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sedition caucus
House Dems Rip Lance Gooden for 'Blatantly Racist' Attack on Rep. Judy Chu
"When we say Republican rhetoric and policies embolden anti-Asian hate and violence, this is what we mean," said Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
Feb 24, 2023
Democratic U.S. lawmakers and Asian-American and Pacific Islander advocates joined Rep. Judy Chu in condemning Congressman Lance Gooden on Friday after the MAGA Republican—who took part in an effort to overturn the last presidential election—cast aspersions upon the California Democrat's loyalty to the United States.
Gooden (Texas) appeared Wednesday on Fox News' "Jesse Watters Primetime" and suggested Chu—who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus—should be kept from seeing certain classified materials and investigated for defending Dominic Ng, a Chinese-American banker appointed by the Biden administration to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's Business Advisory Council.
"I question her either loyalty or competence," said Gooden. "If she doesn’t realize what's going on then she's totally out of touch with one of her core constituencies."
"After centuries of being targeted for not being 'American enough' and viewed with suspicion based on looking 'foreign,' this type of insinuation and fear-mongering only further endangers our communities."
Earlier this month, The Daily Caller—a far-right news site known for platforming xenophobes and white supremacists—published an article in which Gooden is quoted urging the FBI to "immediately launch an investigation" into Ng's alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party.
"Rep. Gooden's comments on Fox News questioning my loyalty to the USA is absolutely outrageous," Chu, the first Chinese-American woman elected to Congress, said in a statement reported by NBC News. "It is based on false information spread by an extreme, right-wing website. Furthermore, it is racist. I very much doubt that he would be spreading these lies were I not of Chinese-American descent."
\u201cDear @Lancegooden: I served in the US military (unlike you) to defend your right to say stupid, racist shit. Attacking the loyalty of Asian Americans like @RepJudyChu is a racist trope that has harmed Asian Americans throughout US history. Stop harming Americans of Asian descent.\u201d— Ted Lieu (@Ted Lieu) 1677198785
Chu's Democratic colleagues took to Twitter to condemn Goodman's remarks as "racist."
"Insinuating that Chair Chu is disloyal to the United States because she is Chinese-American is categorically wrong," the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) said in a statement. "This type of racist targeting and profiling of Chinese-Americans by right-wing extremists is not only xenophobic, it is incredibly dangerous."
"After centuries of being targeted for not being 'American enough' and viewed with suspicion based on looking 'foreign,' this type of insinuation and fear-mongering only further endangers our communities," the caucus added.
\u201cWhen we say Republican rhetoric and policies embolden anti-Asian hate and violence, this is what we mean.\n\nI'm proud to stand with @RepJudyChu and I condemn these racist and xenophobic comments by Rep. Gooden.\u201d— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley) 1677258002
Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) tweeted that "baseless, xenophobic, and blatantly racist attacks against Rep. Judy Chu by extreme MAGA Republicans are right out of their anti-American playbook."
"Rep. Chu is an exceptional public servant and leader," he added. "House GOP leadership: It's past time to hold your conference accountable."
Taking aim at Fox News for airing Gooden's "xenophobic and racist" attack, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asserted that "we cannot allow anti-Asian bigotry to go without condemnation."
Some observers noted that Gooden's remarks came just days after the anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's infamous executive order authorizing the concentration camp imprisonment of Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast—largely due to baseless concerns regarding their loyalty.
"More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated because of false claims of disloyalty because of their ethnic origin," tweeted Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, an interpretive center at the site of one of the World War II concentration camps. "The U.S. government apologized for it. Now the same kind of false claims are being made again."
\u201cWe will not stand by as racists like this one try to revive one of our ugliest moments in history. \ud83d\ude21 TY @RepJeffries & others for speaking up against ignorant fear mongering. We are American too. \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\u201d— Grace Meng (@Grace Meng) 1677201536
On Friday, Gooden doubled down on his remarks, accusing both Chu and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)—who published a statement defending the congresswoman—of "playing the race card in a sick display of disloyalty to our nation."
Gooden is a member of the so-called "Sedition Caucus" of nearly 150 Republicans in Congress who attempted to subvert the 2020 U.S. presidential election in service of former President Donald Trump's "Big Lie" that the contest was stolen.
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Big Business Gave Over $36 Million to GOP 'Sedition Caucus' in 2022 Election Cycle: Report
"With many of the same MAGA election deniers now holding powerful positions that could threaten democracy and fundamental voting rights, it's critical that corporations finally stand up to their extremism—not encourage more."
Feb 10, 2023
Since the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump, Fortune 500 companies and industry trade groups have given over $36 million to Republican members of Congress—the so-called "Sedition Caucus"—who attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, an analysis published Friday by the watchdog group Accountable.US revealed.
"The deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 was the result of months of election fraud lies spread far and wide by twice-impeached former President Trump and his allies. Even after all the violence that day, 147 members of Congress and eight U.S. senators kept the 'Big Lie' alive by voting against certifying the presidential election results in some states," Accountable.US noted in its report, which analyzed year-end Federal Election Commission filings for the 2022 election cycle.
"Many corporations publicly condemned the insurrection and those lawmakers who voted against certification, and some pledged to no longer donate to their campaigns. But as time has passed, the condemnation from corporate America over January 6 and the Big Lie appears to be abating," the group added. "Some of the corporations that pledged to stop funding the members who objected to certifying the election are quietly finding ways to give again."
\u201cNEW REPORT: Year-end filings revealed that major companies and trade groups donated at least $164,000 to the Sedition Caucus since Election Day \u2014 bringing the total to $36.3 million since the insurrection. \n\n\ud83e\uddf5 1/2\n\nhttps://t.co/vo4h8oR9gb\u201d— Accountable.US (@Accountable.US) 1676041373
According to the analysis, the top five donors to election objectors were the National Beer Wholesalers Association Political Action Committee ($894,500); National Automobile Dealers Association Political Action Committee ($829,500); American Bankers Association PAC ($779,000); Build Political Action Committee of The National Association of Home Builders ($663,500); and AT&T Inc. ($629,900).
Among corporations, after AT&T the biggest donors were Home Depot ($478,000); Lockheed Martin ($440,000); Boeing ($392,000); and Comcast ($382,000).
The top five election-objecting recipients were House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.); House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.); House Transportation Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.); House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.); and National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.).
The analysis also found that over two-thirds of the final lot of donations, amounting to $113,500, went to Sens. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who both objected to certifying President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory while they served in the House.
Corporate America's largesse toward Big Lie supporters stands in stark contrast with public proclamations from numerous company leaders in the wake of the January 6 insurrection. AT&T and Comcast even went so far as suspending donations to elected officials who voted against certifying the Electoral College votes, while announcing reviews of their campaign contribution policies and practices.
"Many corporations risked their reputations to reward millions to MAGA extremists in Congress that obstructed the democratic process even after a violent insurrection."
"Workers, customers, and shareholders want to work for, buy from, and invest in companies that share their values and democratic ideals," Accountable.US spokesperson Jeremy Funk said in a statement. "So many corporations risked their reputations to reward millions to MAGA extremists in Congress that obstructed the democratic process even after a violent insurrection. With many of the same MAGA election deniers now holding powerful positions that could threaten democracy and fundamental voting rights, it's critical that corporations finally stand up to their extremism—not encourage more."
Last month, a report by the government transparency watchdog showed that corporate PACs and industry trade groups have given more than $66 million to election objectors since the January 6 attack. The OpenSecrets analysis, which included more companies and PACs than the Accountable.US report, named most of the same industry groups and corporations in the top five donors—the National Association of Realtors ($909,000) topped its list—and congressional recipients as Accountable.US' list.
Also last month, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington issued its own analysis which found that just 65 of the more than 230 corporations and industry groups that "pledged to stop, pause, or re-evaluate their political giving to the 147 members of the so-called Sedition Caucus... have kept their promises not to give, while the rest have resumed giving."
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