In 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of the former U.S. House Representative from New York’s 27th Congressional District, Chris Collins, a man who while running for Governor of New York in 2010, compared the Speaker of the New York House of Representatives to the Anti-Christ and Hitler, which was super-awkward because he was Jewish. He also sexually harassed a colleague by telling her she should offer up a lap dance to get a seat at the State of the State address that year, and tried deriding the need for healthcare reform by saying that people nowadays “don’t die from prostate cancer” (except for the tens of thousands of people a year who do).
Upon being elected to office in 2012, he quickly made himself a laughing stock by accidentally attending a Democratic Caucus meeting, grabbing breakfast, and then bolting after he realized he was in the wrong room. not only voted for the 2013 Government Shutdown, but voting to keep the government closed when the vote came up to re-open it. Collins also has the dubious honor of being the first Congressional Republican to endorse Donald Trump for president, and tried squaring up Trump’s hardline conservative stance on immigration by claiming that his statements were only “rhetorical” and not actually policies.
Chris Collins may have done the worst job of handling the fallout from the shooting of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, where on the day of the shooting, Collins claimed that it was the “dangerous rhetoric” of Democrats that caused the shooter to act, and they need to “tone it down”. While he apologized for those comments in the heat of the moment, no one should take that apology too seriously, as later the same night, Collins went on a tirade against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, saying, “He’s a thug, he’s a bully, he’s a blackmailer, and an extortionist.” Seriously, that was the same day of his apology after he claimed the other side was using dangerous rhetoric. At least Collins waited a week before he promised to start carrying a gun.
In 2017, Chris Collins admitted voting for Trumpcare without even reading the bill in a live CNN interview. While Rep. Mark Sanford and Rep. Tom Garrett also admitted to doing the same, the difference is a provision in Trumpcare would have cost the state of New York $3 billion in funding, which, y’know, is where Collins is from.
But in a bizarre turn of events, it turns out that Chris Collins feels like maybe Donald Trump’s statements shouldn’t just be considered “rhetorical”, after he recently came out in defense of Trump, and saying that the American people should take his Twitter account seriously, only a short time after Trump’s infamous “covfefe” post. But really, Chris Collins was trying to defend Donald Trump’s artful choice to attack the mayor of London on social media on the day London had experienced a terror attack, saying that Mayor Sadiq Khan “had started it”. Because the GOP are currently all prepubescent children, in their political stances.
Honestly, Rep. Collins couldn’t waste time trying to play defense for Trump, he had got his own problems to deal with. Like say, for example, that he was under an ethics investigation for violating the Stock Act, after voting on bills that helped a company he’s a major shareholder in profit. Perhaps no one would have noticed that conflict of interests had Collins himself not bragged in the House Speakers’ Lobby about “how many millionaires I’ve made in Buffalo the past few months.” And perhaps no one would have thought much of the accusations if Collins hadn’t drawn more attention to it by responding by claiming it was a “witch hunt” and calling fellow Congresswoman Louise Slaughter a “despicable human being” for putting him under ethics review for it. In fact, Collins’ actions outright led to his arrest and indictment for insider trading.
Chris Collins did not resign until September of 2019, and just six months ago, was sentenced to serve 26 months in prison. We wish him the finest of our “good riddance” salutes, and will now celebrate this crooked son-of-a-b**** no longer darkening the halls of the Capitol.