Along with his Republican colleague— the noted legal and constitutional scholar Marjorie Taylor (“in-dick-table”) Greene– Congressman Cline will serve as one of the managers of the Senate impeachment trial against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the border.

The vote to impeach Mayorkas, by a one-vote margin, was almost strictly along party lines– only three brave Republicans voted NO. The matter now goes to the Senate, where there is absolutely no chance that Mayorkas will be convicted and removed from office.

Surely Cline knows this. So why is he pleased to waste time and taxpayers’ money on this partisan stunt?

Maybe it’s to distract attention from his refusal to support a compromise on border security that was negotiated by conservative Republican Senator James Lankford and endorsed by the Border Patrol union.

Cline should take note of the victory of Democrat Tom Suozzi in Tuesday’s special election for Congress in New York. Suozzi, who endorsed the compromise, easily beat his Republican opponent Mazi Pilip, who opposed it.

Here’s Congressman Cline’s all-too-predictable reaction to the bipartisan Senate plan to provide aid to Ukraine and Israel while implementing strict limits along the US southern border.

Notice Cline’s sneering hostility to the brave Ukrainians who have been resisting brutal Russian aggression for more than two years, and who badly need US military assistance to continue that resistance.

No, Congressman. This plan would not “send $48.4 billion dollars of hard-working American taxpayer dollars to Ukraine.” As conservative columnist Marc Theissen wrote in The Washington Post:

Here is the best-kept secret about U.S. military aid to Ukraine: Most of the money is being spent here in the United States. That’s right: Funds that lawmakers approve to arm Ukraine are not going directly to Ukraine but are being used stateside to build new weapons or to replace weapons sent to Kyiv from U.S. stockpiles. Of the $68 billion in military and related assistance Congress has approved since Russia invaded Ukraine, almost 90 percent is going to Americans, one analysis found.

That’s right. Aid to Ukraine is employing thousands of Americans while helping Ukrainians fight back against Vladimir Putin’s murderous expansionism. Too bad Cline has a problem with that.

As for the border deal that Cline denounces as “pro-illegal immigration”:

The deal will grant the Department of Homeland Security new emergency authority to clamp down on border crossings if daily average migrant encounters reach 4,000 over a one-week span. Once the authority is triggered, the DHS secretary could decide to largely bar migrants from seeking asylum if they crossed the border unlawfully.

If migrant crossings increased above 5,000 on average per day on a given week, DHS would be required to use the authority. The authority sunsets after three years.

Migrants could still seek asylum at a port of entry. The bill would codify a process that requires the government to process 1,400 asylum applications at ports of entry, while also raising the standard for asylum and expediting the process.

Those who didn’t qualify for asylum [including economic migrants] will be swiftly deported.

In addition the Senate bill provides for:

• Over 1,500 new U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel including Border Patrol Agents and CBP Officers. 
• Over 4,300 new Asylum Officers and additional U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services staff to facilitate timely and fair decisions. 
• 100 new immigration judge teams to help reduce the asylum caseload backlog and adjudicate cases more quickly. 
• Shelter and critical services for newcomers in our cities and states.  
• 1,200 new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel for functions including enforcement and deportations. 

It’s no secret that Donald Trump wants the crisis at the border as an issue in the 2024 Presidential campaign and is not interested in a bipartisan solution. And Republicans like Ben Cline are happy to oblige.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who repeatedly puts Ben Cline to shame, got it right:

“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump,” Romney said. “And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling.”

If Congressman Cline had ended this statement after the first two paragraphs, it would have been an honorable tribute to the victims of this despicable attack.

Unfortunately, and all too typically, he didn’t stop there.

He had to try and find some way of blaming it on President Biden. Can you imagine him blaming Donald Trump in similar circumstances?

In fact you don’t have to imagine it. He didn’t.

In January 2020, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on bases in Iraq that housed U.S. troops. Thirty-four service members suffered concussions or traumatic brain injuries. Then-President Trump dismissed those injuries as “headaches.” The U.S. did not retaliate.

Ben Cline said not a word.

No surprise, of course. Ever since Trump was elected in 2016, and even after he was voted out in 2020, Cline has never had a bad word to say about this dangerous, narcissistic threat to democracy. Six months after the January 6, 2021, insurrection that Trump triggered in an effort to steal the 2020 election, Cline was pleased to call Trump “our great President.” He proudly proclaimed Trump’s endorsement for his reelection in 2022.

(By the way, during Trump’s presidency, the economy lost 2.9 million jobs and the unemployment rate increased by 1.6 percentage points to 6.3 percent. The federal debt went up from $14.4 trillion to $21.6 trillion. Illegal immigration increased. Trump’s foreign policy “achievements” included falling in love with a brutal Communist ruler and befriending two other dictators.)

Cline will now have to defend (or more likely make excuses for) an increasingly deranged and desperate man facing 91 criminal charges– that is, if enough of his constituents insist that he do so. He doesn’t like responding to emails and phone calls about many things, including his support for Trump. So that means confronting him at every opportunity– at constituent meetings and any other public appearances.

And please let me know what happens when you do.

Congressman Cline will meet with constituents on Tuesday December 19 at 5:30 p.m. in Bath County at Country Cafe, 6156 Sam Snead Highway, Hot Springs. Register here.

According to Cline’s website: “Citizens of Bath County will be given priority regarding comments during Coffee with your Congressman. One (1) ticket per registrant. Attendees will be responsible for any food and/or beverages purchased during the event. Signs and noisemakers are prohibited.”

.@GOPOversight uncovered bank statements that show MULTIPLE direct payments to Joe Biden from Hunter’s entity, Owasco P.C., which took in millions from China.

So much for “I have no knowledge of my son’s overseas business dealings.” pic.twitter.com/2Hc7jMbmjY

— Congressman Ben Cline (@RepBenCline) December 4, 2023

In Congressman Cline’s latest attempt to find Biden-related corruption, he pounced on the not-so-scandalous fact that Hunter Biden repaid his father $4,140 for purchase of a truck.

The three payments of $1,380 that occurred in September, October and November 2018 — nearly two years after Biden had left the vice presidency — were actually for a 2018 Ford Raptor truck Joe Biden had purchased that Hunter Biden was using, according to an email verified by a Washington Post forensic analysis.

You’re embarrassing yourself, Congressman. And lame ripostes like this don’t help– especially when the man you called “our great President” faces 91 criminal charges.

According to the Ranking Member on my @JudiciaryGOP Subcommittee, Mr. Swalwell, “this Congress is more like the @WWE.”

If we’re the WWE, then the Biden Crime Family is the equivalent of The Sopranos. pic.twitter.com/N1sMnHDcdI

— Congressman Ben Cline (@RepBenCline) December 1, 2023

Raw Story reports:

Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) accused Hunter Biden of “blocking” Rep. James Comer’s (R-KY) impeachment investigation by offering to testify in public.

During an interview on Newsmax, Cline suggested that the offer was a plot to stall the probe.

“Well, this committee is trying to get the facts, get to the bottom of the corruption that was going on in the Biden family between Hunter Biden and the rest of the family and exactly follow the money to where it leads, and they’re preparing a report to give to the Judiciary Committee,” [Cline] explained. “The Democrats are stalling. They’ve essentially sent the message to Hunter Biden that we will protect you if it’s in public and for show.”

In recent months Cline has thrown unsubstantiated corruption allegations at Hunter and Joe Biden. So now that Hunter Biden has agreed to answer Cline’s and other Republicans’ allegations under oath in public, Cline claims it’s part of a nefarious effort to hide the truth– whatever that is.

For the past year or so, Congressman Cline has been banging on about the Biden administration’s supposed “weaponization” of the government to go after political opponents.

Just one example from Cline’s Congressional Facebook page:

Although he never presents any compelling evidence for his claims, Cline clearly believes “weaponization” (whatever that means) of government is a terrible thing.

So I can only assume that Cline was properly outraged when Donald Trump (“our great President“) flat-out said that he could weaponize federal agencies to go after his opponents in a second Presidential term.

During the interview on the Spanish-language TV network, journalist Enrique Acevedo asked Trump if he would weaponize the FBI and Justice Department on his opponents in the same way he claims federal law enforcement agencies have been weaponized against him.

“Yeah. If they do this, and they’ve already done it, but if they follow through on this, yeah, it could certainly happen in reverse,” Trump told Acevedo, according to excerpts of the interview.

“What they’ve done is they’ve released the genie out of the box,” the former president continued, adding, “You know, when you’re president and you’ve done a good job and you’re popular, you don’t go after them so you can win an election.”

You were outraged, weren’t you, Congressman? Congressman? Hello…

Watch Congressman Cline smirk his way through a spectacularly wrong-headed Election Day interview with ABC News in which he tries to paint Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed abortion ban as a reasonable “middle ground” which most Virginians support. (Cline himself wants a total ban with no exceptions.)

Sorry, Congressman. It didn’t work that way.

Congressman Cline continues to function as Vladimir Putin’s man in western Virginia.

As I noted in July, Cline voted YES on three amendments to cut off American assistance to Ukraine in its fight against murderous Russian aggression.

Last week he joined other House Republicans to approve military aid to Israel to be funded by undercutting the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to go after wealthy tax cheats.

The Republican-controlled House on Thursday approved legislation to send roughly $14 billion in emergency aid to Israel and cut about the same amount from the Internal Revenue Service, in a deeply divided vote on a measure that Senate leaders say they won’t take up and President Biden has already threatened to veto.

Biden in October requested $106 billion in emergency foreign aid for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion, Israel’s response to Hamas’s attacks and to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific.

…..

But the cuts to the IRS would actually cost taxpayers money, meaning the aid for Israel would add to the deficit even more than just borrowing the $14 billion Biden wants to send, according to a nonpartisan analysis by the Congressional Budget Office. The move would reduce the tax agency’s ability to audit high-income earners and tax evaders, costing taxpayers $26.8 billion in lost tax revenue, the CBO projected. IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel put the lost income at closer to $90 billion.

After the vote, Cline posted on X:

Cline’s sneer at those who “push for more Ukraine funding” tells you all you need to know about his cowardly retreat on support for the Ukrainian people who are resisting the Russian onslaught. Last year he pleaded for campaign contributions based on his supposed “unwavering support of American ally Ukraine and my rebuke of Russia’s atrocities against the people there.”

Unwavering support? Really, Congressman?

Cline should consider the words of Amir Tibon, an Israeli who survived 10 hours under Hamas siege, protecting two small children. He was responding to a proposal by Republican Senator Josh Hawley to transfer aid from Ukraine to Israel.