Trump’s Angry Jan. 6 Tirade Accidentally Hands Dems Midterm Weapon |
Trump’s Angry Jan. 6 Tirade Accidentally Hands Dems Midterm Weapon
Democrats will seek to force Republicans to vote on Trump’s toxic new slush fund for January 6 rioters, Representative Jamie Raskin tells TNR in an interview. Democrats shouldn’t let up.
Now that Donald Trump has created his very own political slush fund with $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to hand out to allies, the very least that Democrats can do right now is this: Do everything possible to force Republicans to vote on it—over and over again. Make them defend this brazen corruption at a time when Trump’s approval rating on the economy is in the toilet and the country is awash in deep and widespread economic dissatisfaction.
Democrats might take this step sooner rather than later. Representative Jamie Raskin tells me that House Democrats plan to introduce a bill that would block the fund and other future efforts like it. While it’s unclear exactly how this will play out in each chamber, Raskin says the bill will have the full support of the Democratic caucus and the leadership—and that Democrats will pursue a discharge petition to get it to the floor around the GOP leadership.
“We need to put Republicans on the spot as to whether or not they are going to endorse this rank corruption, or whether they are going to stand up for basic constitutional values,” Raskin said in an interview, adding that he will pursue “straightforward legislation to block this outrageous misappropriation.”
This could prove politically potent in unexpected ways, and Trump’s vile tirade on Monday about his heist shows why. The fund—which the Justice Department is creating pursuant to its “settlement” of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS—will be dispensed to alleged victims of government “weaponization.” When a reporter asked Trump why taxpayer funds should go to the January 6 rioters, it set him off.
“This is reimbursing people that were horribly treated,” Trump replied angrily. “They’ve been in some cases imprisoned wrongly. They’ve paid legal fees that they didn’t have. They’ve gone bankrupt. Their lives have been destroyed. And they turned out to be right.”
Emphasis mine. In short, Trump........