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Republican MELTDOWN, Throws Anti-Mask Tantrum on House Floor
The US House of Representatives is reinstating the mask mandate in light of the Delta variant making its way around the country and the CDC updating its masking guidelines. This has Republican representatives furious, because apparently this riles them up more than any actual issues facing the people they represent and the country as a whole. Chip Roy, a Republican representative from Texas, took to the House floor to protest the reimposed mask mandate and he did not pull any punches. He said, “okay, we can’t come to the floor, I can’t exercise my constitutional duty unless I wear a mask. Well which is it? Vaccines or masks? Do the vaccines work or do they not work?” The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines we know to be 90-95% effective against COVID-19, but their efficacy against the Delta variant is closer to around 70%.
The House then voted on whether to adjourn the session in protest of the mask requirement. Seven Republicans joined all of the Democrats to oppose the motion to adjourn, making the final vote 225-197 against Rep. Roy’s idea. Congressman Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Ohio, responded to Chip Roy and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and explained why there is a need to reinstate the mask mandate in the House. He detailed how there are hotspots in certain parts of the country and representatives are flying to and from those hotspots. “I just find it immature and appalling to somehow diminish it to try to score cheap political points,” the congressman said. Ryan went on to criticize GOP lawmakers for “denigrating the attending physician” who is the doctor that they all go to. No one is happy about having to wear the masks again, but some people are able to respond to the news like adults, while these reactionary Republicans choose to whine and behave like children.
Trump Claims Humiliating Loss Is Actually a Win
Donald Trump’s ability to play kingmaker in the Republican Party took a huge hit Tuesday night when the Trump-backed candidate in a special election to represent Texas’s 6th congressional district lost to another candidate. Despite not getting the highly coveted Trump nod of approval, Jake Ellzey was able to defeat Susan Wright with 53% of the vote in the north Texas district. Now, Trump advisers are directing their disappointment at David McIntosh, the president of the conservative Club for Growth, for convincing the former president to throw his weight behind Wright in the special election. Trump also tried to spin the defeat as a win in a phone call that he had with Axios on Wednesday night. The ex-POTUS argued, that because Wright got more votes in the first round of voting and because the runoff was between two pro-Trump Republicans, it was actually a victory for him.
Trump infamously cannot accept defeat even when it’s by proxy. He said on the phone call, “this is the only race we've . . . this is not a loss, again, I don't want to claim it is a loss, this was a win. . . . The big thing is, we had two very good people running that were both Republicans. That was the win.” Of course, Trump’s statement here was untrue because not only have plenty of Trump-backed candidates lost over the years, he himself lost to Joe Biden in the 2020 election by millions of votes. The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman suggested on Twitter that some Trumpists is paranoid about the setback, writing “there are also some interesting conspiracy theories going around right now in Trumpland blaming various GOP senior electeds for why Wright lost (ie are people *intentionally* trying to diminish Trump’s clout).” Whether this trend of Trump-backed candidates losing continues remains to be seen, but for now, the former president’s ability to play kingmaker has been seriously put in check.
From yesterday’s show:
"Pro-Police" Republicans Laugh At & Ridicule Police Officers
For years, Republicans have been trying to market themselves as the party that supports the police. That narrative got tested on January 6th, when a mob of Trump supporters attacked Capitol police officers, beating some of them within an inch of their lives. Now, all of a sudden, right-wing commentators are taking the side against the cops in order to make themselves look good to their Trump-supporting audience. On her Fox News show Tuesday night, Laura Ingraham gave out “best performance awards” to the officers who testified before Congress, implying that it was all an act and that they did not suffer from an actual attack. Propagandist Tucker Carlson laughed at DC police officer Michael Fanone for saying he has "been left with psychological trauma and emotional anxiety." Fanone suffered a heart attack, a concussion, and traumatic brain injury and apparently that’s fair game for Tucker to make fun of.
--More on the show:
--Nick Maggiulli, COO at Ritholtz Wealth Management and founder of Of Dollars and Data, a data-focused personal finance blog, joins David to dispel the notion that millennials are actually worse off financially than prior generations
--Third COVID-19 vaccine doses may be coming soon in the United States as Israel approves third doses and new Pfizer data suggests a significant immune boost
--Increasingly, private businesses including restaurants are saying "no vaccine? no service"
--Notable discussions from the David Pakman Show subreddit, including about anti-vaxxers who get sick with COVID, mask-wearing debates, and more
--Anti-vaccine pro-Trump radio host Phil Valentine, previously hospitalized with COVID, is now on a ventilator as his condition has worsened
--Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger admits that privately, almost no Republican elected officials actually believe the lie that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen by Joe Biden and actually won by Donald Trump
--Voicemail caller asks whether the right wingers would take COVID seriously if it mutated to become a flesh-eating virus
--On the Bonus Show: Somehow Republicans see Simone Biles as a villain, NYC to pay $100 for getting COVID vaccine, Florida mayors defy Ron DeSantis and pass mask and vaccine mandates, much more...
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