During recent debate in the House over a proposal from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and others to impeach the president, Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) provided brief — and quickly refuted — remarks that exemplified the nonsense trumpeted by the latest pro-Trump class in Congress. Trump prominently endorsed Crane ahead of his ascent to his position, where he is in his first term.
Like other Republicans, Crane described what’s recently been seen at the southern border of the U.S. as an “invasion,” which is the same sort of rhetoric that was used by a mass shooter in El Paso during Trump’s tenure, after which point Donald himself refused to drop the false language. The proposed presidential impeachment from Boebert rests on false allegations about the Biden administration’s border policy, including that criminal organizations have taken what’s effectively control of the area — which is utter nonsense perhaps a step beyond the routine (and ludicrous) GOP talking point that the border with Mexico is “open.”
Crane provided a cravenly negative characterization of comments Biden previously made in favor of what was essentially the legal right to asylum, claiming: “He invited this invasion by sending up a flare signaling that anyone from anywhere could come exploit and abuse the American homeland… Joe Biden is the patriarch of a perverted and corrupt political dynasty who is more interested in profiting off his position than protecting our Nation.”
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) was leading Democratic rebuttals to the Republican arguments and accused the GOP of pretending their issues with Biden were about policy to distract from what were essentially just political aims of effectively helping Donald Trump, who’s now facing federal criminal charges and could soon face even more charges both at the federal and state levels related to his attempts to undo the result of the 2020 presidential race.
“Mr. Speaker, it is clear that Republicans would rather the American public pay attention to anything–literally anything–other than the latest charges that their leader has been slapped with,” McGovern said, speaking directly after the Arizonan. “If I were they, I would want to talk about anything other than that, but those are the facts. No matter how you want to distract and deflect, Mr. Speaker, the American people are not going to ignore what I believe will ultimately prove to be criminality of the former President.”
Video of the debate is below:
