It had to be a tough week for Rep. John Rutherford, as it was for all self-proclaimed “staunch pro-lifers”. There was a Supreme Court Decision that he for sure had some thoughts about, but it’s tough to claim pro-life cred when the biggest story in the news is that Russians are paying bounties for the lives of American Armed Service members in Afghanistan, and the President refuses to comment or essentially care. Also, being on the Host Committee for the coming RNC Klandemic in August is not something anyone really wants to talk about, right?
So the two-term Republican Incumbent decided to change up his communications strategy ahead of the Fourth of July break. Responding on Twitter to a fairly bland article in the New York Times about Mount Rushmore having been built on land that belonged by treaty to the Lakota Sioux Nation, and sculpted by a man with known KKK ties, Rep. Rutherford decided to lecture the New York Times on history and race theory.
To say that he got dragged in real-time would be a huge understatement. Folks immediately fact-checked him and pointed out that:
a). The New York Times is named after the City and State of New York.
b). New York as a name for the City replaced New Amsterdam and referred to the town of York in England, not one particular Duke of York, of which there have been many, the current being Randy Andy. Some folks helpfully provided maps.
c). The Island of Manhattan was actually purchased (though certainly not in a fair deal) from the Lenape/Delaware people, who likely thought it was an agreement to share the land, not be run off of it. So, not a word of his original tweet was factual.
d). His own offices are also on stolen land. Whether this referred to his office on the Hill or in his District, probably both are true.
Other themes were glee that he had a real opponent in Democrat Donna Deegan, a Jacksonville native, 25-year on-air news anchor and 3X breast cancer survivor, and general humiliation that this is our Congressman. Here’s a favorite take of the 280 responses:
The Congressman replied once, and then pretty much threw in the towel.
But not to be deterred, a couple of days later, he took his buddy Rep. Jim Jordan (R, Ohio) on a stroll, along with staff and photographers, to “personally thank the U.S. Park Police for their work protecting our citizens during this difficult crisis, allowing them to peacefully protest” Nope, that wasn’t the point of the visit. I’ll let him tell it:
That’s Jordan, bottom left, no jacket, no mask, no sense whatsoever. The comments started up again pretty quickly asking if these were the specific officers who tear-gassed Lafayette Square to make way for a Presidential Photo Opp? Also, why was only one officer and neither Congressman masked? Why were they fist-bumping and standing generally way too close to one another, other than for purposes of the photos? This was a fun one:
And maybe the best take of all
He took a couple of days off to do heaven knows what over the long weekend, but on the 4th, he or someone on his staff couldn’t resist using the latest Republican talking point—that the country is being overrun by “Marxists” to tweet this little doozy from his somewhat jauntier campaign account:
One of the comments wondered whether there should be random drug testing for Members of Congress? The rest of the reaction was overwhelmingly supportive of Donna, and dismissive of this kind of drivel. Donna had a great rejoinder that evening when she was asked for 3 Truths and 6 Tags, a thing that was making the rounds:
The holiday ended with folks on the “First Coast” happy to have a choice on November 3.