Election years are called “the silly season” for a reason: Campaigns bring the lunacy out, especially on the right. But these statements by Republican politicians go way beyond normal election-year puffery and bombast:
Example 1: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), on September 29, 2024, called Kamala Harris “the ayatollahs’ handpicked candidate” (story here). His argument: Biden administration policies have been soft toward Iran. That’s debatable, but the idea that Iranian leaders choose American candidates is ridiculous. Chalk this up to campaign hyperbole.
Example 2: Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) said on September 29, 2024, she thinks Putin “respects” Trump (story here). Britt, new to politics and foreign affairs, clearly doesn’t know anything about Putin. Read what the Russian dictator really thinks of Trump here.
Example 3: Trump attorney Jim Trusty, on October 2, 2024, called the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot an “insurrection light” (story here). I suppose it is, compared to the U.S. Civil War or Russian Revolution.
Example 4: Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) said on October 3, 2024, that Mike Pence’s life “wasn’t really in peril” on January 6, 2021, even though the mob erected a makeshift gallows outside the Capitol, chanted “Hang Mike Pence!”, assaulted police, and violently broke into the building as Pence and members of Congress scurried to underground shelters (story here).
Example 5: Sen. Eric Schmidt (R-MO) claimed on October 9, 2024, that FEMA is blocking private relief efforts in storm-ravaged areas (story here). He must be reading social media (story here). What FEMA actually does is advise “private volunteers to go through proper channels and not to deliver supplies themselves because of dangerous conditions,” which any law enforcement agency would do, too.
Example 6: Donald Trump told a 6-year-old on October 18, 2024, there won’t be any cows if Harris wins the presidency (story here); and on October 26, 2024, he claimed she “would get us into World War 3 guaranteed” (story here). Of course, I would never run out of silly Trump proclamations, so I’m being highly selective.
Example 7: Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) asked the attorney general Merrick Garland on October 23, 2024, to “investigate whether [Kamala] Harris violated the Hatch Act, a restriction on political campaigning from public office” (story here). Mills doesn’t know what he’s talking about; the Hatch Act doesn’t even apply to the president and vice president (details here).
Example 8: And then there are the genuinely stupid Trump MAGA supporters — and trolls like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — who go around saying the government can control the weather and summon hurricanes (see stories here and here).
Photo below: Flooding in Tampa, Florida, from Hurricane Milton; this is why first responders don’t want civilians going into disaster areas
