Many Republicans have undergone an unfortunate metamorphosis since then Donald Trump took over the party – Senator Lindsey Graham, I’m looking in your direction – but few have changed more than the chairman of the House Republican Conference Elise Stefanik.
In the not-too-distant past, the New York Republican encouraged voters to view her as one of the “most bipartisan” members of Congress, and in 2017, when nearly all Republican lawmakers backed Trump’s proposed tax breaks for the rich and big companies. , Stefanik voted against them.
That didn’t last long. As regular readers know, Stefanik ultimately came to the conclusion that to advance in Republican politics, she would have to put aside her principles and embrace partisan nonsense. By 2020, the congresswoman had taken on a whole new persona as a hardliner and Trump loyalist, and after the 2020 race, Stefanik joined the radicals and urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the election results she didn’t like. Weeks later, she also voted against certifying the election results.
The dramatic shift appears to have put her on the short list of Trump’s potential running mates — prompting her to make some unfortunate moves in hopes of making an impression at Mar-a-Lago.
The problem for Stefanik, however, is that the recent past still exists, whether she wants to acknowledge it or not. Politico reported on the Republican leader’s appearance on Fox News this weekend.
The host referenced this 2022 New York Times article, which highlighted Stefanik’s previous criticism of Trump, before the congressman’s sharp turn to the right. The guest was not happy with it.
“It’s a shame that you quote the New York Times with nameless and faceless people,” Stefanik said, adding that she rejects “false slander.”
Yes! Elise Stefanik gets angry at Fox News Sunday’s Shannon Bream when Bream asks her about calling Trump a “whack job” and “insulting to women” during the 2016 cycle: “Well Shannon, it’s a shame that you’re the New York Times would quote as nameless, faceless…”
“They are… pic.twitter.com/1tf3s6ebOy
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 19, 2024
The problem is: the Times it didn’t relying on nameless and faceless people. On the contrary, the newspaper received a report in which Stefanik essentially called the former president a “whack job.”
It is also true that Stefanik publicly rejected Trump’s election conspiracy theories in 2016. This followed Stefanik also publicly saying she believed Trump has “offended women.”
These are not behind-the-scenes quotes from anonymous sources. Rather, this is just the Republican congressman’s record. After all, we’re talking about a New York Republican who in 2016 was reluctant to even say Trump’s name out loud for fear that voters would see her as a Trump ally.
If Stefanik wants to argue that she was wrong about the former president, she can explain why she changed her mind. But the idea that the chairman of the House Republican Conference’s record from eight years ago is somehow off limits is ridiculous.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
