Virtual Fridays Without Fitzpatrick (VFWF) 21
In Response To Your 07/02/21 Newsletter
Apologies Are In Order
Congressman Fitzpatrick:
You seem to have left out several important subjects this week in your weekly newsletter. I understand though. It is difficult to publicly acknowledge past poor votes and misjudgments. But if you don’t come to terms with past mistakes, how can you ever hope to atone for them and even dream of improving your poor judgment?
You failed to mention that the man you voted for in 2020 to lead our country had a bit of a problem this week in the criminal justice system. The “successful businessman” who bankrupted his casino business and defrauded students in his “university” seems to have run his Trump Organization in a way to defraud the American people of its fair share of tax revenue. His CFO and his entire organization were indicted on 15 counts of criminality. So, would you still vote for this man to be the role model for the American people? Don’t you think you should apologize to your constituents for your poor judgment in voting for this man in the 2020 presidential election? Or would you still support this man, who has surrounded himself with so many convicted criminals, but is still beloved by so many leaders and voters in your Republican Party? Including you?
You also failed to mention your incredibly poor vote this week where you refused to vote for an investigation into the causes of the January 6, 2021 insurrection which the man you voted for in the 2020 presidential election helped to incite. Only two Republicans in the House (which was attacked so viciously that day, leading to the death and injury of valiant Capitol police officers) decided to vote for an investigation and put Country over Party. After your Republican Party in the Senate rejected a bipartisan commission, you whined that you would not vote for a Democratic Party led House investigation because it would be “partisan.” So because your Party did not deliver a bipartisan commission, you prefer to have no investigation at all into that horrific attack on our Capitol building and our democracy. Evidently you care more about a futile absurd adherence to your concept of bipartisanship than our Capitol, our democracy, and our Constitution. An apology is definitely in order for your poor vote here this week. Our democracy was attacked and you want to do nothing? Really?
You also failed to mention the incredibly great job the Biden administration is doing in restoring the American economy and fighting the COVID pandemic. Much of this success is due to the American Rescue Plan Act which you voted against with your Republican herd. Ever since a competent compassionate administration was installed in January, over 3 million jobs have been filled and almost 70% of Americans have been vaccinated. (Again, a Republican administration has left the country in a steaming mess which a Democratic administration was saddled with cleaning up.) On Friday the Labor Department reported that over 850,000 jobs were created in June, no thanks to your poor vote on the American Rescue Plan Act. Sadly, the states which voted for your poor choice in the 2020 presidential election have the lowest vaccination rates leading to needless sickness and deaths in their states. The man you voted for in the 2020 presidential election, if you remember, had totally mismanaged the deadly pandemic, politicizing it for perceived political gain with the result that his followers refused to social distance and wear masks and now refuse to get vaccinated. Yes, another apology from you is in order.
And your Party continues to do nothing to help the American people. Your Party delays and dithers on President Biden’s bold wonderful infrastructure plan, trying to whittle it down as you ignore critical new and old infrastructure needs for our people. You personally whine that it is not fair that the Democrats can accomplish their human infrastructure plan, which will help working families, through the budget reconciliation process. Yet you and your Republican Party had no problem in 2017 using the budget reconciliation process to shovel money to the rich in your tax scam for the rich bill. What has the Republican Party done for working American families? Have they raised the minimum wage? Have they helped expand health care to more American families at reduced costs? Have they encouraged their red states to expand Medicaid? Have they done anything to reduce income inequality while they turn a blind eye to their corporate donors not paying their fair share of taxes?
No. They do nothing but obstruct. But wait, there is one thing they are good at doing. Your Party is good at passing voter suppression bills and packing the Supreme Court with conservatives who this week upheld discriminatory voting laws in Arizona. This will make it easier for Republicans to pass similar racist voter discrimination laws across the country. You failed as well to speak out against this week’s poor decision made by Supreme Court judges appointed by Republican presidents that will result in voter suppression in poor and Black communities. Or do you agree with and are delighted by their racist impact as long as it helps Republicans get elected?
But yes, this week you did write a letter to the Postmaster General Louis DeJoy complaining about the bad postal service under his tenure. I can’t even begin to comment on the irony and hypocrisy of your stamped letter to him, for your entire stunt here is truly outrageous. Again, the man you voted for in the 2020 presidential election appointed Mr. DeJoy to do precisely what your stamped letter complains about. So now you have something else to apologize about.
When Trump was president, I, at the end of almost every week, after yet another cringeworthy series of lies and egregious acts, used to feel at least that the next week could not increase the shame and embarrassment to our country. But sadly, he always exceeded my expectations and managed to accomplish even cruder and more disgusting statements and acts in the following weeks. I am sorry to see you are following in his footsteps: each week you seem to embarrass yourself and your country even more.