On this day in both 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, that “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” presented a profile of the sitting U.S. House Representative from Texas’ 31st Congressional District, John Carter, now in his eleventh term in Washington, coming into office back in 2002 after spending two decades as a district court judge in the Lone Star state. Carter almost always coasts to victory when his seat comes up for re-election, with his worst showing being a still-impressive 58% of the vote back in the “blue wave” election year of 2006. Due to the extensive bounty of Texas Republicans out there exhibiting obvious signs of mental deficiency or psychological imbalance out there, you might not have heard much about Rep. Carter. Well, that and when you do a Google search of "John Carter" you either get news about a movie that completely tanked at the box office, or art inspired from the book it’s based on featuring a shirtless guy posing with a scantily clad Martian woman wrapped demurely around his leg. I'll wait a moment while everyone tests that fact to ogle some cheesecake and/or beefcake.
Okay, back to Congressman Carter, now. Our main objection to John Carter being in Congress is not just that he opposes climate change, but to the extent that he does. He actually thinks a phenomenon proven by the great majority of scientific studies is just the result of some massive campaign to trick the populace into supporting it:
And that's right off his campaign website. If that quote alone doesn't show you how deep he's into the cause of climate change denial, feel free to read some of his other comments from the Congressional record on January 24th, 2011.
John Carter was also a huge proponent of the 2013 Government Shutdown, and he was in full spin mode in the build up to it, trying to convince the American people that his cause was noble, and if he didn’t bring the federal government to a screeching halt, and the Affordable Care Act was allowed to go forward, that all would be lost:
One of the things about John Carter that we find unsettling, though, is that he was the Chairman of the Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, and one of his responsibilities was preventing cyberterrorism. It's quite troublesome that Rep. Carter cannot even pronounce the word "cyber", admitted "I don't know anything about this stuff", and then proceeded to try and conduct a hearing to discuss encryption where he would demonstrate how much of an understatement that really was. Now in his eighties John Carter doesn’t “get” technology, and doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to figure it out, with our national security hanging in the balance.
While the rest of Carter's opinion on national security past that, of course, is to keep out all immigrants and refugees, and his voting record since hitting office has been highly partisan, supporting a resolution towards creating a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, voted against equal pay, a woman’s right to choose, against Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, for the 2013 Government Shutdown and against reopening the government after it was over.
Only seven days after January 6th, 2021, Carter was fighting against any investigations or consequences for anyone, including arguing that Donald Trump shouldn’t be impeached and barred from running for office again because “he only has seven days left”. Predictably, he is now upset that Donald Trump is facing any indictments or consequences for it, at all.
As his voting record goes on…
- December 3rd, 2019: Rep. Carter can’t even be bothered to show up to vote for a resolution to disallow Russia from re-entering the G7 and makes it the G8 until it leaves Ukraine.
- December 18th, 2019: Carter ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
- December 10th, 2020: Carter signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
- January 6th, 2021: John Carter 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. Carter 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 25th, 2021: Carter doesn’t even bother to vote on HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Carter doesn’t bother to vote on HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: John Carter votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Carter 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. Carter 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).
- March 17th, 2021: Carter is one of twelve Republicans who pick a side to have rooted for in the failed coup attempt on 1/6/21 and votes against awarding Congression
- May 19th, 2021: John Carter votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
- November 5th, 2021: John Carter votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
- March 31st, 2022: Carter votes against HR 6833, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would limit the cost that drug companies could list insulin at to $35 and make sure no diabetic was priced out of surviving their condition. John Carter would rather they be gouged by pharmaceutical giants and/or die.
- May 18th, 2022: John Carter is one of 192 Republicans who vote against HR 7790, to create supplemental funding for infant formula (while claiming to be pro- life).
- May 18th, 2022: Rep. Carter 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: Carter votes against HR 7688, a bill which would help prevent gas companies from gouging customers on prices.
- July 13th, 2022: Carter votes against the Honoring Our PACT Act, to provide healthcare to veterans affected by toxic burn pits while serving in the War on Terror that leave them more susceptible to forms of cancer.
- July 15th, 2022: John Carter 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 21st, 2022: Carter 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. Carter doesn’t votes 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: Carter, 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.
- July 13th, 2023: Rep. Carter is one of 70 Republicans who vote for an amendment that would cut all U.S. funding to support our ally, Ukraine, to repel a Russian invasion.
John Carter is now 82 years old, and in 2022 won an eleventh term in office after coasting through the GOP Primary and all his potential Democratic opponents having been disqualified. He has already declared his intent to run for re-election for a twelfth term in 2024.
We’re going to go drink heavily, facing that fact.
One Year Ago, August 14th, 2022: John Carter (TX)… 2022 Update
Two Years Ago, August 14th, 2021: John Carter (TX)… 2021 Update
Three Years Ago, August 14th, 2020: John Carter (TX)… 2020 Update
Four Years Ago, August 14th, 2019: John Carter (TX)… 2019 Update
Five Years Ago, August 14th, 2018: John Carter (TX)… 2018 Update
Six Years Ago, August 14th, 2017: John Carter (TX)… 2017 Update
Seven Years Ago, August 14th, 2016: John Carter (TX)… Original Profile
Eight Years Ago, August 14th, 2015: Ken Cuccinelli (VA)… 2015 Update
Nine Years Ago, August 14th, 2014: Ken Cuccinelli (VA)… Original Profile