Welcome to the 781st original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing the U.S. House Representative from Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District, Tim Burchett, who is now serving in his freshman term in office after winning in the 2018 elections with 66% of the vote, allowing him to replace the disgraced John Duncan, Jr. in a highly conservative district that the GOP have held since, oh… 1857. Mind you, Burchett underperformed what Duncan used to do at the polls, because Buchett, the former mayor of Knox County, is a rabid Bigfoot enthusiast, whose greatest achievement in terms of policy was to make it legal for his constituents at home to eat roadkill when he was still a member of the Tennessee state legislature in the 1990s. (Knox County apparently prefers their mayors eccentric, as Burchett’s replacement was Glenn Jacobs, aka WWE’s Kane.)
So… yes, they elected a Bigfoot hunter to Congress. No word on if he and Denver Riggleman are planning on forming a Sasquatch caucus, but at least we haven’t read about Burchett writing any missing link erotica like Riggleman. Burchett has a long, sordid history of campaign finance violations dating back to his time in the Tennessee State Senate, including an investigation in 2018 that had the FBI considering whether or not they should pursue tax evasion charges. He also has been quite prolific on Twitter, being dumb enough to besmirch the University of Tennessee football team (not a smart political move for someone from Tennessee), and to make non-sequitir attacks on “Serbian dirtbags”.
The latter slight, he of course refuses to apologize for, and the former he blew off as “something I deleted after five minutes”. His voting record, though, truly has some things in it he may want to say he’s sorry to the American people for:
- January 22nd, 2019: Burchett votes against HR 676, which would prevent Donald Trump from doing the unthinkable and walking away from our allies in NATO to appease the Russians.
- January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Burchett voted against HR 648, because he was gleeully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
- February 28th, 2019: Tim Burchett votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
- March 14th, 2019: Rep. Burchett votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
- April 4th, 2019: Tim Burchett is one of 158 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 17th, 2019: Burchett fails to even show up to vote for The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
- June 4th, 2019: Rep. Burchett votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
- July 16th, 2019: Tim Burchett is one of 187 Republicans who vote against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.
We’re unsure of how long we’ll be profiling Tim Burchett, as on one hand, he’s been floating around Tennessee’s political scene for a quarter century, but on the other hand, he’s just careless enough to get taken down by some sort of ethical lapse… but we can only wait to see how long it will take before he tries pandering to sasquatch enthusiasts on the floor of the House. If his time in Washington, D.C., ends without that happening, we’ll be shocked.
One Year Ago, July 20th, 2018: Michael Snyder (ID)
Two Years Ago, July 20th, 2017: Jason Chaffetz (UT)… 2017 Update
Three Years Ago, July 20th, 2016: Jason Chaffetz (UT)… 2016 Update
Four Years Ago, July 20th, 2015: Jason Chaffetz (UT)… 2015 Update
Five Years Ago, September 6th, 2014: Jason Chaffetz (UT)… Original Profile