Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) hasn’t exactly been shy when launching rhetorical attacks against President Obama. Last month, for example, the far-right Louisianan accused the president of defending ISIS in remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast. (Obama did not defend ISIS.)
Fleming is also known for occasionally dabbling in strange, right-wing conspiracy theories, including his allegations a couple of years ago that the Arms Trade Treaty at the United Nations would “literally change” and “essentially repeal” the Second Amendment. (In reality, the treaty would do neither.)
This week, however, Andrew Kaczynski reports that the Republican congressman has combined his anti-Obama animus with his affinity for conspiracies.
Rep. John Fleming, Republican from Louisiana, said President Obama’s executive action on immigration is part of a “grand plan” to make America a “single party state” to fix elections using undocumented immigrants. […]Speaking with the John Fredericks Show, Fleming said this was part of a “grand plan” to make the U.S. a “single party state.”
“So in many states, the only thing that are required to vote is simply an ID, well they’ll have one,” Fleming said. “So make no mistake about it, that this is a part of a grand plan for the Democrat [sic] Party to make this nation into a single-party state, as they have already accomplished in California, and you see the devastating impact it’s having there.”
He added that Democrats “know that if they can’t win elections using American citizens, this is a good way to go around that.”
That’s quite a “grand plan.” It’s also ridiculous.
It’s true that under the president’s immigration policy, millions of undocumented immigrants will be protected from deportation. But the immigrants won’t suddenly become citizens — indeed, Congress would still need to approve bipartisan reform legislation to create a pathway to citizenship — and non-citizens still aren’t able to vote.
What’s more, the notion that Democrats “can’t win elections” by relying solely on American citizens is at odds with recent history. Dems seemed to do quite well in the 2006, 2008, and 2012 cycles, all of which pre-dated Obama’s “grand plan” conspiracy that Fleming is concerned about.
As for California, it’s true that Democrats are dominant, but that’s not the result of a conspiracy and/or massive voter fraud. It’s a consequence of voters rejecting Republican politics throughout much of the state.
As for “the devastating impact” California’s Democratic majority has had, it’s unclear what the congressman is complaining about. When it comes to job creation, economic growth, health care, and budgeting, it looks like the Golden State is doing pretty well, and by most metrics, is in better shape than Fleming’s Louisiana.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."