Sen. Mike Lee ripped into a massive election reform bill on Wednesday morning, saying the proposal was “written by the devil himself.”
Lee attacked HR1, the sweeping election, voting, and ethics bill passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives this week, during an appearance on Fox & Friends, hyperbolically suggesting nefarious origins.
“I disagree with every single word in HR1, including the words ‘but’ and ‘the,’” said Lee. “Everything about this bill is rotten to the core. It was written and held by the devil himself.”
Republicans have objected to many of the measures in the bill, including nationwide automatic voter registration, several campaign finance reforms, and a requirement that every state use an independent commission for redistricting to reduce political gerrymandering.
Lee vehemently objected to a provision that sets several national voter registration and mail-in voting standards, suggesting it was a power grab by Democrats.
“Apparently this is an effort to ensure an institutional revolutionary Democratic Party of sorts that can remain in power for many decades to come. It does this by taking away these decisions from the states. American elections have been conducted at the state and local level. They are completely flipping that principle on its head so these things can be micromanaged from Washington. That is wrong. That is unconstitutional,” Lee added.
Republicans at the state level across the country are pushing hundreds of bills designed to restrict ballot access and voting. Some of those include curtailing vote-by-mail or cutting back on early voting.
President Joe Biden has been under attack from Republicans for not holding a news conference since his inauguration. That’s allowed the GOP to revive an attack on Biden they employed frequently during the 2020 election, suggesting his age has led to reduced mental acuity.
Lee amplified that criticism by not so subtly suggesting Vice President Kamala Harris might really be running things in the White House, especially with news reports she’s been conducting calls with foreign leaders.
“It does beg the question why he’s not doing this. If she’s taking the calls with foreign leaders, what on Earth is he doing? Maybe he’s performing some advanced mathematical algorithm because he doesn’t want to take questions from reporters. But, if he’s not going to do those press interviews, I would like to know what he’s doing that’s so time-consuming,” said Lee mockingly.
