MAGA Mike— Pathetic Henchman
Mike Turner’s congressional district, OH-10 includes Springfield, home of the Haitian refugees defamed by Trump and Vance. But most of the district is in Montgomery County, including Dayton, where Turner had served as mayor. Trump won the district by 5 points (52.47%), while Sherrod Brown won it by a point (49-48%). The big winner was Rep. Mike Turner, who beat his Democratic challenger 57.6% to 39.2%, far outpolling Trump. Montgomery County itself was won by Harris (49.41% to 48.95% and Brown (52% to 45%)… and by Turner (55% to 42%).
On CNN, Turner had condemned the baseless attacks on Haitian migrants in his district— something that probably pissed Trump off in a big way.
Jake Tapper: “Should Donald Trump and JD Vance stop lying about these migrants eating people’s pets? And the people that started this pet-eating rumor— both the woman who originally did the police complaint and the woman who posted it on Facebook— have expressed contrition and apologized for it. Where are you on that?”
Mike Turner: “This certainly is incredibly tragic and completely untrue. And this should not have happened. It’s been tearing the community apart. I have not heard that they’ve continued these statements though, Jake, I do think that they have moved on. And really the community is a community that has been welcoming and is together. They’re trying to arise to the occasion of the needs of the people in the community and the Biden administration that put them there should rise to the to come to the aid of this community.”
Trump’s revenge was to get MAGA Mike to fire Turner as Intelligence Committee chair, which he did yesterday. Now there’s bipartisan anger at the puppet speaker. William Kristol wrote that Trump’s idea of someone being loyal to him is someone accepting the role of lackey. Most Republican congressmen are. Turner was less so. “As Turner told Margaret Brennan of CBS, Johnson cited ‘concerns from Mar-a-Lago’ as justification for the removal. What were those concerns?
First, Turner hasn’t been a Trump lackey. Though in my judgment he’s accommodated Trump more than he should have, he has also, as the New York Times put it, “on several occasions spoken critically about the president-elect.” Turner criticized Trump’s 2019 phone call with President Zelensky (though he voted against impeaching the president for the contents of that call). He voted to certify the 2020 election results (though he ended up supporting Trump’s reelection in 2024). He criticized Trump for calling January 6th convicts “hostages” and said that Trump’s taking classified documents to Mar-a-Lago was “of grave concern.”
Perfectly reasonable assessments. Also, unacceptable to Trump.
Second, Turner took seriously the oversight responsibilities of the committee he chaired. He knew that knowledgeable congressional oversight of the executive branch’s intelligence agencies is important. He worked closely with the committee’s ranking Democrat, Jim Himes of Connecticut, to make the committee effective. He was able to do this despite the fact that last year, against Turner’s wishes, Speaker Johnson appointed two unqualified but subservient Trump lackeys to the committee: Reps. Ronny Jackson of Texas and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. But the committee under Turner’s leadership remained independent.
Yesterday, Himes— a sober and responsible Democrat— said the purge of Turner “sends a shiver down my spine” and that he is “enormously concerned.”
Or, as David Frum pithily summer up Trump’s concern about Turner: “Knew too much, too patriotic, had to go.”
The need for a competent and independent oversight committee during Trump’s second term may be obvious. But also, it’s unacceptable to Trump.
The third reason for the purge of Turner is surely Ukraine. Turner has been a powerful champion for the cause of Ukraine in the House, including during last year’s fight over Ukraine aid. He said then that Kremlin propaganda had affected the Republican party, and that “anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages” were being uttered even “on the House floor.”
The sudden removal of Turner suggests Trump may well be planning to move quickly after assuming office to impose a bad deal on Ukraine, or simply to sell out Ukraine.
Having someone like Turner in charge of an important committee, someone who might be able to discover secret talks that have been held, unannounced concessions that have been made, secret deals that have been struck with Vladimir Putin; someone who would object to them? Unacceptable to Trump.
What is to be done? Nothing in the House, I suppose. But the Senate has confirmation hearings coming up for two Trump nominees for key positions in the intelligence community, Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Kash Patel as director of the FBI.
The purge of Turner and the gutting of congressional oversight makes it even more important to deny Trump mere lackeys in key positions of great sensitivity and power. What’s unacceptable to Trump should be more than acceptable, it should be desirable, to at least four conscientious Republican senators.
The new Chair? Rick Crawford, some lackey from Arkansas who will do what he's told and not ask any questions.