Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election have since taken $149,500 from Pfizer
Kevin McCarthy is one of the top recipients
This week marked the two year anniversary of the January 6th Insurrection. Also this week, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), an election denier and Insurrection minimizer, was sworn in to replace Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as Speaker of the House after an embarrassing umpteen rounds of voting.
January 6th 2021 should have been a wake up call for the country and a bipartisan unifying moment against Trumpism. Instead, thanks to people like McCarthy, it became a further division with elected lawmakers betraying their oath to uphold the Constitution. Accountable.US has been tracking donations to politicians who voted against the certification of the 2020 presidential election per their mission:
Shedding light on the Fortune 500 corporations and big corporate lobbyists funding the 2020 Election objectors since January 2021—including those that broke their promises not to donate to their campaigns.
Speaker-elect McCarthy is the largest recipient of post-J6 donations from companies who swore not to back election deniers.
In addition to promoting the election Big Lie, the far-right has preached the Vaccine Big Lie. However, such anti-truth politicians have accepted a total of $149,500 in campaign donations from Pfizer since January 2021, despite their attacks on “Big Pharma” in attempts to make the proven safe and effective Covid vaccines carry their ongoing culture war.
Of note on this list are McCarthy himself as well as MDs Greg Murphy (R-NC) and Michael Burgess (R-TX) and pharmacist Buddy Carter (R-GA).
We have pointed to overlap in the Big Lie and Covid disinformation (look no further than America’s Frontline Doctors’ embattled, insurrectionist front woman Simone Gold) and the hypocrisy of Ron Johnson (R-WI) platforming disinformation doctor and known Big Pharma grifter Peter McCullough. It appears this hypocrisy is here to stay - and be sworn in - under vaccinated McCarthy’s new leadership.
While the individual donations are small in comparison to GOP mega donors like Charles Koch, the very fact that they have happened is worth noting given the rhetoric surrounding vaccines originating from the right.
1. If Big Pharma is the enemy then why take any money from them, McCarthy et al? Certainly weakens your position…
2. Why is Pfizer spending money on campaign donations to those vilifying their company?
3. How quickly do we forget? Apparently with big business, that answer is <2 years.
We would like to take the time to point out that we have taken $0 from pharma.