Welcome to what is the 1202nd original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing the U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 24th Congressional District, Beth Van Duyne, who was first elected to that office in the 2020 elections. And yes, she does seem to be making the white nationalist “OK” hand gesture in this photo, which based on the rest of what we’re about to write about her, frankly, tracks.
After having spent six years as the mayor of Irving, Texas, where at one point she commended local law enforcement for arresting a Muslim junior high student for building a clock to show off his ingenuity, made headlines by falling for a story she read on the white nationalist website Breitbart News about Sharia Law being supposedly approved by a court in a place more renowned for being the home of the Dallas Cowboys, and started fearmongering that a bigoted conspiracy theory that Muslims were working to “destroy the country from within”. That resulted in not one, not two, but three failures by the Texas GOP pass anti-Sharia legislation in their state based on her and Breitbart’s lies, and is regarded as a formula to fail the city she was supposed to serve because of her focus on hatred.
Which makes you realize the kind of legislator she’ll be going forward in Congress.
But, let’s not skip ahead, Van Duyne served in the Trump administration as a part of former HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s useless, at best, but more accurately damaging reign over that agency for three years, getting the appointment to HUD for most of the Southern United states likely because she was full enough of crap to use her faith as a shield for Donald Trump in an op ed she wrote to defend him after the Access Hollywood tape of Trump boasting about sexually assaulting women dropped. Three years passed with not much to account for her time at HUD, later because she was busy plotting the whole time to run for the seat formerly held by Kenny Marchant, then she opted to jump back into elected politics for a Congressional run in 2020.
Van Duyne continued embodying the GOP’s blind devotion to Trumpism in so many ways, especially given that she refused to wear a mask on several campaign stops, and calling her opponent, Candace Valenzuela, a “coward” for wearing one herself to protect herself and others from coronavirus, while also praising the Trump administration’s absolutely horrific response to the Covid-19 pandemic, that with much easier strategy and messaging, could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
While Texas’ 24th District has trended farther and farther blue over the past several years, she still snuck into office for the first time with 48% of the vote.Bizarrely, her own 2020 campaign communications director went to her home in February of 2021, and while she was at home, shot himself in her driveway. No cause was ever given for how he had access to get even that close to his former boss, because she lives in a gated community.
Anyway, since arriving in office, Beth Van Duyne has become synonymous with taking credit for legislation she votes against. Whether it’s Covid-19 relief, or infrastructure work being funded for the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport, she votes “no”, and then pretends that she’s responsible for the positive changes she rails against. Her time since in Congress has gone as you might expect for a Trump Republican:
- January 6th, 2021: Beth Van Duyne votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that she wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
- January 13th, 2021: Rep. Van Duyne 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: Beth Van Duyne votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because she wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
- February 25th, 2021: Van Duyne votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Van Duyne 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: Beth Van Duyne votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Van Duyne votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because she feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Van Duyne is one of 172 Republicans who choose to vote 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: Rep. Van Duyne votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
- November 5th, 2021: Beth Van Duyne votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
- March 31st, 2022: Beth Van Duyne votes against HR 6833, refusing to continue to support our allies in Ukraine against a Russian invasion.
- May 18th, 2022: Beth Van Duyne is one of 192 Republicans who votes against HR 7790, to create supplemental funding for infant formula (while claiming to be pro- life).
- May 18th, 2022: Rep. Van Duyne votes against HR 350, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, because these days, a plank of the Republican Party is ostensibly domestic terror.
- May 19th, 2022: Van Duyne votes against HR 7688, a bill which would help prevent gas companies from gouging customers on prices.
- July 15th, 2022: Beth Van Duyne votes against House Amendment 262, which would require the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Secretary of Defense to publish a report on the infiltration of American law enforcement by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, offer measures to be taken to remove them from their ranks, and prevent further infiltration by others.
- July 19th, 2022: Rep. Van Duyne is one of 157 Republicans who vote against the “Respect for Marriage Act”, which would codify same sex marriage into law nationally.
- July 21st, 2022: Van Duyne is one of 195 Republicans who vote against the Right to Contraception Act, which codified the right of Americans to have access to birth control.
- December 1st, 2022: Rep. Van Duyne is one of 90 Republicans who vote against HR 6878, meaning he is perfectly fine with pregnant women in prison being placed in solitary confinement while claiming to be “pro-life”.
- December 6th, 2022: Van Duyne, embracing the GOP’s white nationalist, anti-immigrant sentiment votes against HR 7946, which was meant to honor the promise to grant citizenship to immigrants who served in the United States Armed Forces.
One Year Ago, May 7th, 2022: Mark Middleton (TX)
Two Years Ago, May 7th, 2021: David Fegan (TX)
Three Years Ago, May 7th, 2020: Bill Flores (TX)… 2020 Update
Four Years Ago, May 7th, 2019: Bill Flores (TX)… 2019 Update
Five Years Ago, May 7th, 2018: Bill Flores (TX)… 2018 Update
Six Years Ago, May 7th, 2017: Bill Flores (TX)… 2017 Update
Seven Years Ago, May 7th, 2016: Bill Flores (TX)… 2016 Update
Eight Years Ago, May 7th, 2015: Bill Flores (TX)… Original Profile