Remember, as you listen to former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05), that this isn’t exactly a flaming liberal or reflexive Trump hater. To the contrary, when Riggleman was in Congress, he voted 91.9% of the time with Trump. And yet today, Riggleman is clearer and more direct about the threats posed by Trump, Musk, etc. than the vast majority of Democrats – let alone Republicans, who have barely uttered a peep as Trump/Musk have trampled the authority of Congress, most supposed conservative principles, our alliances and international reputation, etc.
Anyway, with that in mind, check out the following thoughts by Rep. Riggleman on Democrats’ “decorum” – and Al Green’s protest – at Trump’s disgraceful, lie-filled State of the Union speech the other night.
“You know, first of all, I know Al Green and he’s a kind and decent man. You know, regardless if I was on the other side of the aisle with Al, he always treated me with such respect. It was hard to see that happen to Al. I want to say that first. And Al, Denver is here if you need to give me a call.
And the second thing, too, when you’re talking about Medicaid, you know, Al is sort of correct. You know, a lot of times in the January 6th committee, we were looking at the primary actors. It was the secondary actors that were causing most of the problem, and they didn’t practice operational security. And when you look at Elon Musk for DOGE and what Al Green is talking about, who is actually supposed to be the DOGE leader is Amy Gleason, who worked for Russell Street Ventures, and Brad Davis, which is supposedly a consultancy that helps with rural health care. She also had her own company and what’s what Al is talking about. And maybe, you know, you need analysts to look at this in the media is who is actually running DOGE. What are the cuts are they making, and why do they think there’s a mandate to cut Medicaid? And who is that actually benefiting? I think we have to follow the money thing here.
So I think what Al was saying was correct. What I would have liked to have seen, though, is more Democrats stand up for him. You know, most of them are sitting down looking slack jawed. I think they needed to stand up, applaud, or maybe go to the back with him or leave with him. That’s actually showing something. I don’t think waving signs is. So listen, I was there when Rush Limbaugh was given the medal of freedom. So I know crazy speeches of Donald Trump. This is like nothing I’ve ever seen with the hyperbole. But I also think there needs to be a lot of action, you know, about individuals looking at DOGE, looking at Medicaid, and the people that are actually doing the work – the second-tier people that are doing the work, what are they actually doing? And I hope the media takes a good look at that also…”
So…why can’t Democrats speak like this, act more assertively, etc? Why are they being so timid in confronting the grave threat to our constitution, the rule of law, Congress’ authority as a (theoretically, at least!) co-equal branch of government, etc? Do they really think that by greeting Trump at the White House (as President Biden did, bizarrely), attending Trump’s inauguration (even more bizarre!), talking about how they want him to succeed (ditto!), etc., they’re going to actually cause Trump to change course – or to result in success in some other way? Because…nope, that ain’t gonna happen!
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