Levin Report: Minnesota Republican Votes Against Free School Lunches Because “Hunger Is a Relative Term” And He Had A Cereal Bar For Breakfast

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If there’s one word that sums up the modern Republican Party, it’s “cruelty.” Want to see that cruelty neatly encapsulated in less than 47 seconds? Minnesota state senator Steve Drazkowski has got a treat for you.

It’s hard to decide which part of Drazkowski’s little speech is the most f–ked up. Obviously, the stand-out was the idea that, because he has supposedly never personally met someone in Minnesota who does not have enough food to eat, they must not exist. (Not surprisingly, he’s extremely wrong.) But equally disturbing was his attempt at a joke, in which he declared: “Hunger is a relative term…I had a cereal bar for breakfast, I guess I’m ‘hungry’ now.” And, there’s the suggestion that if someone isn’t literally shriveling up and dying, they don’t meet his definition of “hungry.” The phrase “Christ, what an asshole” comes to mind.

Luckily for kids in Minnesota, the bill, which provides free breakfast and lunch to all school children in the state, passed the state Senate on Tuesday by a vote of 38-26; it now goes back to the House and, should it pass, will head to Governor Tim Walz’s desk. But it’s important to remember that terrible people like Drazkowski wanted it to fail, and that lawmakers like him are a feature, not a bug, of the GOP.

Trump, under criminal investigation for January 6, says it was all Mike Pence’s fault

Over the weekend, Mike Pence declared that his former boss had been “wrong” to demand he overturn the results of the 2020 election and that “history will hold Donald Trump accountable.” While this might have sounded like a serious rebuke of the ex-president, in reality, it was merely the latest in a long line of remarks from the former VP that still manage to effectively let Trump off the hook for inciting a bloody insurrection that left multiple people dead. For one thing, Trump should clearly be judged for January 6 now, not by a history book in five or 10 years. For another, Pence has done everything in his power to ensure the ex-president evades any and all responsibility for the attack on the Capitol, first by refusing to speak to the January 6 committee and later by trying his hardest to dodge a subpoena from the special counsel criminally investigating Trump. Also? He can’t even bring himself to say he wouldn’t vote for the guy in 2024, presumably because, against all odds, he would!

Given all this, you might think Trump would have let Pence’s most recent remarks slide. But obviously, that’s not how the former guy rolls. Instead, he chose to respond to the former VP’s weekend comments by arguing that January 6 was actually Mike Pence‘s fault.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump insisted: “Had [Pence] sent the votes back to the legislatures, they wouldn’t have had a problem with Jan. 6, so in many ways, you can blame him for Jan. 6. Had he sent them back to Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, the states, I believe, number one, you would have had a different outcome. But I also believe you wouldn’t have had ‘Jan. 6’ as we call it.”

This is obviously an insane line of logic, but don’t take our word for it—even the gang at Fox News couldn’t quite believe their ears.

During the same interview, aboard his plane en route to Iowa, Trump reportedly opined that Pence said what he said over the weekend due to poor 2024 polling numbers. “I guess he figured that being nice is not working,” Trump said. “But, you know, he’s out there campaigning. And he’s trying very hard. And he’s a nice man, I’ve known him, I had a very good relationship until the end.”

Of course, Monday wasn’t the first time Trump had something completely absurd to say re: Pence‘s role in January 6. Back in November 2021, he said that his former VP deserved chants calling for his hanging.

And Pence still does his bidding.

George Santos thinks there are a large number of people who would vote for him for a second time

Earlier this month, the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into Congressman George Santos, a probe that will look into everything from his long list of biographical lies to possible campaign finance violations to an allegation of sexual misconduct that he denies. While it remains to be seen whether the freshman representative will be booted from Congress, or punished in some other way, one thing that does seem clear is that he is most likely not getting a second term, given that a comical number of his constituents want him to resign. On the other hand, at least one person seems to believe the guy’s got a shot.

Obviously, that person is himself George Santos, who on Tuesday filed paperwork to formally declare his 2024 candidacy. Asked last week by CNN if he’d planned to go run again, the New York Republican responded, “Maybe.” Last month, the outlet reported that “after previously signaling to Republicans he wouldn’t seek reelection,” Santos had been telling people he was considering a second term and that he would “ultimately be cleared of all wrongdoing.” In addition to the House ethics probe, the congressman is also reportedly under investigation by, among others, the New York attorney general’s office, the Nassau district attorney’s office, the Queens district attorney’s office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI is reportedly looking into allegations that Santos ghosted a homeless veteran after raising thousands of dollars intended to pay for a life-saving surgery for the man’s service dog, a story Santos has insisted is “fake.”

Speaking of fakes, we assume that, in addition to the above, the House panel will be looking at Santos’s false claims that:

– His grandparents fled Hitler;

– His mother was in the South Tower on 9/11;

– Four of his employees died in the Pulse nightclub shooting;

– He worked at Goldman Sachs;

– He was a Broadway producer.

We’re guessing they’ll also want to find out more about the charges against him in Brazil—which center on a crime that he initially admitted to before claiming to have never broken the law—as well as ones against him in a case involving Amish dog breeders. (Those charges were later dropped, but an attorney who helped him fight the charges has said she no longer buys his story.) Oh, and the questions surrounding the $705,000 he personally loaned his 2022 campaign, despite, in 2020, disclosing that he made $55,000 and had no significant assets. (In seemingly related news, in the Tuesday filing declaring his candidacy, Santos said, per CNN, “that he does not anticipate expending his personal funds on a reelection bid.”) And the whole alleged assassination attempt.

Speaking to Newsday on Tuesday, Nassau County Republican Party chairman Joseph Cairo said Santos “will not receive the Nassau GOP’s endorsement for reelection in 2024,” adding: “If he decides to run, we will oppose and beat him.”

Trump is running for president so people can say “insane asylum” again

Elsewhere!

US Is Said to Open Investigation Into Silicon Valley Bank Collapse (NYT)

Joe Biden Issues Executive Order to Strengthen Background Checks for Guns (NYT)

Ron DeSantis Calls Russia’s War in Ukraine a “Territorial Dispute” (VF)

5 States Are Considering Bills That Would Classify Abortion as Homicide (Jezebel)

The GOP’s Hunter Biden Obsession Is Reaching New Heights of Hypocrisy (VF)

Matt Gaetz’s New Staffer Identifies as a “Raging Misogynist” (TDB)

Anti-LGBTQ+ Republican Is Really Supportive of a Young Man’s Nudes (Intelligencer)

Trump lashes out at DeSantis, says he regrets his endorsement of him (Politico)

A Giant Blob of Seaweed is Heading to Florida (NYT)

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