This man. Oh, brother, this man. He has accomplished a major turnaround, from liberal to hard-core right-wing. That’s frightening in and of itself, but his latest is above and beyond crazy. Where did his mind go? If any of you see it, please send it back so we can stuff some sanity into it before replacing it in his head.
Over the weekend, he posted 2 tweets that were deeply inappropriate, after the murders and attempted murders of Democratic state legislators in Minnesota. The country is reeling from this (well, mostly), and he chooses to post something that should have even MAGA shaking its head. I could hardly believe it when I read this. From MSNBC:
The three-term lawmaker posted a picture of the suspect, Vance Boelter, with the caption “This is what happens. When Marxists don’t get their way.” Twenty-five minutes later, he posted another picture of the suspect with the caption “Nightmare on Waltz Street.” This appears to be a misspelled reference to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee.
Whaaaaaat? Where in the h*ll did THAT come from? See what I mean about hard-core right wing? That was disgusting. That was terrifying. It came out of a Senator’s mouth. An elected official said that. The cringing in his electorate must have been beyond imagination. Right-wing or not, it had to have been stunning to read.
What is particularly terrifying about Lee’s unhinged social media presence is that he wasn’t always like this. Back in 2016, he did more than just oppose Trump’s nomination as the GOP’s standard-bearer. As The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta chronicled, at that year’s Republican convention, Lee tried “to sabotage Donald Trump’s nomination for president. “First, he maneuvered his way onto the convention’s rule-making committee,” Alberta wrote. “Then, he led a push by Never Trumpers to unbind the convention’s delegates—that is, to release them from their obligation to vote for Trump as the party’s nominee.”
But as with most Republicans, when Lee’s conscience collided with his political ambitions, the latter won out. After Trump claimed the nomination and eventually the presidency, Lee got in line behind his party leader (unlike Utah’s other senator at the time, Mitt Romney). In 2019, he played a key role in guiding Senate Republicans during Trump’s first impeachment trial. In the aftermath of the 2020 election, he actively plotted with White House officials to keep Trump in office, even endorsing and recommending lawyers John Eastman and Sidney Powell to Trump’s then-chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
See what I mean about a radical change? I’d like to know who got to him. Someone must have. There must be something in the background that we don’t know about that caused his insane change. I know this is normal for MAGA, but it doesn’t make any sense.
In 2022, he launched a new Xitter name called “BasedMikeLee”. This is his Xitter troll account. And troll it is, good grief! He posts dozens of times a day with very little or no coverage of what he’s supposed to be doing, ie, working for his electorate. It makes me wonder what in the h*ll he has to talk about, to be posting that much. Here’s one of his bizarre ideas:
Perhaps his favorite talking point is one that ordinary Americans were introduced to over the weekend: labeling Democrats and liberals as Marxists. In just the past week, he has wielded the epithet against both leaders of and participants in the No Kings marches, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and anti-ICE protesters. He has in recent weeks claimed that the U.S. Agency for International Development has been funding Marxist causes for years, suggested that Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, is a Marxist and accused Marxists/liberals/Democrats of fetishizing sexual violence, loving eugenics and (ironically, considering his posts about the violence in Minnesota) “dividing people and sowing division.”
Lawdy, what a mouthful! The man stays busy now, doesn’t he? It’s not very creative, though. He’s labeling everyone except those like him as Marxists. Stunning, but it induces yawns. He’s riding that pony to death. Once or twice, I could see that. But every other breath? Naaahhhhh. Alrighty, a little bit more to quote for you, and then we’ll close.
None of his Republican colleagues appear to have had anything to say about Lee’s posts. But Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., did track him down. “I wanted him to know how much pain that caused me and the other people in my state,” she told reporters afterwards. “I’ll leave it to Senator Lee to answer how he took my comments. I think that honestly, he seemed a little surprised to be confronted.” Whether Lee caused that pain out of craziness or cynicism is irrelevant. As long as he’s full MAGA, trolling liberals and pushing misinformation and conspiracy theories — no matter how outrageously or inappropriately — there’ll be a place for him in Donald Trump’s Republican Party.
I’m shaking my head, here. I don’t have any possible way to understand this. Far right, MAGA, yes, kind of. But the rest? No, there’s no understanding for me. Did Republicans understand him? They’ve been noticeably quiet on this on both sides of Congress. I suppose if any one of them thinks twice about what he’s doing, and becomes a little more towards the center, it’s something. Outraged in private, mute in public. By the way? People were so upset with him that the tweets were taken down. Thanks for sticking with me!
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it was Amy Klobuchar that talked him into deleting his post on Marxists. He also is the architect of selling our National Park lands.
I did not know that! I’m glad *someone* did. He started the selling of public lands? GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything. Malcolm X
Scott, I’d love to know how in the hell you keep coming up with these quotations that are just perfect for what I’m writing about. 🙂 Well done!