Republicans lie, quite a lot, and about everything. Their lies are an active threat to our democracy, like denying that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, and denying that a win by a Democratic candidate is legitimate. Their lies are stupid, like flashing a toy police badge during a televised debate.
Their lies are also bizarre, like this doozy from Rep. María Elvira Salazar. During an interview with the Fox News propaganda network this week, the Florida Republican and former reporter falsely claimed that she was “one of the founders of Spanish television, Univision and Telemundo.” But Univision was founded in September 1962, when Salazar was not quite 1 year old. Wow, talk about child prodigy. Telemundo, meanwhile, had already been around for several years before Salazar was born.
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“While my campaign against María Elvira has been contentious, I’ve always made it a point to put politics aside to give credit where credit is due,” Democratic challenger Annette Taddeo poked in a statement. Taddeo, a member of Florida’s state Senate since 2017, ribbed that “having such an impact on the media landscape before even taking her first steps is a tremendous accomplishment that everyone, regardless of political affiliation, should be able to recognize and applaud.”
But seriously folks, while we can laugh at the ridiculousness of Salazar’s lie, she’s joined her fellow Republicans in promoting the most threatening lie of our time, the Big Lie, which threatens to rip up our democracy by the roots. While Salazar didn’t vote to certify the 2020 election because she was ill due to COVID-19, she has pushed lies about voter fraud.
“On Jan. 11, while appearing as a guest on Ninoska Pérez’s daily show, Salazar amplified a false claim about the integrity of the vote in one of the election’s most closely contested states: Pennsylvania,” the Miami Herald reported in June 2021. ‘How is it possible that in Pennsylvania there are 200,000 more votes on Election Day than there were [voters] in the electoral rolls? That’s not possible,’ she said.” Salazar’s lies have earned her a hashtag on Twitter by the Taddeo campaign: #MariaMentirosa, or, Maria the liar. These sort of lies have continued to plague platforms like YouTube, which have done a crappy job of removing Spanish-language misinformation.
In a resounding endorsement, the Miami Herald this week threw its weight behind Taddeo, calling the race “one of the most watched in the nation, one that might help decide which party controls Congress.” The editorial board said it was supporting Taddeo not just because she’s been “effective” and “worked behind the scenes,” but because she’s ready to defend our democratic values while Salazar is not.
“Salazar initially supported the creation of a committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks,” the Miami Herald said. “But she voted against the committee in its final form when it passed in June 2021 along a mostly party-line vote. She called it a ‘partisan show.’ She also voted against impeaching Trump for his role in inciting the deadly attack on the Capitol.” The editorial board notes the shocking hearings many of us have witnessed since then, which have culminated in a unanimous vote to subpoena the insurrectionist former president.
So, the editorial board sought to give her a chance to say if she at all regretted all of the above. But while Salazar’s campaign was initially communicative, the editorial board said it just stopped cold. That says everything. Like Taddeo told the outlet this past summer, “if you’re going to want to defend democracy 90 miles away, or in Nicaragua, Venezuela and now, apparently, Colombia, you need to defend democracy right here.”
Salazar has also done nothing to defend families seeking refuge in the U.S. When asked about Ron DeSantis’ cruel stunt using children and adults as human props, Salazar deflected and instead brought up the president. Salazar has also touted her own immigration bill, titled the Dignity Act. But it’s a dead end that sets up a ridiculous standard that ensures immigrants can never apply for relief. Not that her leader, Kevin McCarthy, will ever give her a vote on it. He’s already promised a deportation platform.
We cannot let Trump-endorsed election deniers to gain the power to administer elections. Can you chip in $1 to each of these Daily Kos-endorsed Democrats for secretary of state?
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On this week's episode of The Downballot we get medieval on the traditional media for its appalling display of ableism in the wake of John Fetterman's recent NBC interview; recap the absolutely wild goings-on in Los Angeles, where City Council President Nury Martinez just resigned after a racist tirade was caught on tape; dive into the unexpectedly close race for governor in Oklahoma; and highlight a brand-new database from Daily Kos Elections showing how media markets and congressional districts overlap.
