For a second time this year, we compiled a list of lawmakers who are most brazenly seeking attention.
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With a pair of malignant narcissists at the helm of the country, there are plenty of opportunities for GOP lawmakers to try to brown-nose their way to prominence.
Therefore, it is no surprise that Republicans once again dominated our monthly list of congressional performance artists, i.e., those politicians who use their office for stunts to get attention.
Surprisingly, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) dropped out of the Top Five. While the Queen Bee of the congressional performance caucus was diligently “holding the line,” that was simply not enough in February.
Instead, she is replaced at the top by Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter (R-GA), who introduced a piece of legislation that was so ridiculous that we recommended his expulsion.
If a lawmaker is spending his time (and taxpayer money) on bills like the “Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025,” he simply doesn’t deserve to be in Congress. This pathetic attempt at garnering attention would authorize President Donald Trump to “enter into negotiations to acquire Greenland and to rename Greenland as ‘Red, White, and Blueland.’”
While “Buddy” is an embarrassment to the country, he did earn the top spot on our list in February.
During the first two months of the year, a very obvious and unsurprising theme is developing: Republicans are falling all over themselves to flatter Trump and appeal to his massive ego with often clownish stunts.
Like Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), who introduced legislation to designate June 14 as “President Donald J. Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day.”
“No modern president has been more pivotal for our country than Donald J. Trump,” she stated. “As both our 45th and 47th President, he is the most consequential President in modern American history, leading our country at a time of great international and domestic turmoil.”
Well, based on the past week, Trump will have the opportunity to navigate a lot more turmoil… all of which he created.
However, contrary to what Tenney believes, when the dust settles, he will likely not be recognized as “the founder of America’s Golden Age,” but rather as the guy who did unfathomable harm to the United States and its reputation.
Next up is Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who embarrassed himself by announcing that he is working on a bill that would direct the (non-existent) Bureau of “Graving” and Printing to “design a $250 bill featuring Donald J. Trump.”
Since it is still in the draft stage, we suggest that he add language to the legislation that allows Americans to design the bill and then vote on it.
Then there is Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), who joined Trump’s ridiculous $10-billion lawsuit against CBS for some inexplicable reason. Well, that’s not true; the reason is that he wants attention.
“As a plaintiff in this lawsuit, I’m proud to stand with President Trump to ensure these media giants are held responsible for misleading the American people,” Jackson stated.
Of course, the people at Fox News, where the lawmaker frequently appears, probably feel very differently about this. Because, if media companies are held to account for “misleading the American people,” then Rupert Murdoch will end up in a pauper’s grave.
As in our first ranking of the year, the list also includes a Democrat.
This time it’s Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI).
If you follow our work, then you know that we have a rule about legislation: If its name forms an acronym, then you know it’s a publicity stunt.
And the “Eliminate Looting of Our Nation by Mitigating Unethical State Kleptocracy (ELON MUSK) Act” certainly fits that bill.
That being said, we agree with the intent of the legislation, which is to prevent “special government employees” from profiting from government contracts.
“No government employee, ‘Special’ or not, should have any financial interest in who the government does business with. Elon Musk is the poster child for this type of potential abuse,” said Pocan. “After more than $20 billion in federal contracts, there’s no way Musk can be objective in what he’s doing.”
While Pocan is certainly right about that, we are still including him on this month’s list.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
