7 reasons Republican Martha McSally is the worst

  • 05/02/2020 10:39 am ET Samantha Weller
McSally

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Arizona Senator Martha McSally’s standing in the election isn’t looking too good since her opponent Mark Kelly raised almost $6.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to McSally’s $2 million.

In a recent OH Predictive Insights poll Mark Kelly had a nine-point lead over McSally. McSally’s reputation for lying and incendiary remarks about “liberal hacks” has turned independent voters off according to the poll. According to Politifact, 66% of her remarks as mostly false.In addition to the two dozen who are wholly assigned to the task, there are countless other federal employees and people in local U.S. communities working on violent extremism, so it wouldn’t be limited to “less than two dozen” as McSally suggests.

Here are seven reasons McSally does not appear to be very trustworthy or stable.

1. Healthcare

Trump's administration is tricking healthcare insurance shoppers into buying "junk plans"

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McSally voted with the Republican Party to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, which Obama signed to ensure companies would provide health coverage to people with preexisting conditions. But despite voting against healthcare for people with preexisting conditions, she went on to lie about her support for them receiving healthcare.

When she refused to answer where she stood on a Republican lawsuit that was trying to overturn Obamacare, she claimed: “I support making sure everybody that has a preexisting condition can get access to health insurance, and they are not denied by insurance companies.”

She also made an ad that claims she is “leading the fight to secure our border, force insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions and protect girls and women from sex trafficking.”

2. The U.S.’s Coronavirus response

McSally

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McSally has been called Trump’s ‘chief cheerleader’ by The Arizona Republic, and she seemed to side with a lot of controversial decisions and statements Trump made.

McSally declined to respond to questions about a New York Times report that one of Trump’s trade representatives warned the White House in January that the coronavirus could devastate the economy and impact the lives of millions.

Like Trump, She also blamed China for the coronavirus outbreak. In an interview with Fox News host Neil Cavuto, McSally said:

“We’re learning more about the virus every day and, unfortunately, because of China’s communist coverup of it, we could have learned all of this back in January.”

When Cavuto tried to redirect her by asking about the economy and the health of Americans, she again dodged the question. Instead, she continued blaming China saying “never trust a communist. China is to blame for this pandemic and the death of thousands of Americans …”

Cavuto called her out about the warning signs seemingly being ignored as he said: “there’s a possibility here within the White House itself they knew about this as well and didn’t do anything.”

3. Violent Extremism

McSally

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In 2015, McSally compared the number of IRS agents to the number of people “countering violent extremism” during a conference that was held after the Paris terror attacks.

During a discussion to propose a bill that would require Obama to develop a plan to defeat the Islamic state, McSally said “We have 10,000 IRS agents making sure that you don’t take an improper charity deduction and less than two dozen people focusing on countering violent extremism at home,” which made her seem like she doesn’t understand what IRS agents actually do.

According to Politifact, the IRS’s job is much broader than merely checking tax returns. McSally also didn’t seem to understand that countering violent extremism isn’t the same thing as fighting it.

Furthermore, Politifact states that there has been an indication that two dozen federal employees were ‘focused solely on countering violent extremism.’ IIn addition to the two dozen who are wholly assigned to the task, there are countless other federal employees and people in local U.S. communities working on violent extremism, so it wouldn’t be limited to “less than two dozen” as McSally suggests.

4. ‘Liberal Hacks’

McSally

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When CNN reporter Manu Raju asked McSally about claims that Trump was involved in a pressure campaign in Ukraine, she declined to answer and instead called Raju a “liberal hack.”

Raji had simply asked her if she was going to support the calling of witnesses during the Senate impeachment trial. After criticism started rolling in, she doubled down on her comments:

Later on, McSally seemed to try to capitalize on her “liberal hacks” statement as she posted a tweet for liberalhacks.com and selling a shirt with the comment. She also sent out emails with the link to buy a shirt with the “liberal hacks” comment and the message “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m not in the Senate to play politics, especially with liberal hacks who profit off of spin.” The hawking of her T-shirts led many to question whether she made the remarks solely to sell merchandise and fund her campaign.

5. Arizona Ventilators

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In early April, McSally praised Trump for shipping more ventilators to Arizona. In a tweet, she announced the “huge news for Arizona!”

Her announcement quickly garnered criticism. Kenneth Heintz said in a since-deleted tweet, “Clearly Trump is rewarding political er allies with life-saving equipment and supplies. The stench of this corruption, to which you are a party, is nauseating.”

Many other users also questioned if Trump only provided ventilators to Arizona as a favor towards McSally’s re-election.

6. Stock Scandal

Welfare for Wall Street

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McSally accepted over $40,000 in campaign funding from senators who were involved in a trading scandal. After a private congressional briefing about the coronavirus on January 24, some Republican senators traded millions in stocks. The selloffs led to accusations of profiting from insider knowledge, according to a report from American Independent.

Some who were involved in the scandal, including Sens. Kelly Loeffler and Richard Burr, donated to McSally’s campaign. During a tele-town hall, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said, “If it is proven that they’ve done something illegal or unethical, they will have to be significantly punished.” McSally agreed, “If these allegations are true, they need to be held accountable.”

But despite this, McSally has refused to return the donations. In an April 9 statement, a spokesperson with American Bridge, Zach Hudson, said: “Martha McSally is funding her campaign with contributions from the same corrupt Republican Senators she’s now criticizing.” Hudson went on to say that if she does not return the money, her criticism is just “empty talk from a senator who is about to lose her second Senate race in two years.

7. Violating Election Laws

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McSally’s funds have long been controversial. In 2019, she was fined $23,000 to settle campaign finance violations from the 2014 election.

After experts hired by the FEC reviewed all activity between 2012 and 2014, they found that McSally’s 2014 House campaign took over $300,000 in excessive contributions from 117 people. They also found that McSally’s campaign did not correctly disclose around $33,000 from political action committees, according to a report by U.S. News.

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