On this date one year ago, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” had its first profile Ronny Jackson, the former White House Physician and Navy rear admiral and now the U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 13th Congressional District. We feel the need to remind everyone that this would be the same Ronny Jackson who gave a glowing review of Donald Trump’s health after Trump took office, even though he is visibly overweight, refuses to walk anywhere that he can’t ride on a golf cart, allegedly snorts crushed up Adderall to focus, can’t hold up a glass of water with one hand, eats nothing but hamberders and KFC, and himself had a plan to trick Trump into eating cauliflower by the cooks at the White House who mix it in with mashed potatoes. To say nothing of his administration of a test of Trump’s mental faculties and coming out to act like he was the pinnacle of intelligence because he successfully identified a camel.
Ronny Jackson expects us to believe THAT guy is in perfect health, and not to believe our own lying eyes.
But then again, we’re talking about the same Ronny Jackson who throughout his tenure as White House Physician, who nicknamed “The Candyman” because of his willingness to sign off on any and all prescriptions for staffers, allegedly walking down the aisle of Air Force One at points to hand out pills to all the passengers.
Oh, and he was also allegedly drunk. A lot. Per one account, he was so intoxicated on one occasion during the Obama administration that aides could not wake him, had at least one accident attributed to driving while drunk, and that he has an explosive temper that creates a toxic work environment for his subordinates.
These rumors… well, we can’t call them “rumors” anymore as a Pentagon investigation confirmed these things were actually happening… the obvious shortcomings in Ronny Jackson’s character are why it was believed that after Donald Trump decided to reward Jackson for speaking in such over-the-top glowing terms about his health with a nomination to run the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (even though Jackson has never worked in public health, whatsoever, and is highly unqualified), that Ronny Jackson backed off his own nomination. Which made sense, considering the votes to confirm him weren’t there.
And… think about that. The Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos to be Secretary of Education on a tiebreaker vote… but they didn’t think Ronny Jackson had a prayer of getting nominated and being able to do the job.
Anyway, Jackson still was willing to toady for Donald Trump, and rather than get a Cabinet post, instead opted to run for Congress in Texas’ 13th District, which the Cook Partisan Voting Index has listed as a +33 Republican lean on it. After endorsing Donald Trump’s stupid idea for a border wall, he narrowly won the GOP nomination with 55% of the vote, and coasted to victory to take his drunken, temperamental act to the Capitol, fitting in perfectly as a propagandist amateur drug dealer with a drinking problem among the GOP Caucus, as exhibited by his voting record already:
- January 6th, 2021: Ronny Jackson votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
- January 13th, 2021: Rep. Jackson votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
- February 4th, 2021: Ronny Jackson votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted reRonnys and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
- February 25th, 2021: Jackson votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 2nd, 2021: A Pentagon report is released confirming allegations of alcohol abuse, sleeping pill abuse, over-medicating, bullying, and inappropriate sexual behavior by Ronny Jackson while he was serving has White House physician, including when he was on duty.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Jackson votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: Ronny Jackson votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Jackson votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Jackson votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- May 19th, 2021: Ronny Jackson votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
- May 20th, 2021: Jackson is one of 63 Republicans who vote against the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act.
- June 16th, 2021: Ronny Jackson is one of 14 Republicans who vote against celebrating Juneteenth as a federal holiday.
- June 29th, 2021: Jackson is one of 8 Republicans who travel to the U.S./Mexico border to do photo-ops to stir up anti-immigrant furor, but also appear on camera with Capitol insurrectionist Anthony Aguero, as if he wasn’t a part of an attack on Congress less than six months prior.
So it’s pretty telling to see what rare company much of the above shows Ronny Jackson finds himself in on a lot of these more extreme votes and moments… he’s becoming fast friends with some of the most rabid Trump supporters, and frankly, the white nationalist branch that’s taking over the GOP. Jackson has, predictably, taken his inebriated experience as former White House physician with him to the House, where now he’s diagnosing President Biden from afar, and claiming that he needs a cognitive test (If only he could identify a camel from a picture to be hailed as stable).
He only narrowly won that GOP Primary in 2020, so it’s feasible that he could have someone without all the baggage of tabloid scandal attached to them end up knocking him off for his place in the House. We don’t know if that would be an improvement, given how loopy your average Republican is getting these days, in one of those “The Devil You Know” situations. In theory, it would be hard to do worse.
One Year Ago, August 3rd, 2020: Ronny Jackson (TX)… Original Profile
Two Years Ago, August 3rd, 2019: Steve Pearce (NM)… 2019 Update
Three Years Ago, August 3rd, 2018: Steve Pearce (NM)… 2018 Update
Four Year Ago, August 3rd, 2017: Steve Pearce (NM)… 2017 Update
Five Year Ago, August 3rd, 2016: Steve Pearce (NM)… 2016 Update
Six Years Ago, August 3rd, 2015: Steve Pearce (NM)… 2015 Update
Seven Years Ago, August 3rd, 2014: Steve Pearce (NM)… Original Profile