Controversial conservative Governor Paul LePage (R-Maine) has been a long-time supporter of President Donald Trump and his vision for America. However, that may be changing after LePage used some color language to express his dissatisfaction with Trump’s plan to allow Obamacare to “implode” or “blow up.”
On Tuesday, the governor spoke about Trump’s recent legislative defeat on George Hale Ric Tyler Show on WVOM Maine. While LePage didn’t mention the president by name, he repeatedly referenced Trump’s strategy to allow Obamacare to die on its own, instead of trying again to pass conservative legislation.
The governor said:
“Oh, yeah, yeah, so let’s keep hurting the American people. That’s about as sensible as go jump off a bridge. That makes no sense. If you are telling people let it fail so the American people can get hurt more and when they get hurt more maybe we’ll do something, why don’t you go jump off a bridge? That’s just about as sensible.”
LePage also tore into the House Freedom Caucus, the Tea Party group of legislators who are mostly responsible for killing Trumpcare. He stated that he hoped they all lost their bids for re-election in 2018:
“I am very discouraged with a lot of Republican governors. Because they sat on the sidelines. I am really, really—I’m probably the most conservative governor in the United States of America. And certainly one of the most conservative. And to have the Freedom Caucus sit on the sidelines and let the Democrats win. Shame on them. I honestly hope every single one gets defeated next year. No difference between a Democrat and a Republican if you hide in the closet.”
The Maine Governor also predicted that the U.S. was headed for a “constitutional crisis.”
LePage said:
“The reason it got scrapped, Ric, I think is a very bad omen for the United States of America. I think we’re heading into a constitutional crisis. I think that Congress has not been working now. This is about the second time, it didn’t work under Obama and it’s not working under this president. Obviously we are out to a really bad start. I’m really concerned. I’m really, really concerned that the federal government is broken and I think probably beyond repair.”
“This was not a party issue. This wasn’t between the two parties. This was within a party. And I’m really disappointed in the Republican Party. I think they can’t stay together. One things Democrats do is they hang together. They either hang individually or they hang together. We don’t do that. We’re a bunch of solo, independent people and you can’t run a nation with people being mavericks.”
“…Withdraw the state and go do our own thing.”
He also said that he would actively campaign against Republicans who “hid” from killing Obamacare:
“What’s the federal government gonna do? I mean, they sit and they go hide, they don’t want to do anything so we have to take care of our people. The people are number one and if Congress can’t see that, shame on them. And I’ll tell you, I’m gonna get a list of everyone that hid, that didn’t want to show up, and we’re going to have to campaign against these people.”
For those unfamiliar with Maine’s outspoken governor, here’s a little history:
- February 2016: LePage accused foreign refugees of bringing disease such as “AIDS” and the “Zika fly” (or the Zika virus) with them to the U.S.
- June 2013: During a heated budget debate, LePage said that then-state Senate Majority Leader Troy Jackson (D):
“…Claims to be for the people but he’s the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline.”
- May 2013: After Democrats had blocked him from speaking with an appropriations committee about the state budget, LePage said:
“The minute we start stifling our speech, we might as well go home, roll up our sleeves and get our guns out.”
- January 2014: LePage openly advocated for child labor, insisting that the state should consider lowering the legal working age from 16 to 12. LePage told the Portland Press-Herald:
“We don’t allow children to work until they’re 16, but two years later when, they’re 18, they can go to war and fight for us. That’s causing damage to our economy. I started working far earlier than that, and it didn’t hurt me at all. There is nothing wrong with being a paperboy at 12 years old, or at a store sorting bottles at 12 years old.”
- January 2016: LePage accused black drug dealers with names like “D-Money,” “Smoothy,” and “Shifty” of coming to his state to sell drugs and impregnate white women. Later he claimed that he wasn’t referring to a particular race:
“These are guys by the name D-Money, Smoothy, Shifty. These type of guys that come from Connecticut and New York. They come up here and sell heroin, then they go back home.”
“Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we’ve got another issue we have to deal with down the road.”
- August 2016: Months after his totally “non-racist” remarks about drug dealers coming to Maine to sell heroin and impregnate white women, LePage said this regarding people of color:
“Look, a bad guy is a bad guy, I don’t care what color it is. When you go to war, if you know the enemy, the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, you shoot at red, don’t you? You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy. And the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority right now coming in are people of color or people of Hispanic origin. I can’t help that. I just can’t help it. Those are the facts.”
This is the man who thinks that Trump is crazy for waiting for Obamacare to “implode” or “explode” on its own before doing anything. So you know things are bad when LePage becomes the voice of reason on any issue.
Here are some of the governor’s greatest hits:
Featured images via YouTube and YouTube.
