Sen. James Lankford has earned a reputation as a very conservative Republican from a ruby-red state. Some GOP senators are occasionally condemned by the right as “RINOs” — “Republicans In Name Only” — for infrequent displays of independence, but the Oklahoman isn’t one of them. His far-right bona fides, cultivated over 13 years on Capitol Hill, are unquestioned.
At least they were unquestioned.
Lankford spent four months doing real legislative work, forging a multifaceted compromise on border policy, immigration policy, and security aid. Given his credibility in far-right circles, and the strength of the bill, the senator predicted as recently as a month ago that the bipartisan package would receive as many as 70 votes.
A month later, Lankford’s bill is effectively dead — killed by his own party, the day after he and his negotiating partners unveiled it. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is making his displeasure with the senator known, boasting yesterday that he didn’t endorse Lankford’s 2022 re-election bid, despite the fact that the former president really did endorse Lankford’s 2022 re-election bid.
The Oklahoma Republican was rather candid when describing his frustrations to CNN.
“I’m frustrated when people put out intentionally false information. I expect more. There are policy disagreements on that, I get that. If people think that politics are wrong, and now we’re in a presidential year, so let’s not help Biden in the process, we’re just going to disagree on that. I get frustrated when people put out things that are intentionally false, that they know are false, because I expect more of Americans.”
The comments came on the heels of a Fox News interview in which Lankford also said, “The key aspect of this, again, is, are we as Republicans going to have press conferences and complain the border is bad and then intentionally leave it open?”
To be sure, the GOP lawmaker’s frustrations are understandable. Lankford invested a considerable amount of time, effort, and political capital into an important legislative effort; he and his negotiating partners came up with a solution they deemed credible; and he quickly discovered that his own ostensible allies subjected his bill to a misinformation campaign for petty and unserious reasons. But what struck me as especially notable about the Oklahoman’s complaints is their familiarity. In recent years, it’s been Democrats who’ve made nearly identical, word-for-word complaints in response to GOP misinformation campaigns. “We’re frustrated when people put out intentionally false information,” they’ve said. “We expect more,” they’ve said. “We get frustrated when people put out things that are intentionally false, that they know are false, because we expect more of Americans,” they’ve said. I don’t blame Lankford for being aggravated, but I can’t help but notice that the Oklahoma Republican suddenly knows what it’s like to be a congressional Democrat.
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."
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