Another appalling interview of Ben Cline

If anyone thought Congressman Cline was sincere when he talked about bipartisanship and compromise, they should take 16 minutes to listen to a recent interview conducted by rightwing radio talk show host John Fredericks.

In his second interview by Fredericks since his election to Congress (his first was in December), Cline leaves no doubt that he believes the interests of the people of the Sixth District are identical with whatever President Trump happens to want and that the only compromising necessary is to be done by Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats.

Lowell Feld of Blue Virginia provides a list of some of Cline’s most egregious comments, along with some pertinent observations:

First, Cline appears to agree with the host that Democrats are “pushing for open borders” as part of a nefarious plot to “replenish their voting base.”

Cline DEFINITELY agrees that Democrats are supposedly “pandering to the far left,” that supposedly “the Democrat [sic] Party has been hijacked – you could see that in the Sixth District this year, my opponent was a far-left Bernie Sanders supporter, wanted Medicare for All…was not interested in securing the border with a wall.” (factual note: 70% of Americans support Medicare for All, including 52% of Republicans – the people Cline says are “far left” – while the “wall” is opposed by 58% of Americans)

Cline bizarrely claims that the only reason freshmen Democrats are refusing to negotiate on Trump’s unpopular, nonsensical “wall” is that they are “too scared” of Nancy Pelosi…including that “she’ll cut off your head before you even feel the pain.” Alrighty…

Cline goes completely over the top/off the deep end, sounding like a far-right radio host or whatever, ranting that “Nancy Pelosi can’t  operate a speaker as business as usual and just jet off on her trip with her Democrat [sic] colleagues to go visit the troops and pose for photos while Washington is shut down and the federal government is shut down back here.” …

Cline (who can’t seem to stop blaming Pelosi for everything) launched into this particular rant as he evaded a question about whether members of Congress should get paid during the government shutdown (clearly he is continuing to take his salary). Instead he said he favored “creating some pain” for members and suggested that preventing Pelosi from visiting American forces in Afghanistan (hardly a vacation junket) was a way of making her feel pain. What pain (if any) Cline himself is suffering he did not specify.

Cline suggests that Trump consider doing the State of the Union from “the border,” maybe at a “stadium in Arizona or Texas.” LOL

Cline claims the concept of a “reasonable freshmen Democrat” is a “near extinct personality,” as they supposedly all ran “to the left and are products of the left.” Again, LOL.

Cline vows to have Trump’s back, claims that Trump has stood for the “rule of law” (that’s beyond laughable, of course, as this administration has been almost completely lawless/an assault on the rule of law) and “protection of the American people.” Uhhhh.

Discussing his appointment to the House Education and Labor Committee, Cline made clear that his hostility to organized labor remains intact.

“The Democrats are going to put all kinds of labor union bills through and I’m anxious to stand up for the right of the worker.” He then explained what he really means: “I don’t support forced unionism.” In other words, Cline will continue to defend “right to work” laws which allow workers to receive the benefits of union representation without having to help support the union that negotiates for those benefits.

(Cline should recall that voters in large parts of the Sixth District– including heavily Republican areas– opposed his effort in 2016 to embed “right to work” in Virginia’s constitution.)

As for education, Cline said, “We need to reduce and eliminate [???] the federal role in our education system.” Does this include the millions of dollars in federal aid to public schools in the Sixth District which support reading programs and professional development activities for teachers, among other services?