Republicans unloading on each other in Mississippi. ‘Where is the adult in the room?'
A Mississippian watching state leaders' social media posts these days might wonder whether they've mistakenly logged into a chat between some petulant third graders as they call each other names and bicker.
Their high-brow discourse over policy has recently included state politicians calling people: 'a fraud, a loser, swamp creatures, dorks, a chubby Teletubby, a charlatan and pathetic' as well as more personal plays on their names, such as 'Lying Lynn.'
In today's hyper-divided partisan political landscape, one might figure this name calling is mostly between Republicans and Democrats. But in Mississippi right now, most of the vitriol is Republican-on-Republican.
This is perhaps because Mississippi Republicans have such control of state government, they don't have any powerful Democrats to harangue. They've run out of targets. They've long forgotten Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment. They're starting to eat their young.
The latest red-on-red dustup was last week, and led by Gov. Tate Reeves, ostensibly the head of the state GOP.
The supermajority Republican Senate, as it did last year, has passed an early voting bill — which would allow 'no-excuse' in person early voting for 15 days before election day.
Senate Elections Chairman Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, authored SB 2654 and told his colleagues 47 other states provide voters the convenience of early voting. A similar measure passed the Senate last year but died in the House.
Never mind that the Republican National Committee — and at times President Donald Trump — publicly embraced early voting last year: Gov. Reeves promptly took shots at England on social media after the state Senate voted 40-11 to pass the bill on to the House.
'Unfortunately Senator Jeremy England joined every Senate Democrat today … with his no-excuse Early Voting bill — one of the top priorities of the Mississippi Democrat Party,' Reeves wrote. 'Keep in mind — every Mississippi Republican Party Senate Elections Chair before him has killed that terrible idea! Congrats to Senator England — he has earned his MVP award for the Mississippi Democratic Party!'
England responded to Reeves on social media: 'I don't care if you're Governor. You won't bully me. And you're just plain wrong on this one.'
Former Republican state senator and perennial failed U.S. Senate candidate Chris McDaniel tried to pile on to England after Reeves' mean tweet.
'RINO ALERT,' McDaniel posted. 'Jeremy England is a fraud. A loser. He has lied to the people of Jackson County for years. He's little more than a chubby Teletubby who pretends to be a Republican.'
England responded with a long, rather polite — given the slings and arrows he suffered — explanation of his bill. Many of his constituents following him on social media took up for him in the dustup.
One wrote: 'I applaud your leadership. 47 other states have early voting and President Trump encouraged his supporters to vote early. My daughter is a nurse and lives in TN and voted early. There are lots of occupations who appreciate and support early voting. Learn the facts and don't fall for false rhetoric. Thank you Jeremy !!!'
But Reeves couldn't let it go. In between wishing people a 'Happy Gulf of America Day,' and posting 'Plastic straws are back, baby … And the sharks munching through the ocean are gonna be just fine!' the governor took another shot at England.
He posted a newspaper photo of England on the Senate floor laughing with Democratic Sen. Derrick Simmons and wrote: ' A picture is worth a thousand words!! Senator Jeremy England, you may think it is funny that you are working with the Senate Democrat Minority Leader to pass the Democrats' priorities…. BUT I DO NOT!'
A constituent responded on Reeves' post: 'I'm confused. Is the Capitol supposed to function like kids in the lunchroom who are picking on the new kid? Or should our elected officials act as adults and be professional while working together to form a better functioning government? I see Jeremy England got the memo to be an adult. Maybe Tate missed it??'
Sen. Joel Carter, R-Gulfport, took the unusual step of addressing the Senate on Thursday to condemn Reeves for trying to 'divide' lawmakers by lobbing insults instead of being a unifying leader.
Carter posted on social media: 'I don't know who is in control of (the governor's) account, but they need to find something else to do. This is so petty and unbecoming of the Office of Governor. This divides us all. Republicans have all Statewide offices and supermajorities in both chambers. The fighting needs to stop. Where is the adult in the room?'
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