Mexico! 

The Trumpster

Donald Trump has been the lead wingnut for a while now. 

In maybe his most famous outrageous remark, he said, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” said Trump. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.” 

The campaign’s X account posted other clips from Trump’s speech in Wisconsin, including comments Trump made about a fly on stage. “Oh, there’s a fly. Oh, I wonder where the fly came from,” Trump said. “See, two years ago, I wouldn’t have had a fly up here. But they’re changing rapidly. We can’t take it any longer.”

Trump makes things up about his competition. He has said that Kamala Harris’s policy priorities include ridding the United States of livestock and indoor natural light. As Trump said at a Nevada campaign stop, “They want to do things like no more cows and no windows in buildings.” (Washington Post, 10/18/24)

He spreads misinformation about any hot button issue that he thinks can win him some votes. He contends that schools are performing gender-affirming surgery on children. “Can you imagine you’re a parent and your son leaves the house and you say, Jimmy, I love you so much, go have a good day at school, and your son comes back with a brutal operation. Can you even imagine this?”

In response to a question from a voter, said, “I’m the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question.”

Trump seems to be obsessed about race. Just as he focused on President Obama’s heritage, he has questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’s identity as a Black woman. “She was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a Black person,” he said. Of course, Harris has always identified as a Black woman. (New York Times, July 31, 2024)

He also has no problem going vulgar. His latest comments focused on golfer Arnold Palmer’s genitalia, which tells me that Dr. Freud would have something to say to him about neurotic fixation and arrested development. 

Trump has said that he intends to dismantle much of our government, and put in place loyalists who will do his bidding. He promises to exact “revenge” on his political enemies, and to use the power of the government to prosecute them. This is not democracy. This is fascism. We have to do something about it. 

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt wrote an article about this in the New York Times. Here is a little of what they wrote: “Democracy’s last bastion of defense is civil society. When the constitutional order is under threat, influential groups and societal leaders — chief executives, religious leaders, labor leaders and prominent retired public officials — must speak out, reminding citizens of the red lines that democratic societies must never cross. And when politicians cross those red lines, society’s most prominent voices must publicly and forcefully repudiate them.” (Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, There Are Four Anti-Trump Pathways We Failed to Take. There Is a Fifth., Oct. 24, 2024, New York Times.)

You can’t make this stuff up. And yet there are lots of Americans who will vote for these people. As I said, it is hard for me to understand. 

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