New York Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi, one of the last people to leave the House chamber on Jan. 6, is suddenly preoccupied with showing “deference” to the guy who led the attempted 2021 insurrection.
Suozzi told Axios that he thinks Texas Democrat Al Green’s protest during Donald Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday was “inappropriate” and a “mistake.”
“I’m an old-school traditional-type guy. I think we should be treating the president with deference,” said Suozzi, who, during the Jan. 6 insurrection, “heard the deadly gunshot, saw windows broken, and witnessed insurrectionists handcuffed on the ground as he and other members were finally evacuated by Capitol Police,” according to an archived press release on his House website.
“There is no doubt that today will bring back nightmares for all of those who were at the Capitol that day,” Suozzi said.
Pop quiz: was he talking about Jan. 6, or March 4, in that quote?
Discuss amongst yourselves.
Suozzi was among 10 House Democrats to vote with Republicans on a motion to censure Green on Thursday.
Tsk, tsk, indeed.
John Fetterman didn’t get a vote on the move to censure Green, because he’s a senator, but you know where his heart is.
“A sad cavalcade of self-owns and unhinged petulance,” Fetterman wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “It only makes Trump look more presidential and restrained. We’re becoming the metaphorical car alarms that nobody pays attention to — and it may not be the winning message.”
The “winning message” to still way too many top Democrats is … think about the optics!
“I didn’t take that approach myself, so obviously I don’t condone it,” Maine Democrat Jared Golden said. “If anyone is thinking that it was an effective strategy, they’re probably in an echo chamber. My take is that the average American thought the optics were pretty bad.”
Also bad optics: sitting with “deference” as Trump 2.0 goes about dismantling the foundations of the Constitution, checks and balances, 80 years of foreign-policy leadership that has maintained a stable world order and the underpinnings of the macroeconomy.
Another approach to Trump 2.0 is that of New Mexico Democrat Melanie Stansbury, who is the lady you saw holding the sign “This is not normal” in the TV shot of Trump gladhanding his way through the House chamber ahead of his speech on Tuesday.
That was her being nice. On Wednesday, Stansbury let loose in a sham House Oversight Committee hearing on sanctuary cities, which she said was done to “intimidate state and local officials” and push “complete smoke and mirrors” narratives.
“It’s total bullshit, absolute bullshit!” Stansbury said. “They are not making America safer again, and what they are doing is terrorizing immigrant families.”
Turning her attention to Trump, Stansbury said: “Here we are Donald Trump, where’s your immigration bill? Oh, wait, you don’t have one, that’s right. Because none of this is actually about making America safer.”
The “optics” of Stansbury speaking profanity-laced truth to power are probably a challenge for Jared Golden, “unhinged petulance” to John Fetterman, “inappropriate,” a “mistake” and not even close to deferential to Tom Suozzi.
But then, she’s actually doing her job; those other guys are just going along to get along.
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Chris Graham
