Salud Foresees Harris Victory; If Trump Wins, “Checks and Balances” Will Thwart Extremism; Why He Won’t Debate

October 23, 2024, 10:22 am 1.4k Views 108 Comments

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Rep. Salud Carbajal predicts that “looney tunes Donald Trump” will lose to Kamala Harris on Nov. 5, while insisting that traditional legal and political “checks and balances” are strong enough to block incendiary policies the ex-president has promised should he win a second term.

Now seeking his fifth term in Congress, Carbajal on Monday also sought to justify his refusal to debate Republican foe Thomas Cole, saying that he does not want to platform what he called his opponent’s “conspiracy MAGA theories,” and “rhetoric of hate” about transgender people and immigrants (See Cole’s statement responding to the comment below).

Two weeks before Election Day, the Democratic congressman from Santa Barbara also defended his support for the U.S. weapons pipeline to Israel amid widening war in the Mideast; called for an expanded federal tax credit for families who need childcare; and stated that he has worked to “secure our border” by supporting several legislative packages to reform immigration policy, which he blamed Trump for killing to benefit his presidential campaign.

“Trump has worked to kill all those bills because he transparently has said, ‘I want to use that for political reasons, I don’t want to solve our immigration challenges,” Carbajal told Newsmakers. “And now he’s taking that even further and said, ‘I want to deport 12 to 13 million people that are in this country in an undocumented fashion, that are propping up our economy, our agriculture, you name it.”

At a time when many Democrats are despondent and beset by dread at multiple polls that show the race between Vice President Harris and Trump dead even, both nationally and in half-a-dozen toss-up states, Carbajal’s trademark sunniness provided a sharp political contrast.

At least for public consumption, he expressed confidence, not only about Harris’s chances of success, but also about the resilience of the political system to withstand weeks, if not months, of potential confusion, delay and turmoil, as vote counts in key states drag on (looking at you, Pennsylvania) and partisans on local election boards across the U.S. bitterly tangle, as Trump and his supporters constantly bray that the election is stolen if he’s not declared the winner.

“I think it’s unfortunate that we are terribly divided as a nation, but I believe that the polls at the end of the day will demonstrate that Kamala Harris and (Minnesota Gov. Tim) Waltz are going to win,” Carbajal said. “I will tell you, looney tunes Donald Trump, the chaos, dysfunction and extremism that he is spewing, is not going to be president.”

After Republican House and Senate members tried in 2020 to find ways not to certify the election of Joe Biden, interrupted for a few hours by a deadly riot of hundreds of Trump insurrectionists seeking to block certification by violent means, multiple scenarios about election interference, chicanery and obstruction, both by legal and extra-legal means.are being disseminated in political circles and around the internet.

SB’s favorite congressman, however, said that changes made, in the law and in the White House, would foil such exercises and actions.

“First and foremost, we know that there’s two key differences now, than…when we saw the insurrection,” he said. “One, Congress passed the Electoral College Count Reform Act, which codifies and clarifies the role that Congress has in certifying the electoral vote count. That I think was key…to make sure that we don’t have the same questions that were pedaled about the role that Congress has in certifying the election. And that was done in a bipartisan way.

“Two, we have a president in office, President Biden, who will be there until inauguration January 20th, who has the ability to command and dispatch all the resources of the federal government to make sure that what Donald Trump tried to do does not transpire.

“Certainly we have states that are independent and can take certain actions, but the federal government will be in a stable position under the Biden administration up until inauguration,” he added.

And if Trump wins, and moves to put in place radical ideas he has set forth in his campaign, from mass deportations to denial of federal emergency funds in response to wildfires in California?

“He wishes he could do all that,” Carbajal said. “And certainly he has some level of authority to meddle and mess with things, but at the end of the day, it’s not that simplistic.

“There are checks and balances, and while he might be able to do some damage, I can assure you he can’t do the ridiculous things that he is espousing. And so don’t forget chaos, dysfunction and extremism is what Donald Trump is all about. Not to mention lies, lies, lies.”

Plus: Salud on Netanyahu, Measures I and P; and why his jones for bipartisanship is not to blame for normalizing Republican extremism. More.

Check out our full interview with Salud Carbajal via YouTube below, or by clicking through this link. The podcast is here. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show weeknights at 8 p.m. and on weekends at 9 a.m. KCSB, 91.9FM, broadcasts the program on Monday at 5:30 p.m.

(We reached out to Tom Cole, the Republican candidate for the 24th Congressional District seat, for comment on Rep. Salud Carbajal’s remarks about him, and he provided Newsmakers with this statement)

“Well, in the first place I’m not spewing hate against anyone. I disagree with Salud’s policies for instance. I believe young girls and women in school sports must be free from trans men competing against them, and in their locker rooms. And the Supreme Court just recently agreed.  That’s not hate, it’s protecting our children.  

“And on the border issues. I believe it’s wrong to have open borders, which my opponent has voted down the line with the Biden/Harris administration for. 

“Importing 15 million new homeless guys, unvetted into our neighborhoods is hateful to America. Fifteen million means 30,000 new homeless people into every district in our nation. I am against that. We cannot have a welfare/sanctuary state and open borders. It is a recipe for disaster. That is not hate, that is protecting our people, our housing, our American culture,  and our tax dollars. 

“This smear as a hater is just that. A smear. I am a peace Republican, diplomats not cluster bombs. That is not hate. We must cut the printing (of money) and spending on proxy wars that kill millions around the globe. 

“Our nation needs peace, border security, and parents rights to control and watch over their children’s education.. These are the big issues I am running on because I care about our people and our nation. 

“I am asking the honorable Salud Carbajal to meet at the Santa Barbara Empathy Center,  for an hour with a mediator of listening and expressing our differing strategies  to help our communities and nation.”

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Written by Jerry Roberts

“Newsmakers” is a multimedia journalism platform that focuses on politics, media and public affairs in Santa Barbara. Learn more at newsmakerswithjr.com

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108 Comments

  1. So, I have some questions. What is it about Trump that you guys like? That he’s a r&pist? 34 felonies? The 6 bankruptcies? That he denigrates the military and veterans? (Including John McCain.) That he makes fun of the disabled? That he lies? That he said he’d build a wall (and didn’t)? That he said he’d replace the ACA (and didn’t)? That he’s buddies with Putin? That he threatens to round up people who vote against him? That he repeats things like “they are eating the pets”? That he doesn’t distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants? The paying off a porn star? Cheating on the wives? Not paying his contractors? Let’s not forget his promise to be a dictator on day 1 and inciting an insurrection? How about the fact that his entire former staff says he’s dangerous and a fascist?

    4

    • Well, the loss of my bodily autonomy certainly did not make my life better. The people I lost to COVID during 2020 did not make my life better. The knowledge that people actually will vote for a racist, sexist, and “all the other things that I’ve mentioned” did not make my life better. The fact that he treated (and still treats) veterans (like myself and my husband, ahem) with disrespect did not make my life better.

      But then again, I’m not a white male. SO … I guess it doesn’t matter that my life didn’t get better under tfg.

      So, you don’t mind a dictator, got it.

      1

    • mm1970 – Great questions, but alas, those who support him (not all Republicans, but his true supporters) don’t believe any of those things happened. It’s mind boggling. These aren’t he said/she said things, these are events/situations that the whole entire world has seen first hand, yet they still believe whatever his YouTube pundits tell them. They could literally watch him, firsthand, shoot a baby and they’d still say it didn’t happen or worse…. that the baby had it coming because it was an immigrant or something. Those who truly believe Trump is a good person and would be good for America are either brainwashed or brainless. There is no other possible explanation.

      But yeah, I DEFINITELY would love to hear/read why they like him!

      3

      • YOULIE – of course you don’t care about content. From your plethora of comments here, you care about one thing only – hearing (well, seeing) yourself blatantly lie and then run for the hills when you get questioned or called out for it.

        Keep running, Honeysuckle. Your like-minded cretins in the deep South are a long way away. Godspeed!

        2

  2. Salud, I hope you’re right about the election outcome. Despite downplaying some of his threats (mass deportations, etc), he can still create chaos. He tried 4 years ago and now he has the Supreme Court and no incentive for re-election. He’s going to try to do as much damage to our freedoms, rights and democracy as he can. We can’t let it happen.

    3

  3. Mr Carbajal, what laws are ok to break?
    You seem to support those who break our immigration laws. So what other laws should not be enforced in your opinion?

    Also it appears you support using tax payer monies to support these people who break our laws. Do you support tax payers aiding and abetting criminals, hiding them from the legal system, paying for their healthcare, housing, food, education, etc…. Do yiu support using public money to promote illegal behavior?

    It appears you support providing housing to those that break our laws, but you do not provide housing for homeless American Citizens

    It appears you value foreigners who break our laws over American Citizens. I write this as I’m having a sandwich with a homeless person camped on a park bench in your area.

    0

  4. You stated, “ I think it’s unfortunate that we are terribly divided as a nation”
    Do you think Democrats contributed to this division?

    Recall numerous Democrats denied Trumps win in 2016 and moved to impeach him.
    2017 CA Rep Barbara Lee argued Michigan’s votes should be discarded.
    Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she believed Russia “altered the outcome” of the election.
    2018 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., saying Russia “hacked our elections.”
    2019 Hilary Clinton, “He knows he’s an illegitimate president.”
    2020 Hilary repeated this sentiment, telling The Atlantic the election “was not on the level,” and called Trump an illegitimate president.
    2019 Pres Jimmy Carter denied Trumps 2016 win, “He lost the election and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf,”
    House Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who also objected to Trump electors in 2017

    Hillary Clinton and Democratic leaders were supposed to be the adults in the room, the ones who placed democracy above all else. They grievously failed

    -1

      • Do you deny the CIA running psyops here, project mocking bird, paper clip, etc.
        Do you deny that we are running psyops overseas?
        Do you deny Zuckerberg testimony that they purposefully filtered out info the Biden admin did not like?
        Do you deny the Twitter files detailing government involvement in censoring speech?

        I expect foreign governments to interfere or try to.
        I expect the American Government to protect and uphold the first amendment for its citizens.

        -1

        • Uh-huh–very amusing and I’m so glad you understand I am right.

          You quote Schumer and Feinstein saying that Russia influenced and attempted to “hack out election.”

          I asked if you believe that Russia has been running operations to sway and damage our elections.

          You say that you “expect foreign governments to interfere or try to”

          You agree that Russia has attempted to impact our elections. Therefore, your citing Feinstein and Schumer as saying something with which you agree, as if these are examples of Democrats trying to “divide the nation”, is patently ridiculous.

          Don’t even bother. You can’t run with me, not even close.

          2

        • Your whatabouting failure to answer the question answers the question — Russia interfered with the election and you know it.

          > Do you deny the Twitter files detailing government involvement in censoring speech?

          LOL. Who was the government at the time, Joe Biden private citizen or Donald Trump, President of the United States? I followed the Twitter files closely–a propaganda op by Elon Musk aimed at the dumbest people on the planet.

          1

    • How many lawsuits did HRC, or any Democratic party group file in response to the results of the 2016 election?

      How many times did the DNC force audits of the 2016 vote tallies in states like say, Arizona? Was there a liberal “Cyber Ninjas” hijacking any state’s vote tallies?

      Was there a DNC version of “Stop the Steal”? Did any Democrat give a speech on Jan 6 2017 about the need to “fight like hell”, or say something like “today’s the day to start taking names and kicking ass”?
      Did a bunch of liberals attack the US Capitol trying to stop the certification of the Electoral College from each state, beat up a bunch of cops, or threaten to kill anyone?

      Was Joe Biden, the VP at the time, pressured to ignore state’s certification of any state’s electoral votes, and instead put in an “alternative slate” of electors?

      You know the answer to all of these questions.

      You can cherry pick a few quotes from Democrats and strain your neck trying to show some kind of equivalence, but anyone with common sense can see what an absurd stretch it is, when compared with what happened when Trump lost an election. There is no rational comparison at all, and you know it.

      Donald Trump has been lying his face off for four years about the 2020 election, and much of what he was accused of has been proven true in courts of law. He is a serial criminal and a lying conman, and those are simple facts, not an opinion. By convincing people like you that he’s telling the truth, he has caused more divisiveness and corrosion of American politics than anyone in the modern era, bar none, but you can say that you helped him.

      Many of his former supporters have attained, in a painful process no doubt, the maturity and intellectual honesty required to acknowledge that they have been conned and fooled. Just look at how many lifelong Republicans are publicly advocating for Harris and against Trump, their own nominee. It would be my wish that you would join them. Until more of you do we will be a very deeply divided nation, as we were 160 years ago.

      3

  5. Mr Roberts and Mr. Carbajal, Will you accept the results unconditionally?

    Numerous Democrats, and Republicans, have “denied” past elections. Why do you make it seem like Trump is the only person to ever question an election?

    Or are Democrats already preparing to fight the election results?

    U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-D) eight months ago condemned the Supreme Court for failing to disqualify Trump under section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Raskin also objected to the electoral in 2017 electing Trump. Raskin is an election denier.

    Raskin made the following breathtaking statement: “It’s going to be up to [Congress] on January 6, 2025 to tell the rampaging Trump mobs that he’s disqualified.”

    Doesn’t sound like he or other Democrats will accept if Trump wins.

    Will Democrats declare a cyberattack and move to discredit the election?

    1

  6. The far left Democrats are the reason that Trump is as strong as he is and that the odds are slowly moving in his direction each day. Perception is reality. I predicted that illegal immigration resulting from an open border policy would be at the top of the election list along with the economy. The Democratic Party has abandoned the working class and they are angry and frightened. Millions of Americans are angry that illegal aliens get welfare help that they cannot get. Free housing, free food, free medical care and even cash are things that most Americans cannot get an this angers them. Harris spends all her time bashing Trump and talking nonsense without addressing the issue she will work to correct. He too talks nonsense but Trump’s base is rock solid and they don’t care what he says. He just needs to pick up some new angry voters in close states and he is in the Whit House! He doesn’t need as many new votes as Kamala does. She has not had one vote yet! This makes a big difference! Disagree if you wish; it’s the way of politics.

    -3

      • Open Border Policy-Perception is reality.

        What I meant was that Harris has not received one vote prior to this election while Trump a base of tens of millions of voters that voted for him twice. In this election Harris starts from scratch. She did not even register a vote in the Democratic Convention, which was cancelled. It is not a question of favoring one over the other.

        I say again-He does not need many NEW votes in close states to win it all. The Electoral College system favors Trump in the Red states and in close states.

        -3

        • Perception is not reality. The existence of a perception among a small part of a population is in no way equivalent to anything one could call “reality” for the whole population. It is simply the existence of a perception.
          The perception that the Earth is a flat disc exists. But it is not a reality in any way.
          The perception that tens of millions of votes were flipped electronically by voting machines exists, but it is not any kind of reality and it never was.

          These perceptions have no existence outside of social media until someone goes off the deep end like David DePape, who tried to murder Paul Pelosi, or the mob who attacked the US Capitol at Trump’s urging. They tried to bend reality to their perceptions and they failed. They failed because the perceptions they were acting upon were all lies, apart from reality. Their failure is a kind of proof that, at least within the scope of our discussion, perception is not reality.

          3

        • THEKID – who cares whether she’s had votes before? Why do you Cons hang on this weird argument? What’s the point? She hasn’t had as many primary votes, therefore she can’t be President?

          Again, that is totally irrelevant to the FACT that millions of people are planning to vote for her, many already have.

          Oh wait, is this some Con-spiracy groundwork for WHEN she wins? “No, no, she’s illegitimate because she didn’t get many primary votes in 2020.”

          Again, so what?

          2

          • Who said, “She hasn’t had as many primary votes, therefore she can’t be President”? Her lack of support in 2020 suggests that if Democratic Party members were allowed to vote for the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate without Biden in the race, Harris would most likely not win that election. However, this doesn’t suggest that she can’t be president.

            -2

            • ANON – omg…. again, SO WHAT?

              Fact is, more than half the country will be voting for her in a couple weeks. Again, why do you Cons keep dredging along this useless claim? It has ZERO relevance.

              If you all spent a fraction of the time you spend whining about irrelevant issues and bona fide lies on helping improve our society in some way, imagine what this country would be like!

              2

      • more illegal aliens have crossed our border in the last 3.5 years than under Trump and Obama combined.

        What is your definition of “open”?

        The UN is providing cash to 17 countries to send illegals here. Did Biden/Harrus stop them from inviting illegals here? No.

        “ the UN’s 2024 update to the “Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan” (RMRP for short), a planning and budget document for handing out nearly $1.6 billion in 17 Latin America countries, can cast a broad confirming light on the cash giveaways and much more aid for 2024 ahead — with the helping hands of 248 named non-governmental organizations. ”

        You are funny, living in a cave somewhere?
        https://thehill.com/opinion/4423296-matthews-illegal-immigrants-double-under-biden-and-thats-just-the-start/

        https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/biden-three-immigration-record

        https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/03/20/more-caught-illegally-crossing-southern-border-in-1-year-of-biden-than-entire-trump-presidency/

        -2

      • Perhaps he meant that no one voted for Kamala Harris to be a presidential candidate. She wasn’t chosen through a democratic vote but selected by the elites within the Democratic Party as the Presidential candidate. When she ran for president in 2020, she had very little support.
        And, if she had to compete again in a 2024 Democratic primary without Joe, she most likely would again not receive enough votes to continue in the race.

        -2

  7. Carbajal told Newsmakers that TRUMP SAID (in response to “securing our border”), “I want to use that for political reasons, I don’t want to solve our immigration challenges,”.
    Can Salud or anyone please verify that statement? I can find no evidence online that Trump made that statement.
    If Salud Carbajal attributed this quote to Trump, he should provide the context or source where Trump made this statement. Without such verification, it could either be a misinterpretation, misinformation, inaccurate attribution, or a lie.
    Which one is it?
    Perhaps Salud or a reader could provide a link supporting his claim; if one does exist..

    -2

    • Oh so you’ve looked for that quote? Well since you have so recently scoured Trump’s comments and come up empty maybe you could theorize the quote that you think comes closest, but that Carbajal clumsily paraphrased? What were Trump’s actual words, if they were so vastly different than Salud’s paraphrasing?

      When Trump said “Blame it on me”, and that “the border bill would be another gift for the radical left Democrats”, and the fact that Johnson and McConnell were both ready to proceed with the bill because it gave so much of what Congressional GOP members (definitely NOT “radical left Democrats”!) had been demanding, right up until Trump said the above quote, it should be obvious to anyone with both feet in reality that Carbajal’s interpretation of the events is succinct, clear and factual. Trump did not want solutions of any measure to the border crisis, because he knew it would rob him of a valuable political grievance, and grievance is his only political currency.

      3

  8. Salud pointing fingers like a child.
    Question, out of the 300 executive actions by Biden in his first year on immigration why did illegal immigration over double that of Trump?

    “ Trump has worked to kill all those bills because he transparently has said, ‘I want to use that for political reasons, I don’t want to solve our immigration challenges,”

    75% of the Dem “border” bill was going to foreign countries. It appears you support using tax payer ,Indy n everyone but Americans. It appears you do not support Americans.

    What’s in the Senate’s sweeping $118 billion immigration and foreign aid bill?
    $60 billion in military aid for Ukraine
    $14.1 billion in aid for Israel
    $4.83 billion in aid for the Indo-Pacific region
    $10 billion in humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, among other places
    $2.3 billion in refugee assistance inside the U.S.
    $20.2 billion for improvements to U.S. border security
    $2.72 billion for domestic uranium enrichment

    What does Uranium have to do with border security?

    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/whats-in-the-senates-118-billion-border-and-ukraine-deal

    -2

    • I’m offering “crow” and “humble pie.” And today, for all those that give me a down vote as they go against president Trump I’ll throw in an emergency crying towel. Special offer, never seen before on this site and I won’t even charge $19.99. There will be more blue water dropping across the country than experienced with Hurricane Helene once Trump prevails:) Say now, don’t be shy.

      -3

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