Post #7476 Jackass of the Year 2025

 

Henry Cueller

Courtesy of ABC News

2025 Jackass of the Year

This post is an annual blog tradition. a mock award of Democratic politicians behaving badly. It doesn't come with a trophy or prize, just a few bytes in cyberspace. I typically select some notorious politician involved in a corruption/other scandal, the most recent one being outgoing NYC Mayor Adams.

A quick blurb from Wikipedia explains the gist of why I've selected Congressman Cuellar:

A couple of personal notes about the congressman's background. My Dad had been assigned to then Laredo AFB, TX., and I and most base high school students attended Laredo United High, about a mile west across barren ranch land from the base. I think that the owner wanted too much for an easement to the school, so school buses had to do a sideways U-turn through downtown. I probably cut across that field a dozen or two times past the sounds of rattlers and cacti, rather than wait for school buses. I do think that some base kids attended Nixon, one of 2 prominent Laredo high schools (the other being Martin), around the time Cuellar attended. The AFB closed I think around 1974.

The other thing is that Cuellar considers himself a (now rare) conservative Democrat. In fact, AOC and her allies targeted Cuellar's seat in 2020 and 2022. nearly succeeding in primarying him. When Cuellar (older than me) and I attended high school, Texas was largely a 1-party state since Reconstruction, with just John Tower in the Senate GOP, and a few Republican districts, e.g., around Houston. In fact, I was a conservative Texas Democrat, and most of us were marginalized out of the party by progressives by the 80's under Reagan. I'm not sure what a conservative Democrat in today's Democratic party, but I noticed he earned an MS from the Naval War College this year. He is probably more pro-life than most Democrats and less tolerant of sanctuary cities and immigrant crimes.

Trump has been upset at Cuellar for not switching parties and filing for reelection after Trump recently pardoned him.. I believe Cuellar ran ahead of Trump last fall, winning reelection in a district Trump carried.