On this date in both 2020, as well 2021, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing the sitting U.S. House Representative from Missouri’s 8th District, Jason Smith, who was first elected to Congress back in 2012 after serving eight years as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives. Our interest in profiling Rep. Smith began as far back as 2016, when during a sit-in led by the legendary Congressman John Lewis where Democrats sat on the House floor because Republicans were stubborn enough on gun laws to hold up legislation that would have prevented those on the terror watch list from buying guns. Smith deemed that “ridiculous”, and claiming they were “politicizing a very horrible tragedy” in the Pulse massacre to stage their protest.
It was in early 2019, though, once his party became the minority in the House that we really saw who Jason Smith is. Our country was weeks into the longest government shutdown in its history, engineered by Smith and the GOP. And as House Democrats began working to undo the mess Smith deliberately created, he screamed, “Go back to Puerto Rico!” at California Congressman Tony Cardenas. Smith’s Chief of Staff claimed the comment was directed at Democrats who were “vacationing in Puerto Rico” the prior week, when the reality is, they were there still assessing the island’s recovery almost two years after Hurricane Maria struck and the Trump administration’s lack of a response.
By the end of that year, Smith was criticizing Democrats’ attempts to impeach Donald Trump for soliciting Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election, calling it a “circus”:
”I continue to stand with President Trump and defend him against these outrageous attacks from the liberal mob majority that consistently puts politics before people. This impeachment circus should have never been started; it has been a complete disgrace to our country and has caused complete chaos in government. I look forward to seeing the President acquitted on both charges by the United States Senate in a timely manner so we can get back to addressing the issues that face the American people.”
If the above quote wasn’t a clear indicator that Jason Smith is completely in the tank for Donald Trump, in spite of his rampant corruption and incompetence, in March of 2020, as Trump was ignoring the threat of Covid-19 as it began spreading throughout the United States, Smith lectured Democrats that Trump “deserved more praise” because of what Trump was doing to protect American farmers from China (when Trump’s policies were sending more farmers into bankruptcy and there was a statistical rise in farmer suicides).
“China has exploited our farmers and workers again and again and again. Decades have gone by with no change. And now, when President Trump decides to fight back? Just bickering and politics from Democrats. Disgraceful.”
If only it were that he had developed into a partisan cheap-shot artist, and not that he also voted against the interests of the American people as a legislator:
- December 18th, 2019: Smith ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
- May 15th, 2020: Smith votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- December 10th, 2020: Smith signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
- January 6th, 2021: Jason Smith votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
- January 13th, 2021: Rep. Smith votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
- February 4th, 2021: Jason Smith votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
- February 25th, 2021: Smith votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Smith votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: Jason Smith votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Smith votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Smith votes 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 19th, 2021: Jason Smith votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
- November 5th, 2021: Jason Smith votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
- March 31st, 2022: Smith votes against HR 6833, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would limit the cost that drug companies could list insulin at to $35 and make sure no diabetic was priced out of surviving their condition. Jason Smith would rather they be gouged by pharmaceutical giants and/or die.
- May 18th, 2022: Jason Smith is one of 192 Republicans who vote against HR 7790, to create supplemental funding for infant formula (while claiming to be pro-life).
- May 18th, 2022: Rep. Smith votes against HR 350, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, because these days, a plank of the Republican Party is ostensibly domestic terror.
- May 19th, 2022: Smith votes against HR 7688, a bill which would help prevent gas companies from gouging customers on prices.
- July 15th, 2022: Jason Smith votes against House Amendment 262, which would require the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Secretary of Defense to publish a report on the infiltration of American law enforcement by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, offer measures to be taken to remove them from their ranks, and prevent further infiltration by others.
- July 13th, 2022: Smith votes against the Honoring Our PACT Act, to provide healthcare to veterans affected by toxic burn pits while serving in the War on Terror that leave them more susceptible to forms of cancer.
- July 19th, 2022: Rep. Smith is one of 157 Republicans who vote against the “Respect for Marriage Act”, which would codify same sex marriage into law nationally.
- July 21st, 2022: Smith is one of 195 Republicans who vote against the Right to Contraception Act, which codified the right of Americans to have access to birth control.
Jason Smith won re-election in 2020 with 77% of the vote, and took time out during this term in office to show how he doesn’t understand how the debt ceiling works on social media, or that failing to raise it would cripple not just the American economy, but the global economy. It’s just not possible that anyone could be this rock stupid and be able to put their shoes on everyday, he knows he’s lying when he says things like the Inflation Reduction Act is just “the Inflation Act” and that it’s somehow “welfare for the wealthy” what it literally is paid for with higher taxes upon the wealthiest Americans. Or how he pushed back against its original form, Build Back Better, by claiming it provided a tax break for the 1%, when that’s precisely the opposite of how that would play out.
It’s really that he’s just the sort of legislative nihilist that makes him easily identifiable as a modern Republican…. His only strategy is to just outright lie about reality.
We’re pretty sure he’s going to spend the next twelve weeks running away from his Democratic opponent, Randi McCallian, who can rather easily point out how he’s only protecting his constitutents if they live on Bizarro World.
One Year Ago, August 21st, 2021: Jason Smith (MO)… 2021 Update
Two Years Ago, August 21st, 2020: Jason Smith (MO)… Original Profile
Three Years Ago, August 21st, 2019: Jim Renacci (OH)
Four Years Ago, August 21st, 2018: Nathan Deal (GA)… 2018 Update
Five Years Ago, August 21st, 2017: Nathan Deal (GA)… 2017 Update
Six Years Ago, August 21st, 2016: Nathan Deal (GA)… 2016 Update
Seven Years Ago, August 21st, 2015: Nathan Deal (GA)…2015 Update
Eight Years Ago, August 21st, 2014: Nathan Deal (GA)…Original Profile