Name: Senator Mike Lee: 'The Devil Himself' Wrote H.R. 1, the For the People Act
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Senator Mike Lee: 'The Devil Himself' Wrote H.R. 1, the For the People Act

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The American Rescue Plan, a pandemic-relief package that will get a final vote Wednesday in the House of Representatives, has the support of 75 percent of Americans according to . That includes 59 percent of Republicans. And yet Senate Republicans unanimously opposed it. Some House Republicans, led by the extremely normal Marjorie Taylor Greene, at 9:24 a.m. Wednesday to avoid a vote on it. A sweeping majority of her Republican colleagues—people collecting a salary from taxpayers—joined her in trying to take the day off. At first glance, this seems like incredibly self-destructive behavior for members of a political party that seek to get more votes than their opponents in future elections. But that takeaway rests on a flawed assumption: that Republicans are interested in getting a majority of eligible voters' support.They are not, really. Rather than adopt a policy platform that might appeal to the majority, they are more interested in trying to limit who can vote in the hope they can reshape the electorate into something they can win. Republican state legislatures are on the warpath right now, waging an in Iowa, Georgia, Arizona, Montana, Missouri, Florida, Texas, and beyond. This is decades of conservative movement politics supercharged by Trumpian apocalypto. Republicans and various luminaries in the right-wing infotainment fever swamps have for years yelled about the () scourge of voter fraud to justify voter-suppression policies that disproportionately impact constituencies that tend to vote for Democrats. But in the age of Trump, this has been ratcheted up to 16, as has been seamlessly adapted to justify what an "avalanche of voter suppression" unseen "since Jim Crow."Republicans now believe themselves so dependent on voter suppression in order to compete in elections that you get this kind of thing from Senator Mike Lee of Utah.This content is imported from twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) on H.R. 1, For the People Act, which makes it easier for everyone to register and vote:"Everything about this bill is rotten to the core. This is a bill as if written in hell by the devil himself." — The Recount (@therecount) It's fantastic to imagine The Devil Himself going out of His way to enact same-day voter registration. The juxtaposition of Lee's warnings of some kind of Biblical apocalypse that would be ushered in by , with what the graphic on the right says the Act would actually do, is a pretty neat illustration of the Republican Party's slackening grasp on reality. If we have independent commissions draw House districts instead of allowing political operatives to to the point that politicians are picking their voters rather than vice versa, we are somehow hurtling towards Sodom. If we attempt to get the out of politics, we are climbing into bed with Lucifer. These people really need to get a grip, particularly because—at least with respect to the voter suppression— as it once was that this stuff won't hurt Republican turnout, too. The gerrymandering, however, could deliver Republicans the House, and they like their campaign money big and secret, so you can see why after himself. We are well beyond reason now, as one of our two major political parties has acclimated itself to the notion that it is in an existential struggle for The America You Know and Love, which will be hopelessly destroyed if we expand the social-safety net or develop a humane system of immigration. But even those more substantive issues have taken a back seat these days, as we're treated to day after day of and . (That's MR. Potato Head, you demonspawn!) Apparently, the plan is to rot everyone's brains with the least nutritious culture-war slop available until it comes time to vote, at which point some people might forget, or be discouraged, or get to the polling place and learn they've been purged by their local legislature. This is what democracy looks like!Incidentally, the main architect of H.R. 1 was not The Devil (D-Hell) but John Sarbanes (D-Maryland). in case you're interested in the answers to questions such as "what's actually in the bill?"Correction: Sarbanes represents Maryland in the House, not Virginia. We regret the error. The superiority to Hell remains.Jack Holmes is a senior staff writer at Esquire, where he covers politics and sports. He also hosts Useful Context, a video series.This content is imported from OpenWeb. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.&nbsp;Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowAdvertisement - Continue Reading Below

The American Rescue Plan, a pandemic-relief package that will get a final vote Wednesday in the House of Representatives, has the support of 75 percent of Americans according to . That includes 59 percent of Republicans. And yet Senate Republicans unanimously opposed it. Some House Republicans, led by the extremely normal Marjorie Taylor Greene, at 9:24 a.m. Wednesday to avoid a vote on it. A sweeping majority of her Republican colleagues—people collecting a salary from taxpayers—joined her in trying to take the day off. At first glance, this seems like incredibly self-destructive behavior...

Senator Mike Lee: 'The Devil Himself' Wrote H.R. 1, the For the People Act

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