Welcome to the 599th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where we’re going to be talking about the latest U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 19th District, Jodey Arrington, the man who just took the place of CSGOPOTD alumni Randy Neugebauer for his seat in Congress. Nine Republicans were in the GOP primary to replace Neugebauer, and Arrington emerged based on the political capitol he built up working first for George W. Bush as an aide while he was still Governor of Texas and in the Bush White House, and helping him fill up executive appointed posts during his administration. That included the choice of hiring a man named Michael Brown as head of FEMA, whose only experience was breeding horses. Remarkably, this led to Arrington being thrown into the fire to clean up the Gulf Coast after Brown had to resign in disgrace, where Arrington served as deputy federal coordinator for the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding. Now, in an election year where it benefitted more candidates to be the political outsider on the conservative side, it might seem odd that Arrington still managed to narrowly win his primary on a run-off. Well, in spite of maintaining his strong Bush Administration credentials, he also won a Breitbart endorsement by doing, what else? Taking a trip down to the U.S./Mexico border and talking tough about illegal immigrants.
As it turns out, the now Rep. Arrington’s disdain for Mexicans was not something he just did in campaign mode, as he has gone on record as a supporter of Donald Trump’s border wall. But his support of xenophobia is not limited only to Mexicans, though, because Arrington also came out in defense of Trump’s bigoted Muslim ban when it was announced. Hell, Arrington’s drinking Trump’s Kool-Aid so much it looks like he’s visiting Jonestown, as he gave Trump’s First 100 Days in office an “A”.
But what Jodey Arrington did that is completely new for him (but sadly not for Republicans), happened back in late March 2017. Arrington, in a hearing on SNAP benefits, quoted the Bible’s 2 Thesslalonians 3:10, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” Now, there are wiser and more well-versed Biblical experts will point out that Jesus was pretty much the guy who was ALL ABOUT FEEDING THE HUNGRY, Jodey Arrington is the latest Republican to use this verse out of context to take away food stamp benefits that, guess what? All too often go towards feeding CHILDREN. See also former CSGOPOTD profiles on Kevin Cramer and Stephen Fincher for others who tried twisting scripture out of context to turn it into something resembling a religion Ayn Rand would have possibly been into.
Not surprisingly, Jodey Arrington has also voted with his party the great majority of the time in his freshman term in office, including the following:
- February 16th, 2017: Arrington votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping. Because… well, the logic really isn’t there as to why, it’s just awful.
- March 16th, 2017: Jodey Arrington votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge’s written order. We feel safer already.
- March 28th, 2017: Rep. Arrington votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers’ internet usage to businesses. Well, so much for privacy.
- May 4th, 2017: Arrington votes for the House GOP’s healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), post-partum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Arrington would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
- June 8th, 2017: Jodey Arrington votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
Texas’ 19th District is one of the more conservative in Congress, so Jodey Arrington’s unlikely to get toppled from office unless he gets a solid challenge in a GOP Primary. Hell, Democrats didn’t field anyone against him at all in 2016. It will remain to be seen if he’s around for the long haul, what with him being only 44 years old, or if his Breitbart ties end up getting him snake-bit by more moderate members of the GOP. The 2018 midterms are still 14 months away, and there’s no way of knowing what kind of political “reset”is coming in response to a quite unsettling Trump administration.
One Year Ago, August 20th, 2016: Randy Neugebauer (TX)… 2016 Update
Two Years Ago, August 20th, 2015: Randy Neugebauer (TX)…2015 Update
Three Years Ago, August 20th, 2014: Randy Neugebauer (TX)…Original Profile