The ‘Big Lie’ and bigger liars
I keep hearing Republicans are going to annihilate Democrats come November.
Will they?
First, there are lots of Republican candidates who鈥檙e still clinging to Donald Trump鈥檚 鈥淏ig Lie.鈥�
If you still don鈥檛 know what Trump鈥檚 鈥淏ig Lie鈥� is, I can鈥檛 help you.
Let鈥檚 just say it has something to do with basic arithmetic.
The 鈥淏ig Lie鈥� makes 74,216,154 votes more than 81,268,924 votes.
Or that 232 electoral votes are more than 306.
It makes your average third-grader better equipped with basic math than a Pennsylvania state senator, who aspires to occupy the state鈥檚 governor鈥檚 mansion after November.
Doug Mastriano, though, is certainly not the only Republican running for office these days who is still clinging fast to 鈥淭he Big Lie.鈥�
There are dozens of them arrayed across the country.
鈥淰ote for me. I will always make sure I鈥檒l tell you the truth,鈥� they鈥檒l announce. Then they鈥檒l tell the biggest of the 鈥淏ig Lies,鈥� about Trump 鈥渨inning鈥� the 2020 presidential election, while they try to convince you that the midterm elections are really about the future.
That鈥檚 the twisted logic of more than a hundred Republican candidates for Congress, statehouses, and governorships.
And when they aren鈥檛 twisting themselves into human pretzels about their truth-telling inclinations, they鈥檙e becoming walking-talking self-contradictions.
Take Glenn Thompson.
He鈥檚 the Republican serving the 15th Congressional District of Pennsylvania in Congress.
Thompson has a lotta nerve.
He was one of 147 Republicans in the U.S. House to vote against the 鈥淩espect for Marriage Act,鈥� which would require the U.S. federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in the United States. (The measure easily passed the House by a vote of 267-157)
Thompson鈥檚 no vote may have gone unnoticed if it hadn鈥檛 been for what took place three days later.
That day, he went to his gay son鈥檚 wedding.
So, he voted against gay marriage. Yet, he still solidified his support for gay marriage, when it involved his own son?
That鈥檚 the very definition of hypocrisy.
And, by the way, since the bill also has a provision to solidify federal support for interracial marriages, it鈥檚 as if Thompson voted against that too.
At least Thompson didn鈥檛 cause a spectacle of himself the way Florida鈥檚 all-around Republican attack poodle Matt Gaetz has.
Gaetz was one of only 20 members of the House of Representatives to vote against reauthorizing the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act.
The law was designed to give protection to undocumented immigrants who鈥檝e become victims of violence and trafficking.
It was first passed into law in 2000. It鈥檚 been reauthorized by presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump.
It was reauthorized again last Tuesday, with 401 Republicans and Democrats voting in the affirmative. But not Gaetz, and some of his fellow Republican Trump devotees.
Lauren Boebert (Colorado), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), and Mo Brooks (Alabama) were among them.
But it was Gaetz鈥檚 objection that proved to be the most notable of the bunch.
Last year, Gaetz, himself, was placed under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, accused of engaging in sex trafficking with a 17-year-old.
The results of that investigation haven鈥檛 been released.
But you鈥檇 think that under that kind of scrutiny, he鈥檇 come out in support of protections against sex trafficking.
Instead, he鈥檚 sounding off about abortions. And a foul sound at that.
鈥淚鈥檓 very pro-life,鈥� he recently said. 鈥淚 make no apology for it, and I鈥檓 grateful that Roe (v. Wade) has been overturned and that Dobbs is now the jurisprudence on abortion.鈥�
At this point, he was on reasonably firm ground. But Gaetz has a way of, well, going way overboard.
鈥淚 find these people who got out and in these pro-abortion pro-murder rallies odious, and just like, ugly on the inside and out. And I make no apology for that,鈥� he said.
He could have stopped there. But he didn鈥檛.
He was asked, 鈥淚s it safe to say that based on your comments, you鈥檙e suggesting that these women at these abortion rallies are ugly and overweight?鈥�
鈥淵es,鈥� Gaetz replied.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.