On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of the U.S. House Representative from California’s 1st Congressional District, Doug LaMalfa, one of the dumbest deniers of climate change on Capitol Hill, who actually cites a promise that God made to Noah in the Book of Genesis as proof against the phenomenon, and wants to eliminate carbon dioxide restrictions from the EPA, viewing it as “taking away plant food from the atmosphere”. He also compared IRS commissioner Lois Lerner to “the Republic of Korea”, which is actually SOUTH Korea while grilling her in hearings about the IRS scandal.
LaMalfa spoke before Congress after a terror attack in Paris, lying and claiming that “We know now that one of the terrorists who participated in the attack on Paris last Friday entered Europe by posing as a refugee.” (Fact-checking the Congressman: The terror attacks in Paris by jihadists from France and Belgium by trying to create greater restrictions to keep out Syrian refugees, of whom exactly zero were involved in those attacks.) Oh, and he also went conspiracy theorist regarding the money repaid to Iran that was frozen in banks in the Iranian Revolution in 1979, but returned interest-free in 2016, saying it was a secret delivery done “in the dark of the night on a pallet” (the Obama administration announced it was done six months prior to LaMalfa’s freak out on the House floor.).
Since the election of Donald Trump, no matter how grievously stupid the President or his family might be… LaMalfa has been a tenacious defender of them. In 2017 alone, LaMalfa dug in deep on the most indefensible of reports… the first being his attempts to make the talk of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia go away by just declaring it “a load of crap”.
Now, never mind that Donald Trump Jr. already released e-mails that show he wanted the Russians’ help in gathered intelligence detrimental to Hillary Clinton… apparently LaMalfa wouldn’t know a turd if it hit him in the face (which might be an improvement). But no, that wasn’t all. After Donald Trump’s utterly revolting remarks following white supremacists marching in Charlottesville that led to the death of Heather Howeyer, and Trump’s claims that there were “many fine people there” or that “both sides” were responsible for the violence… Doug LaMalfa actually tried saying Trump’s response was fine because he had a long track record of speaking out against white supremacists. (HINT: Trump doesn’t, and even when he does, it’s after reporters have to PLEAD with him and say something bad about people as evil as David Duke after days or weeks of sidestepping it.)
And speaking of Doug LaMalfa always getting Donald Trump’s back… in 2018, he defended the Trump regime’s family separation policy when they began locking migrant children seeking asylum, some toddlers, in cages. We knew he hated immigrants, but he’s “all-in” on the subject for someone who supposedly represents a district in a blue state.
His voting record this term:
- May 2nd, 2018: Doug LaMalfa is one of 18 Republicans who sign on to a letter asking to nominate Donald Trump for a Nobel Prize for meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
- January 23rd, 2019: Rep. LaMalfa voted against HR 648, because he was gleeully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
- February 28th, 2019: Doug LaMalfa votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
- March 7th, 2019: LaMalfa votes against HR 183, a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism as a hateful extension of intolerance.
- March 14th, 2019: Rep. LaMalfa 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: Doug LaMalfa 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: LaMalfa votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
- June 4th, 2019: Rep. LaMalfa votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
- July 16th, 2019: Doug LaMalfa can’t be bothered to 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”.
- December 3rd, 2019: Rep. LaMalfa votes against a resolution to disallow Russia from re-entering the G7 and makes it the G8 until it leaves Ukraine.
- December 18th, 2019: LaMalfa ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the impeachment of Donald Trump.
- May 15th, 2020: LaMalfa votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, with Doug LaMalfa putzing about, working against the interests of the voters of his district, and defending a president with record low approval ratings because, well, he’s a sociopathic ***hole… you would probably guess that his town halls in California’s 1st have not gone well. Even if that district has a +10 Republican lean, and is atypical for what you’d expect for California… maybe people there aren’t livid, right? OH NO. They are downright PISSED. And LaMalfa can’t handle it. He walked out in the middle of a town hall in front of hundreds of constituents that were booing him back in April of 2017, and decided to regroup and host another town hall months later in a more controlled environment… at an Elks Lodge where he figured he would only see more conservative members of his constituency and fewer people ,overall. Well, that didn’t work either, as an elderly man who lives off of Medicaid grilled Rep. LaMalfa about his vote for Trumpcare and all the people who would have died if it had made it through the Senate. LaMalfa still felt his decision was justified, and the questioner walked away from his Congressman after cursing him, “May you die in pain.”
Doug LaMalfa, thanks to that +10 lean, is one of the few Republicans left in the House in California. We’re hoping that changes in 2020, as Democratic candidate Audrey Denney looks to improve on her 45% performance at the polls, and see if the Golden State continues to go blue across the board.