Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin (R) has taken to pretending to be the state’s regular governor when Gov. Brad Little (R) is away.
McGeachin – who is is herself running for governor – has used the opportunity of Little’s out-of-state travels to throw red meat to the conservative base. Anti-vaccine posturing? Check. Immigration bashing? Check.
In her latest gubernatorial cosplay, McGeachin issued an executive order Tuesday banning workplace vaccine requirements while Little was away in Texas huddling with other GOP governors at the border.
“Today, as Acting Governor, I fixed Gov. Little’s Executive Order on ‘vaccine passports’ to make sure that K-12 schools and universities cannot require vaccinations OR require mandatory testing,” McGeachin announced via Twitter. “I will continue to fight for your individual Liberty!”
On the same day, McGeachin also tried to get Major General Michael Garshak, the adjutant general of Idaho, to help her deploy the state’s National Guard troops to the southern border.
“As of Wednesday, my constitutional authority as Governor affords me the power of activating the Idaho National Guard,” she claimed in a letter to Garshak, per the Associated Press.
The official shot her down in a one-paragraph response, telling the lieutenant governor that he was “unaware of any request for Idaho National Guard assistance” from Texas or Arizona.
“As you are aware, the Idaho National Guard is not a law enforcement agency,” Garshak added.
The real governor was less than pleased about McGeachin’s playacting.
“I am in Texas performing my duties as the duly elected Governor of Idaho, and I have not authorized the Lt. Governor to act on my behalf,” Little said in a statement, alleging that the lieutenant governor had “unabashedly” asked Garshak about Idaho’s National Guard “before I even left the state.”
Little, who is in Texas wringing his hands over what the GOP claims to be President Joe Biden’s “border crisis,” accused McGeachin of “political grandstanding.”
“I will be rescinding and reversing any actions taken by the Lt. Governor when I return,” he vowed.
This wasn’t the only time McGeachin has hijacked the governor’s office in Little’s absence: She also put a ban on mask mandates in May while Little was away at the Republican Governors Association conference in Tennessee. The governor repealed the ban when he got back, accusing her of “tyranny.”
Coups against the constitutional order are like salted peanuts. When you have one, you’ve gotta have more.
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.
She looks old for someone who’s only 5. She must worry a lot.
She needs to get her Air National Guard to intercept his flight and keep him out of Idaho airspace, blockade the borders as well while she consolidates power. Can’t have him returning too soon and ruining everything.
Nah, she wants him to come back. That’s the whole schtick – these are the downtrodden people, the victims.
“See, I’d LOVE to give you everything you want but . . . but . . . but . . . it’s beyond my control.”
The result is that they can declare anything they want with no potential repercussions or drawbacks, like the little guy in the barfight that tells his buddies to hold him back and then acts like he really wants to get into the brawl. The I’m-a-badass-but-I’m-not-allowed-to-do-anything is the best practice for reality TV contestants everywhere.
So she produces this paper tiger and then proceeds to the interview room to tell the audience how much she has been hurt by the actual governor. Literally – the interview room is on Fox News instead of the soundstage at the back of the reality show set.