Republicans say the quiet part out loud: A compilation
The quiet part: The filibuster
Two current Republican lawmakers were caught on tape laughing and praising Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema for refusing to change the filibuster. The video, taken during a June 29 Patriot Voices event, also shows former Sen. Rick Santorum admitting that the party values their own rights – the Senate Minority’s rights – over the people’s will.
We have a bunch of people running around, particularly progressives, who all they want to talk about is, well, let the people’s will be done. No, no, no, no. We don’t want the people’s will to be done immediately, because you have the passions of the majority that – remember our constitution was set up to protect who? Minority rights, not the majority rights.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) tells attendees that the filibuster has proved crucial to blocking much of President Joe Biden’s agenda, which Rep. Bryon Donalds (R-FL) then echoes, imploring the crowd to call Manchin and Sinema to keep the tradition in place.
Biggs: But the reality is they [Democrats] are pushing as far as they can. Fortunately for us, the filibuster is still in effect in the Senate. Without that we would be dead meat and this thing would be done. Then we’d be having a little bit more frantic discussion than we’re having today. But thank goodness for Sinema and Joe Manchin.
Donalds: I like it when AOC is going after Joe Manchin – like, this is great for me, you know. It makes my job easier as a conservative because, you know, I can got to Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema and be like, “Hey, guys, you know, I’m really sorry you’re having to go through that. That’s just a shame. Nobody should be treated like this. I just really want to thank you for standing for the country.”
Donalds: And you know, all of you in this room, people at home on Zoom, let me tell you right now: if you want to do one thing to keep the Republic afloat, call Joe Manchin’s office. Call Kyrsten Sinema’s office… Just be like, “Hi, I’m here to talk to Senator Joe Manchin and thank him for keeping the filibuster intact. I’m just a Republican voter from state X, I just want to say thank you.” Because what’s happening up here is the fact that they’ve decided not to blow open the filibuster. In a lot of respects, it’s going to save the Republic from the worst things that the left wants to do and H.R. 1 is the tip of the iceberg.
The Patriot Voices website includes this summary of the event written by Santorum and posted after a Democratic activist brought attention to their filibuster comments:
I made the important case that the U.S. Senate was created to slow down legislation in order to build consensus. Yes, that is a good thing! It gives “the people” the time to read legislation, understand the consequences, and come together to make wise decisions about what is really the best way forward for our country. The filibuster is important because it gives us that important space and requires broad support to invest power to or divest power from the federal government.
We also are proud to have mentioned several Democratic Senators because we still believe that we should work together from time-to-time. Our country is worth the bipartisan effort. In fact, it may be the only way forward for our country past the ugly dialogue we are seeing on social media.
The quiet part: Chaos and obstruction
During the same Patriot Voices event, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) told the crowd that GOP’s main objective is to create “chaos” and obstruct the Democratic agenda until their party takes control of Congress in 2022. Clip.
Roy: I mean honestly right now, for the next 18 months, our job is to do everything that we can to slow all of that down to get to December of 2022, and then get in here and lead… I actually say, “Thank the Lord – 18 more months of chaos and the inability to get stuff done.” That’s what we want.
Santorum: “I agree.”
Roy released a statement to Business Insider doubling down on his position:
In a statement to Insider, Roy said Republicans’ job for the next 18 months is to do “everything that we can to slow down and block the Democrats’ radical agenda, and then win the majority and lead.”
“I do not apologize one bit for pushing back against the leftist mob that seeks to destroy America from within. I am proud of this country, not embarrassed by it and I will obstruct the agenda of those that are with everything I’ve got,” he added. Roy ended his statement by addressing “those waking from their slumber,” declaring he opposes “almost everything that Congress does” and will continue to do so until the body “does something actually worth supporting.
The quiet part: Redistricting and gerrymandering
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), former White House physician who reportedly drank alcohol, took Ambien, and made sexual comments while on duty, admitted last month that Republicans plan on taking control of the House of Representatives through redistricting:
“We have redistricting coming up and the Republicans control most of that process in most of the states around the country. That alone should get us the majority back.” Clip
Texas is one of the states most vulnerable to Republican gerrymandering this redistricting cycle, given the party controls the entire process and the area has seen fast growth and demographic change.
Jackson is not the only Republican boasting of their power to cheat to win.
Earlier this year, New Hampshire’s Republican state party chair Stephen Stepanek promised the state committee that he’ll gerrymander districts to flip at least one of the state’s two Democratic seats to GOP control:
“We control redistricting. I can stand here today and guarantee you that we will send a conservative Republican to Washington as a congressperson in 2022.”
Last year, Kansas’s then-Senate President Susan Wagle made a similar promise to gerrymander her state’s only Democratic lawmaker out of existence: “I guarantee you that we can draw four Republican congressional maps.” In a separate video, Wagle revealed the calculus behind keeping state-level Republican control:
“My Senate seat that Renee Erickson is running in right now, it’s pro-Biden, it’s moved to the left,” Wagle says in the video. “And during redistricting I need to give her some more Republican neighborhoods in order to make sure she stays elected.”
The quiet part: Voter suppression
During Supreme Court arguments, a lawyer for the Arizona Republican Party admitted that efforts to make voting more difficult aren’t about “protecting the integrity” of elections; They’re about protecting the party itself.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett: “What’s the interest of the Arizona RNC in keeping, say, the out-of-precinct ballot disqualification rules on the books?” she asked.
Republican Attorney Michael Carvin: “Because it puts us at a competitive disadvantage relative to Democrats. Politics is a zero-sum game. And every extra vote they get through unlawful interpretation of Section 2 (of the Voting Rights Act) hurts us. It’s the difference between winning an election 50-49 and losing an election 51 to 50.”
The Supreme Court ultimately sided with the Republicans in a 6-3 decision, with the liberal justices dissenting. As a result, ballots mistakenly cast in the wrong precinct will be thrown out and ballot collection is banned.
The Arizona GOP’s admission in court might remind you of the multiple times former president Trump confessed that it would be harder for Republicans to win if more people were able to vote. For instance, in March 2020 Trump said:
“The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” (Clip).
The quiet part: 2020 “audits”
Texas state Republican Rep. Steve Toth filed a bill (HB241) last week to conduct a forensic audit of the 2020 general election…but only in counties with over 415,000 people. There are 13 counties with a population greater than 415,000. Ten voted for Biden.
Toth himself plainly stated why he is only interested in auditing the results of the most populous counties:
But while Toth said he would support a statewide effort, he also argued the undertaking would be too expensive and time-consuming. Asked if he would consider including some smaller counties, Toth replied, “What’s the point? I mean, all the small counties are red.”
In other words, localities that voted blue are fraudulent and in question; counties that voted red don’t need to be “audited” because Republicans aren’t interested in overturning their results.
The quiet part: Winning independent voters
Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin was caught on video admitting that he can’t discuss his anti-abortion views because it would hurt his campaign, which depends on wooing independent and moderate voters.
Acting as an anti-abortionist, an undercover activist tries to pin down Youngkin on his true views:
Activist: It’s a really important issue to me.
Youngkin: It’s an important issue to me, too.
Activist: I want to make sure that Virginia is doing everything it can until we get an abortion ban, to make sure that we’re defending the unborn.
Youngkin: I agree.
Activist: And whether that’s, you know, getting a fetal heartbeat bill here like they did in Texas, or defunding Planned Parenthood.
Youngkin agrees and adds “we got to stop allowing abortions all the way up until the last week before birth.
Unidentified person: Can we take it to the abortionists though?
Youngkin: I’m gonna be really honest with you, the short answer is, in this campaign, I can’t. When I’m governor, and I have a majority in the House, we can start going on offense. But as a campaign topic, sadly, that in fact won’t win my independent votes that I have to get. So you’ll never hear me support Planned Parenthood, what you’ll hear me talk about is actually taking back the radical abortion policies that Virginians don’t want.”
The quiet part: Climate change
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) quickly pivoted from Jan. 6 lies and coronavirus misinformation to global warming denial, telling an audience that climate change is “bullshit.” During a June 5 speech to the Republican Women of Greater Wisconsin Luncheon, Johnson said:
Give away your freedom for a false sense of security. That’s the state of fear that the media and the Democrats have engendered…That’s what they would do, it’s all about creating the state of fear, as they tried to do with global warming. Oh, I’m sorry, it’s climate change now. Whatever works. Whatever works that you can set up a state of fear, where they can step in and alleviate that fear…
Right now the movement to put pressure on banks not to loan money to fossil fuels. Whaaaa? I don’t want to pay ten bucks a gallon. I actually, you know (intelligible) again, I don’t know about you guys but I think climate change is, as Lord Monckton said, bullshit [mouthed]. And by the way, it is. I mean, and fortunately, keep reading, there’s more and more, there are more and more scientists coming out writing really good books just laying this to waste. (Video).