JASON RANTZ

Rantz: Rep. Denny Heck leans into Trump Derangement Syndrome, does more harm than Trump could

Jan 17, 2019, 6:38 AM | Updated: 8:18 am

Denny Heck...

Washington Congressman Denny Heck. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

I like Congressman Denny Heck and have had him on my show many times. I’ve always thought our conversations were civil and worthwhile, even when we disagree. And I love his willingness to come on, knowing we’ll likely disagree. I respected him.

But the Denny Heck we’ve recently seen on TV and heard on the radio is either suffering from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome or he’s in love with the new-found TV fame that he’s attracted by purposefully saying outrageous things that he can’t back up. It’s uncharacteristic of him.

Either way, he’s decisively not a reflection of his constituency, one he quickly insults when he calls the Commander in Chief a “Manchurian Candidate.”

He first used the scripted one-liner on CNN, before using the same line on Seattle’s Morning News. Indeed, he used much of the same script on SMN that he did on CNN, including comparing Trump to Nixon.

His language is problematic, if not nothing more than a way to get booked on CNN.

After implying President Trump is a puppet of the Russian government, sans any evidence, he claims the actions of Trump’s operatives “is not good for America.” I’d argue claiming the president is a puppet of a foreign government, when your district covers JBLM, is not good for America.

For all the lines Heck pre-writes before interviews, he has a tendency to contradict himself. On the one hand, he implies Trump is a criminal lying about working for Putin, while almost immediately backtracking from calls for impeachment and claiming “I’m of the school that believes that there is an awful lot of information that Bob Mueller has that we don’t have.”

So Trump is a criminal puppet of the Putin regime, but you’ve seen no evidence, don’t have the whole story, and you’re unwilling to commit to impeachment? How can you be so sure that Trump is a “Manchurian Candidate,” but not commit to impeachment?

“There is an avalanche of evidence that Trump’s campaign and the candidate himself were sympathetic to Russian positions, and were open to working with Russian affiliates and representatives, and frankly communicated very directly with very powerful oligarchs and Russian figures close to Vladimir Putin,” Heck said to SMN, with grave concern.

If this casts you as a Putin puppet, I’m trying to figure out what it would make President Obama, who pledged “flexibility” on missile defense after he won a second presidential term, or when Secretary Clinton suggested we “reset” our relationship with Russia.

I’ve no clue what Mueller is going to find. I tend to think anything suspect can be written off by a non-politician, egotistical businessman who gets angry when people tell him no, after living a professional life filled with yes-men. I’m definitely not trusting of the general media. Every day, one outlet reports something over-the-top that turns out to be nothing but absurd attacks masquerading as news. Many times, it’s literal fake news, making it really easy for the president to target them.

But if he broke the law, I certainly want to know and can react from there. I’m not above punishing him. I didn’t vote for him, his administration is too chaotic and I don’t like how he treats the presidency, even if I think many of his policies — and judicial direction — benefit the country.

It did seem rather telling that, on ABC News, Jon Karl said, “People closest to what Mueller is doing, interactive with the special counsel, cautioned me, that this report is certain to be anti-climatic.”

Heck is using the recent New York Times report to lob his latest one-liners and cast doubts on the president. The report suggests that, over a year and a half ago, the FBI initially opened an inquiry into whether or not the president was working for Russia, suspicious of the president for firing Comey (something weirdly similar to what Democrats supported before they realized he was a Trump foe).

Some important context: according to the report, “No evidence has emerged publicly that Mr. Trump was secretly in contact with or took direction from Russian government officials.” This seems important. But, assuming they found something showing Trump to be an actual “Manchurian Candidate” of some kind, can we all safely assume they wouldn’t wait a year and a half and might act? Perhaps they’re not because it’s a silly charge. Indeed, Karl reports, “Mueller did not go anywhere with that investigation.”

This doesn’t stop Heck from using it to gin up suspicions with Trump and if he’s successful at getting people to think Trump is a Putin puppet when he’s not, that does more harm than anything Trump could do.

“This is all about Russia trying to make America weaker,” Heck told SMN. “This is all about Russia trying to get the sanctions lessened, if not lifted …. We know the Trump administration is enormously sympathetic (to Russia).”

Congressman, there’s no doubt Russia is an enemy trying to make us weaker, seeking to create chaos, but I wonder if you’re doing the job for them with your unhinged rhetoric? You can make cogent, biting criticism without reverting to such cheap, dangerous shots. It might not get you on TV, but it might earn you back some of the respect you’ve lost.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show, at his new time, weekday afternoons from 3-6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Rantz: Rep. Denny Heck leans into Trump Derangement Syndrome, does more harm than Trump could