Rep. Salud Carbajal predicts that "looney tunes Donald Trump" will lose to Kamala Harris on Nov. 5, while insisting that traditional legal and political "checks and balances" are strong enough to block incendiary policies the ex-president has promised should he win a second term.
Now seeking his fifth term in Congress, Carbajal on Monday also sought to justify his refusal to debate Republican foe Thomas Cole, saying that he does not want to platform what he called his opponent's "conspiracy MAGA theories," and "rhetoric of hate" about transgender people and immigrants (See Cole's statement responding to the comment below).
Two weeks before Election Day, the Democratic congressman from Santa Barbara also defended his support for the U.S. weapons pipeline to Israel amid widening war in the Mideast; called for an expanded federal tax credit for families who need childcare; and stated that he has worked to "secure our border" by supporting several legislative packages to reform immigration policy, which he blamed Trump for killing to benefit his presidential campaign.
"Trump has worked to kill all those bills because he transparently has said, 'I want to use that for political reasons, I don't want to solve our immigration challenges," Carbajal told Newsmakers. "And now he's taking that even further and said, 'I want to deport 12 to 13 million people that are in this country in an undocumented fashion, that are propping up our economy, our agriculture, you name it."
At a time when many Democrats are despondent and beset by dread at multiple polls that show the race between Vice President Harris and Trump dead even, both nationally and in half-a-dozen toss-up states, Carbajal's trademark sunniness provided a sharp political contrast.
At least for public consumption, he expressed confidence, not only about Harris's chances of success, but also about the resilience of the political system to withstand weeks, if not months, of potential confusion, delay and turmoil, as vote counts in key states drag on (looking at you, Pennsylvania) and partisans on local election boards across the U.S. bitterly tangle, as Trump and his supporters constantly bray that the election is stolen if he's not declared the winner.
"I think it's unfortunate that we are terribly divided as a nation, but I believe that the polls at the end of the day will demonstrate that Kamala Harris and (Minnesota Gov. Tim) Waltz are going to win," Carbajal said. "I will tell you, looney tunes Donald Trump, the chaos, dysfunction and extremism that he is spewing, is not going to be president."
After Republican House and Senate members tried in 2020 to find ways not to certify the election of Joe Biden, interrupted for a few hours by a deadly riot of hundreds of Trump insurrectionists seeking to block certification by violent means, multiple scenarios about election interference, chicanery and obstruction, both by legal and extra-legal means.are being disseminated in political circles and around the internet.
SB's favorite congressman, however, said that changes made, in the law and in the White House, would foil such exercises and actions.
"First and foremost, we know that there's two key differences now, than...when we saw the insurrection," he said. "One, Congress passed the Electoral College Count Reform Act, which codifies and clarifies the role that Congress has in certifying the electoral vote count. That I think was key...to make sure that we don't have the same questions that were pedaled about the role that Congress has in certifying the election. And that was done in a bipartisan way.
"Two, we have a president in office, President Biden, who will be there until inauguration January 20th, who has the ability to command and dispatch all the resources of the federal government to make sure that what Donald Trump tried to do does not transpire.
"Certainly we have states that are independent and can take certain actions, but the federal government will be in a stable position under the Biden administration up until inauguration," he added.
And if Trump wins, and moves to put in place radical ideas he has set forth in his campaign, from mass deportations to denial of federal emergency funds in response to wildfires in California?
"He wishes he could do all that," Carbajal said. "And certainly he has some level of authority to meddle and mess with things, but at the end of the day, it's not that simplistic.
"There are checks and balances, and while he might be able to do some damage, I can assure you he can't do the ridiculous things that he is espousing. And so don't forget chaos, dysfunction and extremism is what Donald Trump is all about. Not to mention lies, lies, lies."
Plus: Salud on Netanyahu, Measures I and P; and why his jones for bipartisanship is not to blame for normalizing Republican extremism. More.
JR
Check out our full interview with Salud Carbajal via YouTube below, or by clicking through this link. The podcast is here. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show weeknights at 8 p.m. and on weekends at 9 a.m. KCSB, 91.9FM, broadcasts the program on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
(We reached out to Tom Cole, the Republican candidate for the 24th Congressional District seat, for comment on Rep. Salud Carbajal's remarks about him, and he provided Newsmakers with this statement)
"Well, in the first place I’m not spewing hate against anyone. I disagree with Salud’s policies for instance. I believe young girls and women in school sports must be free from trans men competing against them, and in their locker rooms. And the Supreme Court just recently agreed. That’s not hate, it’s protecting our children.
"And on the border issues. I believe it’s wrong to have open borders, which my opponent has voted down the line with the Biden/Harris administration for.
"Importing 15 million new homeless guys, unvetted into our neighborhoods is hateful to America. Fifteen million means 30,000 new homeless people into every district in our nation. I am against that. We cannot have a welfare/sanctuary state and open borders. It is a recipe for disaster. That is not hate, that is protecting our people, our housing, our American culture, and our tax dollars.
"This smear as a hater is just that. A smear. I am a peace Republican, diplomats not cluster bombs. That is not hate. We must cut the printing (of money) and spending on proxy wars that kill millions around the globe.
"Our nation needs peace, border security, and parents rights to control and watch over their children’s education.. These are the big issues I am running on because I care about our people and our nation.
"I am asking the honorable Salud Carbajal to meet at the Santa Barbara Empathy Center, for an hour with a mediator of listening and expressing our differing strategies to help our communities and nation."
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