14-point check list demonstrating:
Steve Scalise is. shamefully, mirror-image ready to follow Mark Meadows as Trump’s 2025 Chief of Staff
[_] Scalise refused to acknowledge that the 2020 election was not stolen or fraudulent.[65] [_] In May 2021, he called for the ouster of Liz Cheney as House Republican Conference Chair due to her vote to impeach Trump for inciting a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol.[66] [_] On May 19, 2021, Scalise and the seven other House Republican leaders voted against establishing a national commission to investigate the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol Complex.[67]] [_] In the aftermath of controversy surrounding the 2020 presidential election, Scalise refused to acknowledge the loss of president Donald Trump. His refusal to admit Trump’s loss was viewed as fear of Trump’s vindictiveness and willingness to kowtow to Trump in order to avoid being targeted by Trump.[69] [_] On January 6, 2021, Scalise voted to de-certify President-elect Biden’s victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania.[62][63] [_] Scalise condemned the Capitol attack as terrorism and compared it to the Congressional baseball shooting. “It would … be naive to think the [2017] shooter arrived at his decision in a vacuum”, Scalise said, adding, “It would be equally naive to think that the Capitol rioters arrived at their decisions in a void. Violent rhetoric helps radicalize people. Republicans and Democrats alike must have the moral clarity to call this language out whenever it is spoken, not only when it comes from the other side of the political aisle.”[64] [_] In February 2021, more than a month after Joe Biden’s inauguration, Scalise refused to acknowledge that the election was not stolen or fraudulent.[65] [_] In May 2021, he called for the ouster of Liz Cheney as House Republican Conference Chair due to her vote to impeach Trump for inciting a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol.[66] [_] On May 19, 2021, Scalise and the seven other House Republican leaders voted against establishing a national commission to investigate the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol Complex. Thirty-five House Republicans and all 217 Democrats present voted to establish such a commission.[67][68] [_] In 2002, Scalise was a speaker at a convention for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO), a group which was founded by David Duke. This became known in 2014 after political blogger[92][93] Lamar White, Jr. uncovered anonymous comments from 2002 on Stormfront, a white supremacist website, which made reference to Scalise as a 2002 speaker at the convention.[92][94][95][96][97][98] After Scalise’s attendance at the conference was publicized in 2014, journalist Stephanie Grace alleged that Scalise had once called himself “David Duke without the baggage”.[99][100]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Scalise
[_] In August 2023, he alleged that federal law enforcement is “being abused to go after political opponents.” He also baselessly suggested that Trump’s indictments are politically timed. [_] In 2022, he claimed that the FBI agents searching Mar-a-Lago went “rogue,” prompting pushback from a Fox News host.
[_] After the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, Scalise called the events at the Capitol “domestic terrorism.” But he voted to reject Biden electors that day and later voted against impeaching Trump.
[_] In September 2023, Scalise last month called the evidence against Biden “incredibly devastating already,” despite the GOP’s own witnesses at the first impeachment inquiry hearing acknowledging there was little direct evidence tying Biden to anything nefarious.
“For somebody who has the picture of Ronald Reagan on his wall in his office in the Capitol, the notion that now Kevin McCarthy is going to make himself the leader of the pro-Putin wing of my party is just a stunning thing.”