#2604: Mo Brooks

“Alabama wingnut” doesn’t have a particularly sympathetic ring to it, and Mo Brooks delivers precisely what you expect. Morris Jackson “Mo” Brooks Jr. is a major promoter of conspiracy theories, a wingnut, white supremacy apologist, Trump sycophant and, until 2023, member of the House of Representatives from Alabama. That is on top of being the kind of person who is opposed to government-funded healthcare or restrictions on insurance companies when it comes to charging more for people with pre-existing conditions because, as he says, people who lead “good lives” don’t tend to have pre-existing conditions.

 

Brooks was a central figure in making false claims about voter fraud in the period between the election and January 6. Dimly aware that his role in the riots (urging the crowds to “fight” just prior: “today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass”) could reflect badly on himself, he was quick to claim that Antifa was responsible (he later had to recant). His January 6. speech to primarily self-declared Nazis consisted largely of Christian nationalist talking points, and claiming, without any indication of evidence, that over one million illegal immigrants voted for Biden in the 2020 election (he specifically objected to counting Arizona’s electoral votes on that basis) – “if only lawful votes by eligible American citizens were cast, Donald Trump won the Electoral College by a significant margin”, said Brooks, after having done an intuitive calculation on his PIDOOMA numbers; “in my judgment, the evidence is overwhelming and compelling that the Dec. 3, 2020 elections were the most voter fraud and election theft riddled of any election in United States history,” says Brooks and goes on to completely fail to elaborate on the nature of or even provide any shred of indication of the existence of the evidence he refers to.

 

According to Brooks, Biden promised to create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants in order to get their votes. He also sought a Presidential pardon in the waning days of the Trump administrations, which was not granted – just in case. He nevertheless went on to defend Trump’s election lies, repeating Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and alleging that socialists were taking over the government. Trump endorsed Brooks in April 2021, but when Brooks announced his candidacy for the US Senate seat being vacated, Trump rescinded his endorsement in March 2022 because Brooks refused to “immediately” remove Biden from office and illegally hold a new presidential election. Brooks subsequently lost the primary. It is hard to fathom, even taking how his mind works into consideration, that Brooks could have failed to foresee that this would inevitably be the outcome of the strategy he was choosing.

 

In August 2021, after a Trump supporter made a bomb threat against Capitol Hill, Brooks put out a defense: “generally speaking, I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and the very fabric of American society. The way to stop Socialism’s march is for patriotic Americans to fight back in the 2022 and 2024 elections. I strongly encourage patriotic Americans to do exactly that more so than ever before. Bluntly stated, America’s future is at risk.” Yes, he defends terrorism. Explicitly.

 

Brooks is a climate change denialist. In 2018, during a hearning of the House Science, Space, and Technology Commitee, Brooks not only repeated the tired denialist claim that the Antarctic ice cap is actually growing, but added his own take: that rising sea levels are caused by rocks falling into the sea: “Now you have got less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up”, explained Brooks. He wasn’t nominated for a Nobel Prize that year either.

 

Brooks is opposed to immigration, nominally because “illegal aliens give America drug-resistant tuberculosis and other diseases that threaten all of us.” He has also said that immigration reform is part of a “war on whites” – even Laura Ingraham was uncomfortable with that quote, but Brooks was presumably primarily addressing his Alabama voter base.

 

Oh, yeah – and Brooks has more recently been pushing anti-vaccine talking points, e.g. calling the COVID vaccines “experimental” in July 2021 – that is a talking point you have gotten from organized antivaxx groups. He also claimed that some masks “help spread COVID-19” and that “time will reveal that masks [yes, it’s the I will have evidence in the future gambit]… endanger the health of those who wear them,” suggesting that they increase risk of heat stroke, oxygen loss and cancer. He was as careful as he usually is when it comes to providing evidence for these easily debunked claims.

 

Diagnosis: A cartoon character of deranged wingnuttery and conspiracy mongering, and any reasonable person would recognize him as such from a mile away. He remains popular with his voter base, though.