Rev. Warnock said the message he'll be sharing with his congregants is "the good news of Easter is that evil and injustice will not have the last word," and that "Truth crushed to earth will rise again."
As he describes himself as a "Matthew 25 Christian," Bash wondered if people, not just in the US but around the world, "have gotten away from" that theme of "caring for strangers and being welcoming towards people of all different backgrounds." Warnock said how we treat our neighbors and how we take care of those "who are most marginalized is a central tenet" of that chapter, and he said there are "some 2,000 verses in the Scripture" talking about how to treat the poor.
Sadly, you wouldn't know that listening to some of the loudest Christian voices in America today that are often mean to poor people in the name of faith. I don't know what Bible they're reading.
Bash turned to Trump's encouraging folks to buy his $60 licensed Bible, and played a clip from his video; I had that clip, and more, in my OrangeVerse post last week.
All Americans need a Bible in their home. And I have many. It's my favorite book. It's a lot of people's favorite book. I'm proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again.
Warnock noted "The Bible doesn't need Donald Trump's endorsement," and said
The sad thing is that none of us are surprised by this. This is what we expect from the former president. If he's not selling us steaks, he's selling us a school whose degree is not worth the paper that is written on. If he's not selling us a school, he's selling us sneakers. And now he's trying to sell the Scriptures. At the end of the day, I think he's trying to sell the American people a bill of goods. And that worked in 2016, although he did not win the popular vote even in 2016. It did not work in 2020. And I don't think it's going to work in 2024.
Talking about the other documents you get for your $60 - the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and whatnot - Warnock said getting into the Bible business is "risky business for someone like" Trump.
because the folks who buy those Bibles might actually open them up, where it says things like, thou shalt not lie, thou shalt not bear false witness, where it warns about wolves dressed up in sheep's clothing. I think you ought to be careful.
Bash brought up House Speaker Mike Johnson saying President Biden acknowledging March 31st as the annual Transgender Day of Visibility was "abhorrent" and that Biden "betrayed the central tenet of Easter," which falls on March 31st this year.
...apparently, the speaker finds trans people abhorrent. And I think he ought to think about that. The fact of the matter is, as you said, March 31 has been a day to lift up transgender people who endure violence and bigotry. Easter, the date changes every single day. But this is just one more instance of folks who have -- who do not know how to lead us trying to divide us. And this is the opposite of the Christian faith.
Next, Bash talked with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who's been calling on Speaker Johnson to allow a vote on aid to Ukraine for quite a while now. Lawler thinks they'll finally get one when the House returns from the Easter break., saying "critically important for our allies," and that "we cannot shirk on our responsibility to uphold and defend democracies across the globe."
He's one of the members behind the 'Defending Borders, Defending Democracies Act' which would provide assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, and also bring back the 'remain in Mexico' policy and Title 42. He said he's spoken with Johnson directly, and is "confident that he is going to bring a bill to the floor."
His thinking on Rep. Marjorie Flamethrower Taylor Greene (R- You Kidding Me?) and her threat to boot Johnson, Lawler was direct.
I can't speak for her... But, as I said the day that she introduced it, it's idiotic. And it's not going to actually help advance the cause that she believes in... Infighting does nothing to help advance any of those issues or policy positions. And, in fact, it undermines our majority.
Bash noted Lawler is one of only four House GOP members supporting a federal law allowing IVF, and asked if the rest of his party is "on the wrong side of this issue." Lawler said that if the Rs want to be "a party that supports life, then we should be fighting to protect the ability of families to become parents," and that the people aren't interested in "extremism."
Bash asked a couple of Trump-behaving-badly questions; in a nutshell, Lawler thinks everyone needs to tone it down and watch what they say. On the specific issue of Trump attacking another judge (and the judge's family), he thinks "families should always be off-limits." And, he added, instead of focusing on things the media likes to pay attention to,
... I think the focus of this campaign and this election should be on the American people and the issues facing the American people.
Next, I dropped in on the MTP classroom, where Kristen Welker talked with GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska. Welker noted that Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on social media that he had spoken with Speaker Johnson on the issues his country is facing, saying "Quick passage of U.S. aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital."
She asked Bacon, a supporter of aid to Ukraine how confident he was that a bill would pass.
Well, Speaker Johnson is an honest man. He truly walks his faith. He doesn't talk his faith, he walks his faith, he shows it. He's committed to making this the first, the top priority, when we return back to Washington, DC.
He said most of his colleagues support military aid, but don't support humanitarian aid that the Senate included in their bill. He and three others, including two Dems, have a $66B bill that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, plus border security. Their bill would allow for amendments, which might make it more palatable.
...I know the speaker also wants to have, like, the Repo Act, where we repossess some Russian assets to help them pay for this. Also, maybe, some lend lease segments to the bill. So, some of this may become in the form of loans.
They also want to try and force Biden to give Ukraine different weapons, "higher-tech, more capable" arms to "help them prevail on the battlefield," including the ATACMS guided missiles. Welker pointed out that Biden has been asking for funding to pay for those - for seven months - and the House has held things up.
Bacon wants there to be some kind of 'bicameral, bipartisan solution," and that he doesn't want to pass a bill if it would pass the Senate. Welker noted the Senate had passed a bill, which the House famously voted down, at Donald Orange Jesus Trump's urging.
Yeah. Well, it didn't have a lot of bicameral support, at least on the Republican side. Why is that? You have about almost $30 billion in humanitarian aid and there's not a lot of support for that amount of humanitarian aid going to Ukraine. We think the EU could do a lot more humanitarian than they are. They just did a $50 billion humanitarian aid and Germany has committed more. We think our role should be more military aid because that's what we're good at.
I had to pause the video at that point, it being Easter Sunday and all; I shouldn't have been surprised, since it was an R saying it, but still.
When asked whether he thought Johnson could lose the speakership over this issue, Bacon said
It's possible, I'm not going to deny it. We have one or two people that are not team players. They'd rather enjoy the limelight, the social media. And the fact is with the one-seat majority – and we'll end up with a three- or four-seat majority after some special elections – out of 435 people, it's a very narrow majority. And one or two people can make this a minority.
Personally, he prefers to "work with the team," and doesn't think they need 100% agreement on everything. He also thinks the Dems are tired of the dysfunction over the speakership, and would take steps to keep Johnson from losing the vote if it came to the floor. There might be a standoff after the Ukraine bill is handled, but he hopes Johnson will prevail if it comes to that.
On impeaching the president, folks he's talked to "say there's not a specific crime" and he'd need that or a misdemeanor to be in favor of the move. But is it time to drop the whole thing?
I don't know if it's time, right now. But I do think we're probably nearing the conclusion of this investigation. And I think it was important for the American people to see that, yes, there's $24 million in foreign money that the family raised and all the hidden LLCs that the money was moved around in. But that is, in itself, not a high crime or misdemeanor.
Welker asked about the Biden-in-the-pickup video image that Trump shared (the same question Bash asked Lawler) and got a similar answer: he doesn't support that, he wants both sides to raise the bar of civility, and said we're better than that.
We're the strongest country in the world... we are the best country to live in, but we're not going to remain that way if we treat our opponents in this way...We've got to be a lot better at how we dialogue with the opposition...
And because she just can't take an answer for an answer, she pushed him for something more by asking if he thought it was OK that Trump was attacking the families of the judges in his many cases. Bacon said he'll lead by example and focus on the issues.
And I think in Nebraska, in the Midwest, we don't like the nastiness, you know? We have a phrase here, "Nebraska nice," and it's real.
She then asked, "And, on this Easter, what is your message about bipartisanship and the possibility of working together on something like" rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge?
... I think our faith calls for the golden rule. It calls for, like, you know, the fruits of the spirit in Galatians, that we should treat each other with respect, decency. And I think, as Christians, sometimes we forget that in this political debate... we've got to hold a higher bar here and remember the gold rule, as we work out the issues facing our country.
See you around campus.
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