On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Alabama’s 5th District, Mo Brooks, the U.S. House Representative from Alabama’s 5th Congressional District. Brooks, a Tea Party Wave beneficiary, has already demonstrated that he doesn’t understand how the debt ceiling works and channels the sort of bigotry worthy of the legacy of George Wallace, having stated he is willing to “do anything short of shooting” illegal immigrants to solve the problem, and characterizing Democratic policies as part of a “War on Whites”.
Brooks is currently one of the most xenophobic opponents of immigration, on more than one occasion has stated his belief that immigration reform was a plot by Democrats to “dilute the voting power of Americans”, and called for the impeachment of President Obama for his executive orders on immigration. He also has claimed Democrats use “class warfare”, ”racial division“, and ”sexual exploitation“ to help them get votes, which is quite the shift in the actual paradigm in this country. On July 8th, 2015, Mo Brooks went on Yellowhammer Radio, and stated his belief that illegal immigrants have murdered more Americans than the six to seven thousand Americans who have died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq so far this century (Hint: That’s insane, and xenophobic, but that’s Mo Brooks for you).
Brooks, in an interview not long after the worst mass shooting in U.S. History at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, weighed in by claiming that “the Muslim community, which, if it had its way, would kill every homosexual in the United States of America.” Because there’s no better way to respond to a tragedy by trying to stir up fears against foreigners, right?
With 385 days to go until the 2016 election, Mo Brooks already was talking about impeaching Hillary Clinton for having a private e-mail server while serving as Secretary of State. A month later, Rep. Brooks, during a Congressional hearing, suggested the United States should arm Ukraine in their conflict with Russia, in the hopes that it would lead the Russians out of Syria. There was agreement from both hawk and dove alike on Capitol Hill that this was a moronic suggestion, and it was nice to see both sides agree that Mo Brooks has terrible ideas.
Much like how in April of 2018, that Rep. Brooks was calling for the National Guard to not just be deployed to the U.S./Mexico border, but they be allowed to use “whatever force necessary” to hunt for border-crossers. Many of whom, of course, are women with children fleeing violence and seeking amnesty, but hey, let’s just give the Guardsmen the green light to gun them down, y’know?
After winning re-election in 2016 with 67% of the vote in a safe conservative district, Mo Brooks was trying to jump from the U.S. House, and supplant Sen. Luther Strange, the man appointed to replace Jeff Sessions by shamed (now former) Alabama Governor Robert Bentley. In July of 2017, Brooks promised that if elected to the U.S. Senate, he would use his position to filibuster by reading the King James Bible until Donald Trump’s proposed border wall (that experts note wouldn’t work) is funded, and then released an ad to promote his bid to get elected to the U.S. Senate that features audio of the attempted assassination of Congressman Steve Scalise (he was there at the time). Both parties criticized him for trying to exploit the shooting, because obviously. Well, against some of the most conservative lunatics Alabama had to offer, Mo Brooks failed to advance out of the GOP Primary, finishing third behind Luther Strange. Of course, Roy Moore finished first so… it’s hard to like anyone involved in that saga. That’s kind of like dodging a bullet to jump into the path of a different bullet.
Anyway, perhaps the biggest moment of utter stupidity from Mo Brooks of late came in May of 2018, when he tried a new strategy for denying climate change as a member of the House Science Committee. When faced with statistics about rising sea levels… you see, Brooks explained the sea levels were only rising because “rocks were falling into the ocean”. If that wasn’t insane enough, Brooks then went on to claim that the Antarctic ice sheet, which is melting rapidly, was somehow GROWING.
“What about the White Cliffs of Dover … and California, where you have the waves crashing against the shorelines, and time and time again you have the cliffs crashing into the sea? All of that displaces water which forces it to rise, does it not?
There are plenty of studies that have come that show with respect to Antarctica that the total ice sheet, particularly that above land, is increasing, not decreasing. Now, you could make a different argument if you want to talk about Greenland or the Arctic.”
Anyhow, Mo Brooks’ voting record continues to qualify as something so conservative, it can make sane people ill:
- January 27th, 2019: Mo Brooks votes against HJR 30, which was meant to express disapproval of Donald Trump not acting against Russian Federation for attacking our democracy.
- January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Brooks voted against HR 648, because he was gleeully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
- February 28th, 2019: Mo Brooks 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: Brooks votes against HR 183, a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism as a hateful extension of intolerance.
- March 14th, 2019: Rep. Brooks 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.
- March 25th, 2019: Brooks takes to the floor of the House, where he decides it’s a great time to QUOTE HITLER. Yes, that’s right, he complained about investigations into President Trump by Robert Mueller, called Democrats “socialists”, and then compared the Mueller investigation to the “Big Lie” that Hitler talked about in Mein Kampf.
- April 4th, 2019: Mo Brooks is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
- June 4th, 2019: Rep. Brooks votes against the Dreamers Act.
- July 12th, 2019: Brooks is one of 12 Republicans who vote against the re-authorization of the Zadroga Act to provide healthcare to 9/11 First Responders.
- July 16th, 2019: Mo Brooks 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”.
- October 17th, 2019: Brooks is one of 60 Republicans who vote against HJ Res 77, which opposed Donald Trump’s disastrous decision to abandon Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria to the mercies of a Turkish invasion.
- October 23rd, 2019: Brooks is one of 41 Republicans who, while staring down the possibility of Donald Trump being impeached, stage a ridiculous publicity stunt in response by crashing a classified impeachment inquiry hearing for a “protest”.
- December 3rd, 2019: Rep. Brooks is one of 71 Republicans who votes against a resolution to disallow Russia from re-entering the G7 and makes it the G8 until it leaves Ukraine.
- December 18th, 2019: Brooks 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: Brooks votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mo Brooks was re-elected in 2018 with 61% of the vote. In 2020, he is one of three Republicans across the country running for a House seat unopposed. He seems unlikely to leave Congress until he drops dead, or decides to go try and get richer on K Street, at this point, because nobody seems willing to challenge him in a primary, and his district has far too much of a party lean for it to flip blue.
He will be an embarrassing throwback to a darker time in American history that seems to be trying to make a comeback.