Rashida Tlaib skates on censure in vote that reveals bipartisan divides

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) escaped censure last night in a roll-call vote in the House of Representatives. But that vote obscured a divide in the House Democratic Conference, even as it revealed a Republican division. Furthermore, two competing ad buys suggest Rep. Tlaib will become a lightning rod and a flash point in the House.

Rashida Tlaib escapes censure

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) introduced a censure resolution as a privileged motion on Thursday, October 26.

Last night the House voted, 222 to 186, not to censure Rep. Tlaib, according to Todd Starnes. All Democrats – and 23 Republicans – voted for a motion to table the resolution. “Laying on the table” is the most common method known to parliamentary law to block a motion. Legislatures can theoretically take a motion or resolution off the table, but that’s rare.

A furious Rep. Greene shared this photograph of a list, printed in pica typeface, of the 23 Republican no votes.

Greene also listed 13 Republicans – including, oddly enough, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), the Speaker – who did not vote.Less than an hour later, Rep. Greene noted that Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.) – back, no doubt, from his fact-finding tour of the theater of the Fourth Arab-Israeli War – changed his vote from “Yes” to “No” on the motion to table.

The day after Greene introduced the resolution of censure, Rashida Tlaib exploded. Apparently carrying her fight to the House floor, she declaimed that she would not be “bullied,” “dehumanized,” or “silenced.” Greene, for her part, called Tlaib the “most antisemitic, anti-American, anti-Israel member of Congress.”

Greene introduced her resolution after Tlaib roused a mob on Insdependence Avenue, outside the Cannon House Office Building. She then led members of that mob into the building lobby.

Rep. Greene was on the scene and snapped some interesting images:

Evidence of division

Perhaps Rep. Johnson preferred not to vote because he believes he, as Speaker, should remain neutral on a censure resolution. But many of the other Republican “no” or “non” voters also voted against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) when he sought the Speakership. Many voters seem to feel they did so for the same reasons, which they (the voters) consider ignoble.

But a group calling itself Democratic Majority for Israel cut this ad on YouTube roundly criticizing Rashida Tlaib for her apparent support of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Arabic Harakah al-Muqāwamah al-Islāmiyyah, abbreviated HAMAS).

This advertisement is airing on the stations that serve the Detroit, Michigan television market.

But an apparent pro-HAMAS outlet calling itself MEANS TV shared a post on X, boasting that Tlaib supports them.

According to this article, the Democratic divide affects even White House staff. Furthermore, Arabs have indicated fresh refusals to vote for Biden over his apparent support of Israel. (CNAV says “apparent” because reports indicate Biden’s support might be ambiguous. Evidently he pressured Israel to restore Internet access to the Gaza territory.)