In 2014, 2015, as well as 2016, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, Trent Franks. In our first look at Rep. Franks, we had to let everyone know that there’s nothing wrong with your eyes, his mouth is kind of weird, as Rep. Franks was born with a cleft lip and palate and required surgery to correct it. That’s honestly one of the least weird things about him, as he’s declared Barack Obama an “enemy of humanity”, segued debates on the House floor about a balanced budget amendment into a discussion of abortion and Nazis, claiming straight married couples “deserve” the legal rights they get as opposed to gays and that LGBT advocates are “intolerant” of Christians, claims there’s nothing in the Bible that obligates Christians to help the poor, demanded investigations into President Obama’s birth certificate, and to top it all off, once said in an interview that “African Americans were better off under slavery”.
Franks is one of the, if not the most fervently anti-abortion Republican in Congress (and that’s saying something), and accidentally revealed that the GOP knew about the Center for Medical Progress’ fraudulent Planned Parenthood “sting” videos before they were ever released to the public. He has compared legalized abortion in the United States to both slavery, and the Holocaust, and gone on the Family Research Council’s Washington Watch and promised God’s Judgment would soon fall upon abortion providers as it once did upon those who worshiped at altars to Baal (because that sounds perfectly sane).. Franks has gone on FOX News to say that ISIS was going to work together with Iran (even though they are sworn enemies of one another) and attack America with a nuclear weapon while President Obama would be out golfing, and that he was regarding President Obama’s executive orders on immigration as saying that they were the “death of the Republic”.
After Donald Trump got a lot of Russian help to win the 2016 presidential election, and the intelligence community began to reveal the extent of the Russian attacks upon our democracy, Trent Franks went on MSNBC to say that if the Russians hacked our elections, it actually was a form of public service:
Remember that, going forward, that Trent Franks is pro-treason, and supports attacks upon our democracy.
But that wasn’t even the stupidest thing he said since we last covered him, not by a long shot. Rep. Franks was arguing in favor of tighter border security, giving the example that in his mind, it would be possible for terrorists to smuggle a nuclear weapon across the U.S./Mexico border by hiding it inside of bales of marijuana:
THAT… is especially stupid. Not that we’re experts on smuggling or terrorism, or what have you… but if you wanted to sneak an object across the border, packaging it inside of an illegal substance that border agents are already on the hunt for would be a pretty stupid plan. And, y’know, when all those drug-sniffing dogs that the border patrol has start losing their damned minds, they’re not just gonna find the giant stacks of weed, they’re going to seize the nukes inside that little sticky-icky cube. But, y’know, Trent Franks is a f***ing moron.
And, we’ll add that in late May of 2017, as news spread of Montana Congressional candidate Greg Gianforte body-slamming a reporter on the eve of his election against Rob Quist, Rep. Franks bitterly says liberals share the blame for Gianforte’s attack, saying:
There were no Democrats that even talked about attacking the press, and several Republicans that had before Gianforte actually physically did so. But in Trent Franks’ warped mind, the left are secretly behind everything evil that’s ever happened in our country’s history, including when a Republican flips his s*** and decides to give some poor guy from The Guardian a Rock Bottom.
Trent Franks just won his eighth term in Congress in 2016, winning office over Green Party candidate Mark Salazar with 58% of the vote, because and Democrats haven’t even bothered challenging this nut since 2012. Thus, he’s returned to Washington, D.C. to vote for some of the most aggravating and unpopular legislation seen in Congress in decades:
- January 12th, 2017: Rep. Franks kicks off the new session of Congress by co-sponsoring HB 490, a federal “fetal heartbeat” anti-abortion bill that would effectively ban abortion at 6 weeks, when some women don’t even realize they’re pregnant yet. He gleefully celebrates its introduction with fellow CSGOPOTD Janet Porter, Steve King, and Louis Gohmert.
- February 16th, 2017: Franks votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping. Because… well, the logic really isn’t there as to why, it’s just awful.
- March 16th, 2017: Trent Franks votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge’s written order. We feel safer already.
- March 28th, 2017: Rep. Franks votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers’ internet usage to businesses. Well, so much for privacy.
- May 4th, 2017: Franks votes for the House GOP’s healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), post-partum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Franks would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
- June 8th, 2017: Trent Franks votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
Trent Franks is still only 60 years old, and is as far on the lunatic fringe of Congress on the issue of abortion as it gets. Even with his many outrageous remarks, his district leans +13 in favor of Republicans, and he has not had a serious challenger in a primary or a Democrat to threaten him for several years. Thus far, the only Democrat to register to go up against him in 2018 is Brianna Westbrook, who seeks to become the first transgendered member of Congress. With Arizona’s 8th already reasonably more red than blue, well… we’d like to predict history will be made, but if Westbrook pulls it off, it would be a HUGE upset.
