Strib reports, here and here. The second item is subheadlined by Strib, "Emmer's conservative bona fides were called into question by former President Donald Trump and his allies." That is not what Trump questioned. Emmer historically was not a MAGA moron. Bless that good judgment. He recognized Biden had won the election and had no cause to join Trump's crimes. Hence, he voted Jan 6, to confirm Biden's election. Biden is a Catholic.
Emmer has always in the Crabgrass view been a very conservative Catholic candidate. Having a personality to enjoy campaigning, as center of attention and a chance to greet many citizens. His support of normalization of relations with Cuba was a surprise, but in line with best Minnesota outcomes since the state is a net food producer and Cuba imports. Given his Minnesota history, he has been better than Crabgrass expected.
His crypto caucus status has not been impressive, but grounded in belief while also a source of funding for his party.
Move along. Nothing more to see here.
True, he is no Jim Jordan. But that's in his favor. Not crazy Michel either. Just entrenched in CD6 where I live and have not ever voted for him. Life continues. For him and us.
The Gaetz - MTG cabal is toxic. Toxic Trumpists. Rabidly so. Not good for the nation. Trump is our Netanyahu. And we had the sense to vote him out after a single term. Had a stronger, better, sounder 2016 candidate opposed him, he might never have had that one single term. A populist-progressive choice existed. But the Dems ran a sorry corporatist Goldman Sachs indebted individual in 2016. A Clinton. Toxicity has multiple strains. End of story.
___________UPDATE__________
Never trust Crabgrass saying "End of story." This pic: The pair rattling before they strike -
The image is from May, 2021, when the pair went on tour (George Burns and Gracie Allen had a better act). The report, from then, presages the Speaker Roast now going on:
[...] bad news for Trump, whether he knows it or not, as these attention-hungry creeps are trying to get in on the hustle he’s monopolized over the last five years.
Gaetz hit the stage first, throwing out a bunch of populist, demagogic rhetoric (“forever wars,” “socialism,” “rebuild America,” “world’s policeman,” “deep state”) and pandering (“gun control just means we have a steady aim!”). He took shots at the Bushes and the McCains and the Romneys and James Comey and Anthony Fauci. He observed that “Paul Ryan was giving a speech” in California, and added that after Ryan ran for vice president, the party “literally needed an autopsy.” The upshot? “This is Donald Trump’s party and I’m a Donald Trump Republican,” Gaetz declared. One thing he didn’t talk about was his wingman Joel Greenberg’s guilty pleas for crimes including paying a 17-year-old to have sex with both of them (which Gaetz has previously denied).
Not to be upstaged, Greene entered the room in a Humvee, before making her way on stage, grinning from ear to ear. But her smile belied the populist anger apparently bubbling up inside her. She called out the Democrats who tear down monuments. “You better bet we’re gonna protect Stone Mountain’s monument,” she said of America’s largest monument to the Confederacy. She feigned the Mexican accent of a supposed cartel leader talking about how much he loved Joe Biden, who she said wants a “woke” military. She also called the Squad “the Jihad Squad” and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “O’Crazyo-Cortez.” Really classy stuff. You see, she’s not a politician. She’s just like you. If you’re a jerk like that, at least.
So why is this happening? First, of course, for attention. I’m writing about this, and so are lots of others and for this crew, and especially Greene who’s already been booted from her House committees so has nothing left, PR like this is its own reward. Indeed, Gaetz referred to Thursday’s rally as “the greatest political show on earth.”
Even during the good old days, conservative politics was probably half Bill Buckley and half P.T. Barnum. We were business up front and party in the back (OK, maybe we didn’t party quite as hard as Gaetz—who my Beast colleagues report snorted coke with a model with a no-show government job at a GOP Trump Defender gala in Orlando—and Greene, but you get the point). Today, the entertainment wing has almost completely supplanted the governing wing.
As Gaetz told Vanity Fair a while back, “If you aren’t making news, you aren’t governing.”
These are voted into Congress. Weep over that truth. Rebels without a clue.
Yes, forever wars are a problem. Yes, we have a deep state. And socialism is a problem only because we have far, far too little. Shrinking the government might be okay, too much is spent on weapons and weapon wielders, but redirecting money is more the need than cutting it. Aim for consumer recycling money for a healthy working economy over rich fucks hoarding it. Welfare for the poor vs welfare for California weapons engineers and factories is an issue. Shrink the military academies, since that is where the status quo gets fed newbies. Spotting problems is not the same as giving sound answers. Touting a Confederate monument is touting losers who thought it fine to hold title to humans.
End of story?