Former President Donald Trump: He’s our nominee for 2021 Grifter of the Year. He most needs our support to join GA. He’s a double grifter. He won’t tell the truth about losing the 2020 Presidential election and he won’t acknowledge that he didn’t win the 2020 election. He promotes the fantasy that if Secretaries of State across the nation would only count votes correctly in his favor, he would be the winner. But after numerous recounts, Secretaries of State have held to their results — the President lost!
Sen. Joseph (the other Joe) Manchin: He wasn’t elected President of the United States, but his machinations on the infrastructure bill and Build Back Better make him seem like he’s President. Manchin told the public that he’s against Build Back Better for budget deficit and inflation reasons. He told fellow Senators he’s against the bill because poor people will spend the Child Tax Credit on drugs and use sick leave to go hunting. Meanwhile, he floats his cabin cruiser boat, Almost Heaven. He’s sticking his finger in the eyes of West Virginians, most of whom can’t afford a one-person canoe.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: She’s known among her admirers as a “force of nature” for progressive policy. Lately, she’ll also be known as a conflict-of-interest aficionado. Her grift: she says she has the interest of the people always in front of her while she argues for US legislators to play the stock market. It’s a free country and we have free markets, she says, so why should any of us worry that legislators have insider info?
President Joseph (Joe) Biden: President Joe Biden’s fatuous belief that he could persuade Manchin to vote for Build Back Better puts him in GA as a truth denier. Biden, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (see above) and Senate President Chuck Schumer, agreed to separate the infrastructure bill from Build Back Better to appease Manchin. Manchin repaid the favor by telling the President and Democrats that he won’t vote for the BBB bill. He tattooed ‘sucker’ on Biden’s forehead.
Fox News People: Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and Brian Kilmeade were busted by Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows’ release of 9,000 documents on the Jan. 6 insurrection. In her colorful language, according to the files, Ingraham texted Meadows thus: “Mark, the President needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home… He is destroying his legacy.” Sean Hannity, in his usual urgent style, texted to Meadows: “Can he make a statement? Ask the people to leave the Capitol.” Ingraham later said the marauders were not Trump supporters but were members of the dubiously named “Antifa.” Are there people in America who aren’t anti-fascists, that is, Americans who would be unwilling to fight against the Nazis in World War II?
Anti-Vax Leaders: It’s a grift when opinion leaders and others argue that COVID and vaccines to immunize against COVID are a hoax, and also argue that President Biden is responsible for the economic consequences of the extended COVID epidemic. It’s a grift to argue against wearing masks in public spaces and also argue that everything will return to normal. It’s a grift to argue that vaccinated people have ‘breakthrough’ infections so why get vaccinated.
Texas, et al: The right to vote is the basis of democracy. Gerrymandering, around since the founding of the Republic, undermines democracy. Recently, some states have used technology to turn gerrymandering into a science of carving constituencies down to the home address level to ensure the current major party stays the major party. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas supports the biggest gerrymandering grift, reducing Hispanic voters in Texas to minority of minority status.
January 6ers: They claim to support the men and women in blue and bludgeon Capitol police? They claim to love America and reject 2020 election results? They believe this year’s Grifter of the Year?
Americans can join GA-Anon meetings if they’re worried about a grifter among them starting in 2022. Also, feel free to nominate your own grifters. Send nominations to info@coloradocapitolwatch.com and we’ll add them to the list.
Paula Noonan owns Colorado Capitol Watch, the state’s premier legislature tracking platform.
