In the wake of his massive upset victory over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the media has repeatedly brought up David Brat's position on one issue: immigration, which he's really, really against. But who is this guy and where does he stand on other issues of concern to voters? After all, he's
out of step with voters in the district on immigration. It turns out, what we do know of Brat's positions on other issues
isn't pretty, either:
He appears to endorse slashing Medicare and Social Security payouts to seniors by two-thirds. He wants to dissolve the IRS. And he has called for drastic cuts to education funding, explaining, "My hero Socrates trained in Plato on a rock. How much did that cost? So the greatest minds in history became the greatest minds in history without spending a lot of money."
This is a man whose view on climate change is that it's not a problem ... for the United States. He's said "Of course we care for the environment, but we're not mad people. Over time, rich countries solve their problems." America will take care of itself, screw everyone else. (Never mind that America may have serious problems taking care of itself on this one.)
Brat is an economist with a Master of Divinity degree who has argued that "the Protestant religious establishment" is a key factor in economic growth. He got that M.Div. at the Protestant Theological Seminary, but he doesn't mind if you think he's talking about the more famous Princeton University. And, of course, like so many Republicans, Brat considers it really unfair when he's asked policy questions:
The conversation grew even more strained when Todd asked Brat if he supports arming the Syrian rebels. The GOP nominee immediately tried to dismiss the issue, saying, “hey Chuck, I thought we were just going to chat today about the celebratory aspects. I’d love to go through all of this, but my mind is just, I didn’t get enough sleep last night.”
He'd better learn to be ready to answer questions on not very much sleep if he's going to campaign from now until November, because when you win a high-profile congressional primary, people tend to expect you to have positions on the issues that matter.