As a person named Michael, I’m not a huge fan of the casual shortening of my name. Why? Because there’s two options: Either go with infantilized “Mikey” or the historically terrible “Mike.”
This week’s Sunday shows post focuses on terrible people who are not helping change the bad reputation of “Mike.”
Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine has a checkered political past. As a senator, he badly photoshopped an image of 9/11 to attack Democrats and then embarrassingly whined when confronted about it. But as governor, he led his state in getting vaccinated for COVID-19 while others appointed quacks while their states got ravaged.
He even vetoed a bill that would ban gender-affirming care and barred transgender athletes from competing in sports. Admittedly, we shouldn’t cheer such a low bar of acknowledging basic human rights, but for a Republican that is almost like seeing a unicorn.
When Dana Bash asked him on CNN’s “State Of The Union” who he would support in the 2024 election, DeWine made it clear his occasional good deeds as governor are just flukes.
BASH: We saw that the former president [Trump] earned enough delegates to clinch the Republican nomination this past week. You have not endorsed him yet. Will you?
DEWINE: Well, I have always said that I will support the Republican nominee. I’m a Republican. I certainly will do that.
We’ve said it a million times: There is no such thing as a “good Republican.”
Unlike DeWine, House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio (again!) is not shy about his partisanship. But what Turner lacks in humanity, he makes up in bald-faced lies and obfuscation.
Martha Raddatz asked him on ABC’s “This Week” about Trump’s dehumanizing comments about immigrants.
RADDATZ: I’m talking about former President Trump’s comments calling them not people and animals.
TURNER: Well, I, of course, have disagreed with those in the past. I think the American public disagrees with those. But I do think that people see that Donald Trump is the only candidate in this race that’s going to be able to fix this crisis.
Turner then proceeded to blame Joe Biden for not fixing the border crisis, until Raddatz asked him a question that proved his disingenuousness.
RADDATZ: Did you support the border package on the Hill?
TURNER: No, I did not.
Turner spent his entire appearance blaming Biden for everything, including problems he and his party refuse to help solve, while making every excuse imaginable for Trump. Turner is willing to re-elect an authoritarian, insurrectionist, national security threat again because the “R” by his name is the only thing he cares about.
Speaking of making excuses for Donald Trump’s violence-tinged rhetoric, Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota was also on CNN’s “State Of The Union,” trying to defend Trump’s use of “bloodbath” to describe what will happen if he isn’t elected. (Trump is extremely upset the media is not reflecting the nuance of his bloodbath comments.)
BASH: First of all, just the term bloodbath, whether, given what happened on January 6, that’s a term he should be using in any context. But, more importantly, he did also call the January 6 rioters hostages and called them patriots. […] Are you now going to endorse him? Trump.
ROUNDS: What I have said is, is, Tim Scott was my first choice. I thought he’d make a great president. Tim Scott has since endorsed the former president. What I have said is, is, I will support the Republican nominee. It becomes a binary choice. Either you want to continue with the economic policies that we have got today, or you move back into a position where we actually don’t have the world on fire and where our economy is moving forward. […]
BASH: […] And just to button — put a button it, you are endorsing Donald Trump?
ROUNDS: I’m endorsing the Republican nominee for the presidency. And if that’s Mr. Trump, then that’s the best choice of the two choices that we have got.
Rounds, much like Tim Scott, is simply providing permission for Republican voters to ignore their disgust or shame and vote for Donald Trump again. It’s the only way to explain how he can refer to today as “the world on fire” while asking people to vote for a guy who let a pandemic rage and literally tried burning democracy.
Former Vice President Mike Pence deserves no praise for not supporting Donald Trump (yet). But the media, much like it does with Nikki Haley, will try to normalize or call him a reasonable Republican for merely believing he shouldn’t have been hanged on January 6. On CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Pence did his inauthentic Reagan schtick and soaked up adulation for doing ONE thing right ONE time. (Wonkette covered that at the link a few lines up.)
But just in case people forgot, Pence reminded host Margaret Brennan what an extremist he is when the subject of reproductive rights came up.
PENCE: Well, I’m pro-life, I don’t apologize for it. I couldn’t be more proud to have played a role in the administration that appointed three of the justices that sent Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history.
But Pence showed what a hypocrite he is when Brennan asked about IVF.
PENCE: Well, look, I’m, I’m someone that believes in the sanctity of human life, that life begins at conception. My family, as you know, Margaret, has benefited by fertility treatments, and I think they should be protected. But I also believe that in the days ahead, we would do well to ensure that, that unborn human life, including embryos, are properly treated, properly respected in the law.
“Life begins at conception, unless it’s good Republicans wanting IVF” is not a realistic policy.
And there is no “magic,” Mike, that will make that make sense.
Have a week.
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