Perhaps Congressman Cline is feeling the need to put a tiny bit of distance between himself and Donald Trump,

The Daily News Record reports:

During a recent hour-long interview at The Palms Restaurant in Lexington, Cline spoke of his Trump alliance.

“Our policy goals will align most of the time,” said Cline, who applauds Trump’s sealing of the U.S. border, federal tax cuts and the downsizing of the U.S. Department of Education to give more control to the states. “I support these things,” he said.

The two differ on tariffs, which Trump has used punitively and as a negotiating tool. “He sees them (tariffs) in a much broader and more deliberate manner,” Cline says. As a congressman, he has supported free trade.

But last August Cline boasted:

As I noted at the time, these trade deals were very far from “locked in.” And they all involved increases in tariffs on products imported from these countries– meaning, ultimately, higher prices for American consumers, especially those least able to afford them.

Last September the House of Representatives voted to cede power over tariffs to Trump. Only three Republicans voted to oppose the measure. Ben Cline was not among them.

And in February of this year, the House approved a resolution to terminate Trump’s tariffs on Canada. Only six Republicans voted for the measure. Ben Cline was not among them.

In other words, Cline claims to differ with Trump on tariffs, but he lacks the courage to vote his supposed principles.

Is anyone surprised?

Congressman Cline may disapprove of New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan for city-run grocery stores, but that doesn’t entitle him to continually lie about it– and about the so-called SAVE America Act.

In an effort to highlight alleged Democratic hypocrisy, Cline on August 4 posted on his Congressional Facebook page a link to the following:

In the comments to that post, I linked to an AP report debunking Cline’s and the Republicans’ claim:

So of course on his campaign Facebook page on Wednesday, Cline repeated the lie:

“Commie Mamdani” is the one on the left:

Mamdani is not a communist. However Trump has declared his love for a couple of real actual existing Communists– something Cline will not be posting about.

It’s been two full months since Congressman Cline told Kate Nuechterlein of 29News that he is “planning to hold another town hall in all 22 localities” in the Sixth District.

Cline, who has also faced criticism from constituents over the lack of space in his town halls, told 29News he is planning to hold another town hall in all 22 localities.

Cline since then has not held or even scheduled a single town hall anywhere in the Sixth District. (Republican party events don’t count.)

Cline’s current term in the House of Representative ends on January 3, 2027. He may not be reelected to another term. To fulfill his plan, he will need to schedule one town hall a week between now and then.

He’d better get started. His constituents have a lot of questions for him.

Another desperate, lying Facebook post by Congressman Cline.

The “Working Families Tax Cut Act,” narrowly approved last year, slashes more than a trillion dollars from federal programs providing health care and food assistance to low-income families. It was previously known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” until Cline and other Republicans became too embarrassed to call it that anymore.

The law provides huge tax cuts for the very rich, tiny tax cuts for the working class and actually reduces incomes for the poorest Americans.

The law did not stop “illegal aliens” from receiving “taxpayer-funded benefits” because they were not receiving them before it was passed.

• Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal benefits such as Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, Social Security, or Affordable Care Act Marketplace health insurance.

• Some lawfully present immigrants can qualify for benefits, but eligibility is severely limited. Green card holders must wait five years before qualifying for SNAP, and new federal restrictions have narrowed eligibility for Medicaid and SNAP beginning in 2026.

• Undocumented immigrants can still receive emergency medical care. Federal law requires hospitals to provide emergency treatment regardless of immigration status.

And this is true no matter how many times Cline lies in his effort the demonize and scaremonger about immigrants.

Congressman Cline’s latest post on his campaign Facebook page:

Let’s lay aside for now the question of whether the tens of billions of dollars spent so far on Trump’s unwinnable war in Iran (which Cline supports) is a “reckless waste of your tax dollars.”

The only recent increase in taxes on working class families is Trump’s tariffs, which these families have to pay in higher prices– something else Cline supports.

Another ridiculous Ben Cline “solution” to a non-existent “problem.”

How does this even remotely help the people he purports to represent in Congress?

As Donald Trump awards no-bid contracts for his taxpayer-funded projects and pardons well-connected convicted fraudsters without a hint of objection from Congressman Cline, the congressman laughably posts stuff like this on his campaign Facebook page.

One result is comments like this:

You’ve got them rolling in the aisles, Congressman.

As the midterm elections approach, and with no meaningful achievements to boast about, President Trump and Congressional Republicans are latching onto the Democratic primary victories of a handful of self-described democratic socialists to try and scare voters about what they variously describe as “socialism,” “communism” and “Marxism.”

It took Congressman Cline awhile to join in, but here’s what he posted today on Facebook:

Of course there’s nothing “new” about any of this. Republicans have engaged in the same sort of scaremongering for nearly a century.

Speaking of Republicans in 1952, President Harry S Truman observed:

Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years.

Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security.

Socialism is what they called farm price supports.

Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance.

Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.

Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.

As far back as the 1930s Republicans were calling President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal “socialist” and “communistic.”

What Republicans called “socialism” proved so popular that they had to pass a Constitutional amendment to prevent anyone else from being elected president four times, as FDR was.

I actually believed that once I documented that it is Ben Cline– and not his Democratic opponent Beth Macy– who receives tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash from Big Hollywood, he wouldn’t again have the nerve to accuse Macy of being the candidate of an “out of touch Hollywood elite.”

How foolish I was. And how frightened and desperate he must be.

(Hat tip: Augusta Free Press.)

Apologies to Cline: I will never again underestimate his willingness to brazenly distort and lie in the face of overwhelming evidence.

Remember when Congressman Cline posted this on Facebook?

You don’t have to think back very far. It was only last week.

Desperate for some tangible achievement as the midterm elections approach, Cline and most other House Republicans joined all Democrats to vote for the ROAD to Housing Act, designed to make housing more affordable for Americans.

The Senate also overwhelmingly approved the measure, and it went to President Trump’s desk Wednesday for a signing ceremony– which Trump abruptly canceled. He demanded that Congress first approve the voter suppression bill known as the Save America Act. Republicans don’t have the votes to pass it in the Senate.

But that’s not all. Trump went on the humiliate Cline and other Republican supporters of the measure by calling it an “Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren centric housing bill,” writing that it is “of minor importance compared to lower interest rates, and even FISA, pales in comparison to passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.”

Warren, one of the main backers of the bill in the Senate, responded: “Huge bipartisan majorities in Congress passed a bill to lower housing costs. But at the 11th hour, Donald Trump is refusing to sign it into law. His policies have made your costs go up — and he doesn’t care.”

And Trump reportedly told House speaker Mike Johnson that “no one gives a [bleep] about housing.”

What do you have to say, Congressman?