I wrote the other day about how Virginia Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper), a candidate for the VA GOP nomination for US Senate this year, is not the “establishment” – let alone “moderate” (!) – Republican that a few misguided people apparently seem to think he is. Today, with his speech on the House of Delegates floor waxing on and on about how much – and in so many different ways – he loooooved “President” Trump’s State of the Union speech last night, we have strong evidence that not only is Freitas no “moderate,” he also has absolutely no clue about economics, foreign policy, or pretty much anything else that might qualify him to represent Virginia in the U.S. Senate. Check out the speech, below, after which I will fact check it in red/bold.
First, Del. Freitas demonstrated that he possesses literally ZERO understanding of economics. Check out this right-wing blather and revisionist history (my fact checks in red/bold).
[Trump] talked about an economy that is finally recovering [In reality, the economy has been recovering since 2009, after President Obama and the Democratic Congress – zero thanks to Republicans – rescued it from the free fall/collapse Bush, Cheney et al. left it in], not
because the government is attempting to micromanage or relentlessly tinker with it, but because we finally removed tax burdens [In fact, the first significant piece of economic/tax legislation passed by this Congress occurred at the very end of 2017, has only been in effect a few weeks, and had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the state of the economy since Trump took office in January 2017] and regulatory burdens which made it cheaper to do business 8,000 miles away than it did to run and expand businesses right here in the United States [This is just right-wing ideological b.s., repeated by Republicans constantly but with absolutely zero basis in truth]. By removing those burdens and putting faith back in the American people, not only are we seeing our own businesses expand, but we’re seeing foreign companies that want to expand of the United States [Any factual evidence that this is happening? if so, I haven’t seen it] as a result, to the benefit not just of those companies but to their employees, to consumers, to all Americans.
So…yeah, Freitas knows nothing about economics. Strike 1.
Second, Del. Freitas claims – laughably – that Trump supposedly…
…expressed a willingness to compromise on an issue what is near and dear to his administration and near and dear during the campaign — and that’s on DACA [Wait, WTF?!? In fact, as House Democratic Leader David Toscano pointed out after Freitas’ ode to Trump’s greatness — see that video below, TRUMP HIMSELF was the one who announced he was killing DACA, causing the very problem Freitas is bizarrely giving him credit for! As for compromise, Trump has been all over the place, but in general he’s demanded harsh measures such as “the wall” and other garbage in exchange for doing what he should have done in the first place – left protections for DREAMers in place! And I haven’t even mentioned the white supremacists’ favorite line in Trump’s speech…ugh.]. But what does he require? He requires nothing more than what Republicans required in the 80s when there was an amnesty deal signed at that point. And that is that we have a constitutional obligation to secure our borders [In fact, illegal immigration has been at historically low levels for years now; again, this is just a right-wing talking point]. We have an obligation as a nation to protect American citizens whether they were born here or whether they’re immigrants…
Blah f’ing blah.
Third, Del. Freitas blathered about all the supposedly wonderful things Trump’s doing regarding the opioid crisis (e.g., “instead of putting an emphasis on incarceration, you put an emphasis on treatment”).
Uhhh….nope. In fact, Trump has done virtually nothing to combat the opioid epidemic. Massive #FAIL
Fourth, on national defense, Del. Freitas claims that Trump supposedly…
…sent a very strong message to enemies of the United States around the world that they will not be confronted with equivocation with fear with compromise if you are an enemy of
the United States [to the contrary, Trump’s foreign policy is a mess, alienating our closest allies in NATO, the Far East, etc., while emboldening our adversaries like Russia and China].
Clearly, Freitas isn’t qualified to be in the U.S. Senate based on his lack of knowledge about foreign policy and national security policy.
Finally, check out Del. Freitas’ final load of…nonsense, starting with how Trump “highlighted everyday American citizens” not “as a white American or a black American or brown American or a female American — he held him up as Americans.” [Yeah, he’s extolling a man who has been a misogynist/sexual predator and who has expressed racist views his entire adult life, including MANY during his campaign for president, as being a unifying figure who isn’t in the least bit focused on race, gender, etc. Incredible]
Freitas concluded his 4 1/2-minute spew as follows:
If you’re wondering why there are so many people that every once in a while [Uh, more like every day, often multiple times a day not “every once in a while!”] when Donald Trump says something that probably makes everybody cringe a little bit [No “probably” or “a little bit” about it; Trump is unequivocally a disgrace to America and to humanity] , if you’re wondering why sometimes a pass is given for that, it’s because there’s absolutely no doubt that this president loves this country [There’s actually a great deal of question about that, given his corruption, apparent love for Vladimir Putin and despots around the world, disrespect for our constitution and institutions – even rule of law itself] and loves its people…that ultimately at the end of the day the thing that unifies us as a people is based on that understanding that we’re a nation that believes in individual liberty in equality before the law [Trump clearly doesn’t believe any of that] and the ability to pursue happiness in accordance with your definition of it provided you don’t infringe on the rights of someone else to do the exact same thing [That certainly isn’t the philosophy of broad swaths of today’s Republican Party, including Vice President Pence], that should be a philosophy that we can all get behind and I thank the president for articulating it yesterday [Except that the “president” did NOT articulate any of that yesterday – minor detail].
In sum, that speech by Del. Nick Freitas was a mess, but also revealing in one way: the guy isn’t qualified to be in the House of Delegates, let alone in the U.S. Senate!
P.S. Check out Del. Toscano’s excellent speech below, in which he uses things like – wait for it – facts, logic, and reason. I know, what a concept!
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