To the extent that Rep. Scott Perry is known to national audiences, the Pennsylvania Republican is generally recognized as the far-right congressman who played a notorious role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Remember the allegations that then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows literally set fire to papers in his office after a meeting with a congressional Republican? The lawmaker in question was Perry. Remember when the public learned of radical text messages Meadows received from Republican allies in the runup to Jan. 6, including one House member who pushed unusually bonkers conspiracy theories about votes being changed by “Italian satellites”? That was Perry, too.
But three years later, the GOP lawmaker doesn’t just want to deny President Joe Biden the office he rightfully earned, Perry also wants to deny the Democrat an opportunity to deliver a State of the Union address. Politico reported:
Conservative Rep. Scott Perry suggested that House Republicans rescind President Joe Biden’s State of the Union invitation for March 7 over immigration and border policies. “We need to use every single point of leverage,” Perry said on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria.” “He comes at the invitation of Congress, and Republicans are in control of the House. There’s no reason that we need to invite him to get more propaganda.”
The video of the on-air comments suggested that Perry wasn’t kidding.
In all likelihood, the House leadership will not take this seriously and Biden will deliver an address to a joint session of Congress, as planned, on March 7. But what struck me as especially notable about Perry’s rhetoric was the familiarity of the circumstances.
Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.
In early 1999, the political environment in Washington, D.C., bordered on surreal. President Bill Clinton had just been impeached. House Speaker Newt Gingrich had just been ousted from his leadership post, forced out by his own…
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