NOVEMBER 2021 IGNOMINIOUS ABSURDITY OF THE MONTH: THE IGGY

1. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala). On Sunday, an article in Rolling Stone reported that both Republicans members of Congress and their staff met repeatedly with organizers of the Jan. 6 insurrection to plan protests around blocking the official tallying of the Electoral College vote. This month, the Montgomery Adviser reported that Brooks denied helping to plan the rally, saying that he had not had any  involvement in fundraising for the rally, and only showed up to speak “because the White House asked him to do so.”

In a phone interview, Brooks seemed quite sure that his hands were clean when it came to the rally and the violent and deadly assault on the Capitol that followed. "If you’re talking about someone participating in meetings, setting the agenda, raising the money,” said Brooks, “I don’t know of anything that suggests my staff as doing that stuff.”

But speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Brooks walked that statement back a critical distance. Speaking to CNN’s Melanie Zanona, Brooks continued to claim that he had not attended planning meetings for the event, but said, “I don’t know if my staff did ... but if they did I’d be proud of them for helping to put together a rally lawful under the First Amendment at the ellipse to protest voter fraud and election theft."

Which is certainly made more interesting by how, back in July, Brooks told Slate that he was aware there was a likelihood of violence at the rally. “As a consequence of those warnings,” said Brooks, “I did not go to my condo. Instead, I slept on the floor of my office. And when I gave my speech at the Ellipse, I was wearing body armor.”

An article from another Alabama television station, WKRG, has Brooks making the statement about purchasing a Glock after a more general statement about the threats that he receives as a member of Congress. Which makes this seem like less connected to the Jan. 6 event.

During that interview in July, Brooks refused to say who had given him the heads up on what was about to happen. Or provide details on that warning. But those would be excellent questions for the House select committee on Jan. 6.

In a statement to WAFF in Huntsville, Alabama, Brooks later claimed that he had “zero warnings of any kind” about violence from Trump supporters and only wore body armor because he was concerned about “the risk of threatened violence by BLM and ANTIFA.” Brooks also hinted that he might have been carrying a weapon at the rally, saying: “As a consequence of these threats, I have body armor, a concealed carry permit, and purchased a Glock to go with them.”

According to the original Rolling Stone article, at least one of those involved in planning the January 6 rally has been in communication with the select committee. That organizer is apparently now a cooperating witness, sharing information about the members of Congress and their staff who helped plan events on Jan. 6. That organizer specifically mentioned that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was present at meetings, and that others—including Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Lauren Boebert, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, Rep. Andy Biggs, Rep. Louie Gohmert, and Rep. Mo Brooks—either attended themselves or sent “top staffers.”

If Brooks’ statements seem to constantly skate the edge of self-contradiction and encouraging violence, they fall solidly in the speech Brooks made to the insurgents gathered before him on the Ellipse the morning of January 6. On that morning, Brooks’ didn’t tell them to storm the Capitol and engage in violence. He only told them, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass. Our ancestors sacrificed their blood, their sweat, their tears, their fortunes and sometimes their lives to give us, their descendants, an America that is the greatest nation in world history. So, I have a question for you. Are you willing to do the same?”

He didn’t tell them they had to stop the electoral count. He only told them, “Today, Republican senators and congressmen will either vote to turn America into a godless, amoral, dictatorial, oppressed and socialist nation on the decline, or they will join us and they will fight and vote against voter fraud and election theft and vote for keeping America great.”

He didn’t tell them they had to attack the Capitol, he only called out to the crowd, “Will you fight for America?” before saying, “We, American patriots are going to come right at them!”

It seems clear that Brooks had staffers—at least—involved in the pre-planning of Jan. 6 events. It’s clear that he had foreknowledge that violence was likely, if not certain. It’s clear that on Jan. 6, Brooks helped deliver that violence by informing the crowd that the nation would be lost if they didn’t act immediately. And it’s clear that every day since then, Brooks has continued to blast the Big Lie about election fraud, even as he has hedged his own claims to stay just this side of obvious sedition.

Is this the last straw in Brooks’ worthiness for a Hall-of-Shame induction?

OCTOBER 2021 IGNOMINIOUS ABSURDITY OF THE MONTH: THE IGGY

ANNOUNCEMENT: Ted Cruz, Rudy Giuliani, Tucker Carlson AND Louis Gohmert are four irredeemable evildoers who have appeared repeatedly as monthly IGGY candidates and winners (Carlson and Gohmert appear again this month). In a quiet ceremony after picking up dog shit in my backyard, I inducted the four of them in the Phronesis Hall-of-Shame. This means that their ignominious actions and utterances will not appear in any future IGGY listing. Their membership is well-earned—and long overdue.

Near misses for induction included Senators Mitch McConnell and Ron Johnson, Representatives Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, and Marjorie Taylor Green, and Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott. Strong future contenders include Senators Mike Lee, Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. Feel free to recommend additional worthy candidates.

1. Representative Elise Stefanik. House Republican Conference chair Elise Stefanik wouldn’t dare call out Jan. 6 insurrectionists and their failed attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. After all, that’s how she got her current gig. So, she’s instead stooping to calling undocumented immigrants the actual insurrectionists—and echoing a white supremacist conspiracy theory in the process.

“Radical Democrats are planning their most aggressive move yet: a PERMANENT ELECTION INSURRECTION,” Elise for Congress claimed in one Facebook ad last week, according to Zachary Mueller of America’s Voice. “Their plan to grant amnesty to 11 MILLION illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington.” Just days later, Stefanik doubled down.

“After national press attention condemning Stefanik's use of the white nationalist 'replacement theory' in her Facebook ads warning of an ‘election insurrection’ ... she has doubled down and is STILL running these ads,” Mueller tweeted. “In total, Stefanik paid Facebook to show these xenophobic dog-whistle ads to over a million Facebook users, all but 5% of whom lived outside New York with the majority being over the age of 55,” he wrote last week. “Stefanik is not using these ads to communicate a message to voters in her district,” he notes. “Instead, she is targeting older Americans across the country who react positively to online racialized fear-mongering.” Replacement theory seems to resonate.

This white supremacist belief has more recently found a home on Fox News via Tucker Carlson. It also found a home among the House Republican caucus way before Stefanik’s disgusting ads, echoed by Pennsylvania’s Scott Perry in April.

“For many Americans,” The Washington Post reports Perry said during a hearing on Central American migration, “what seems to be happening or what they believe right now is happening is, what appears to them is we’re replacing national-born American—native-born Americans to permanently transform the landscape of this very nation.” Like the Post noted, never mind that it was Perry, like Stefanik, who sought to “transform the landscape of this very nation” by supporting overturning the election. Facts, smacts.

Among the national press attention that slammed Stefanik’s ads came from her hometown newspaper, which “offered a scathing response” to her rhetoric, HuffPost reported. “Quite a choice of words, of course, considering that the country is still suffering the aftershocks of the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington by supporters of Mr. Trump who tried to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election,” The Times Union Editorial Board said. “The Harvard-educated Ms. Stefanik surely knows the sordid history and context of this.”

That suggests that Stefanik should know better, and indeed, Stefanik is on the record criticizing Trump in the past. “In fact, at times Stefanik sounded practically like a Never Trumper, as she called on Trump to recognize that Russia had attacked the 2016 election to help him, urged him to release his tax returns, and assailed him for his comments about women,” Mother Jones reported in May. Some might argue that Stefanik is a weathervane adjusting to whatever winds are necessary to hold onto power. Or maybe, just maybe, Stefanik’s now finally showing us exactly who she is.