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Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day: Christopher Smith- 2023 Update [1]
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Date: 2023-06-24
On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, as well as 2022, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” published profiles of the current U.S. House Representative from New Jersey’s 4th Congressional District, Christopher Smith, who is currently serving in his 19th term in office, and who we gave praise for his work in stopping international child sex trafficking. That however, does not change the fact that Smith is one of the worst anti-abortion zealots in our entire government, and has been linked to "7 Mountains" Dominionist groups of Fundamentalists who believe Christians are destined to take over all of American life.
He has compared abortion to the Holocaust, and referred to it as "child slaughter" and prior to the 2012 election as well as in 2015 said that Barack Obama is “the abortion president” who has promoted “radically pro-abortion” people to the government who are promoting “evil” with an “anti-child, anti-woman mentality.” Not surprisingly, whenever a controversial pro-life bill hits the floor of the House, Rep. Smith is usually a sponsor or co-sponsor, including Personhood legislation, and attempts to redefine the definition of "rape" by doing things like classifying if it's "forcible" rape or not.
When the Center for Medical Progress released their fraudulent video to frame Planned Parenthood (which Smith refers to PP as “Child Abuse, Inc”) in 2015, Smith still didn't hesitate to fire off one of the most unhinged press releases when the story first hit, graphically describing "crushing babies" and accusing Planned Parenthood supposedly selling "baby body parts". (Which were the exact things the mass shooter at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood was rambling about… so nice use of stochastic terror triggers there, Rep. Smith!
As extreme as he is on the issue of abortion, he's also rather appalling on the issue of LGBTQ rights, not just being opposed to gay marriage, but trying to argue that homosexual rights are not human rights, and going with Rep. Trent Franks to the United Nations to demand they not give recognition to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, siding with nations against them like Egypt, Angola, Burundi, China, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia and Sudan. (In all those countries but China, LGBTQ people can be jailed, fined, or whipped.) Nothing like allying yourself with the world’s classiest countries to deny rights to gays, right?
Christopher Smith was still re-elected in 2022 with 67% of the vote, and his voting record since shows he’s still feverishly hyper-conservative:
Again, we want to be clear. Congressman Chris Smith has done a great deal of good with the office he has held for 40 years. His work in preventing human trafficking is commendable. He has, in the past few years, argued for a permanent renewal of the Zadroga Act. But when it comes to women's rights and LGBTQ rights... well, those are a whole other story. He still demonizes Planned Parenthood and calls them “Child Abuse, INC” when he speaks in front of religious right groups. However, outside of “safe places” where he panders to his own element, Smith has spent the better part of the past four years hiding from his constituents in New Jersey’s 4th District like a coward rather than face them regarding a lot of his votes, and they were forced to host a town hall without him in February 2017. Of course, Rep. Smith hasn’t hosted a town hall in over a quarter century, so there’s that.
New Jersey’s 4th District still has a +8 Republican lean, and Christopher Smith is now trying his best to blend in with the worst members of his party, claiming in the wake of the attack on the Capitol that he’d seen protesters with “hammer and sickle tattoos”, because you just know all those folks weren’t Trump supporters, they were secret communists so committed to framing Trump supporters for their crimes that they couldn’t be bothered to wear sleeves. Meanwhile, weeks later, he became one of the few Republicans to have been in Congress long enough to vote to impeach Bill Clinton for lying about a blowjob that also voted against impeaching Donald Trump for attempting a violent coup upon our country’s legislative branch. However, in spite of his loyalty when it came to Trump’s coup attempt, Trump felt extremely wounded when Chris Smith voted for the infrastructure bill and called on any New Jersey Republican to come forward and primary him out of office (nobody had the balls to take on a 4 decade Congressman, knowing Trump’s endorsement would likely mean f*** all in New Jersey, where they know him all too well).
This is a man who when our country needed him the most, left it wanting. Just having someone with a modicum of a spine and a grip on reality would have been nice.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/24/2177306/-Fanatical-Republican-Extremist-of-the-Day-Christopher-Smith-2023-Update
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