Republicans love citing the Founding Fathers. Specifically they love to publicly presume what they would be for and against were they around today (presuming they could make heads or tails of, among other things, our magical-seeming technology). Along similar lines, non-Republicans love dragging Republicans when they make wild assumptions about the men who founded America. Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, one of the most dunkable people on Twitter, caught heat last last year when he claimed they would be against life-saving pandemic safety restrictions.
Now a far more obscure GOP lawmaker is getting mocked for much the same thing. Mike Rounds, former governor of South Dakota and now one of its senators, was not pleased that the House spent part of Monday debating whether to grant statehood to Washington D.C., which has long had zero representation in Congress, despite having a larger population that some entire states. Republicans have long opposed such an idea, while Democrats put it on their to-do list after taking control of all three bodies of government.
Rounds was against the idea, too, and he took to Twitter to make his argument. “The Founding Fathers never intended for Washington D.C. to be a state,” Rounds declared. He then said the quiet part loud, pointing out that D.C. is largely comprised of Democratic voters.
The Founding Fathers never intended for Washington D.C. to be a state.#DCStatehood is really about packing the Senate with Democrats in order to pass a left-wing agenda.
Just look at the DC voter registration data:
🔵 76.4% Democrat
🔴 5.7% Republican— Senator Mike Rounds (@SenatorRounds) March 22, 2021
But most naysayers dwelled on the first part — the one where Rounds simply cited his idea of what George Washington and company would think in 2021. Some pointed out that they would be shocked to find the state in which he made his political career even existed.
I don't think the Founding Fathers had any intentions regarding South Dakota either, and yet https://t.co/9F7ma6PbAu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/JamesFallows/status/1374187580980228097
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1374192209004789764
Others pointed out they would be against free black people, too.
The Founding Fathers never intended for me to be free. https://t.co/irVEe4IEq8
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) March 23, 2021
The "Founding Fathers" also never intended for me to be five-fifths of a person, but GO OFF Big Mike. https://t.co/KWrBqInert
— tré easton (@treeaston) March 23, 2021
The founding fathers never intended for me to be viewed as a human in the eyes of the Constitution of this country. https://t.co/vcfgKXk9lS
— Michael Tubbs (@MichaelDTubbs) March 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/PhilodoxPils/status/1374189928657997826
Ditto other groups.
If you come at me with "The Founding Fathers never intended for *insert right wing nut job talking point*, I'm going to smile and remind your dumb ass that the Founding Fathers & Framers never intended for women, or black people, to vote either, but here we are. Deal with it.
— ⚜️ Jax Persists ⚜️ (@LadyJayPersists) March 23, 2021
The Founding Fathers denied the vote to the majority of the citizens, which included native or indigenous ppl. And all non property holders. Let’s move on. https://t.co/vHmudMbtKQ
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) March 23, 2021
There were lots of things the Founding Fathers would be appalled at now.
Things the Founding Fathers also never intended:
– Black people to have equal rights
– Slavery to be abolished
– Women to be able to vote
– Senators to be picked by voters not state legislatures
– South Dakota and North Dakota to be two separate states https://t.co/GoL7vsIZz8— Michael A. Cohen (NOT TRUMP’S FORMER FIXER) (@speechboy71) March 23, 2021
The Founding Fathers never intended taxation without representation to be the American Way, either. https://t.co/FaoqsH87iv
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) March 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/LibsInAmerica/status/1374149320883253250
Although they would also definitely be against the failed MAGA coup of January 6.
The Founding Fathers never intended Senators to wimp out and abandon their oaths when a tyrant used the presidency to try to overthrow the Republic, but you thought that was okay, so? https://t.co/8k365mdWfu
— Ian Bassin 🇺🇦 (@ianbassin) March 23, 2021
Oh and by the way, Rounds was also technically wrong.
Here we go with another unqualified Congressman
You are wrong!
The founding fathers gave to the Congress, as is written in the United States Constitution, the power to admit new states to the Union under (Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1).
PERIOD! https://t.co/OrEP0YlxKe
— ᑕᗩT (Mixed Breed)🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@RememberMeYeah) March 23, 2021