James Traficant

[[file:James_Traficant_105th_Congress_1997.jpg|165px|thumb|right|Traficant with his creepy stare.]]{{uspolitics}}
'''James Traficant''' {{lived|1940|2014}} was the United States Representative from [[Ohio]]'s 17th district from 1985 to 2002. Despite being a [[Democrat]],{{efn|We're exaggerating him a little bit here, as Traficant initially represented blue-collar Democrats that were from most of the 20th century. In other words, if [[Strom Thurmond]] was from the 60s, Traficant was from the 90s.}} Traficant was vehemently [[Xenophobia|anti-immigrant]]<ref>http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=OH&VIPID=647</ref> and [[anti-abortion]]. Traficant was also infamous for working with noted [[ratfucker]] and Nazi apologist [[Pat Buchanan]] to defend {{wpl|John Demjanjuk||,}} who was accused of crimes against humanity during the [[Holocaust]] and incarcerated in [[Israel]],<ref>https://archive.ph/20130415083224/http://jta.org/news/article/2009/10/30/1008850/traficant-says-he-will-testify-for-demjanjuk</ref> and {{wpl|Arthur Rudolph||,}} who created the V-2 missile for the Nazis.<ref name="moniquegerman173">{{cite book |last=Laney |first=Monique |date=2015 |title=German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie: Making Sense of the Nazi Past During the Civil Rights Era  |location=New Haven and London |publisher=Yale University Press |pages=173–174 |isbn=978-0-300-19803-4}}</ref> Because of his controversial views that conflicted with the Democrat's ideology of [[social liberalism]], Traficant was banned from his seniority shortly after voting for [[Dennis Hastert]] as Speaker of the House, and even the GOP [[Stopped clock|refused to let him do any committee assignments]].<ref>http://lubbockonline.com/stories/050801/upd_075-2220.shtml</ref>

Traficant's political career finally ended when he was indicted on federal corruption charges for taking campaign funds for personal use. Again, he opted to represent himself, insisting that the trial was part of a [[Persecution complex|vendetta against him]] dating back to his 1983 trial. After a two-month federal trial, on April 11, 2002, he was convicted of 10 felony counts including bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/04/11/traficant.trial</ref> Later, on July 24 of that year, the House voted to expel him by a 420–1 vote.<ref>https://ethics.house.gov/committee-report/matter-representative-james-traficant-jr</ref> The sole vote against expulsion was Representative {{wpl|Gary Condit||,}} who at the time was in the midst of a [[Irony|scandal of his own and had been defeated in his reelection primary]].<ref>http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2002/roll346.xml</ref> While in prison, Traficant gained the support of former [[KKK]] member and leader [[David Duke]], who urged his racist fans to donate to Traficant's fund. {{wpl|Michael Collins Piper||,}} an author and a personal friend of Duke, wrote a book about how Traficant was innocent and how his troubles were Israel's fault.<ref name="Collins">{{cite book |last1=Piper |first1=Michael |authorlink=Michael Collins Piper |title=Target: Traficant: the outrageous inside story of how the Justice Department, the Israeli lobby and the American mass media conspired to set up and take down Congressman Jim Traficant |location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=[[American Free Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=0981808611}}</ref> After Traficant's release, he tried to run again, this time as an independent. He got 15% of the vote.<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/07/us/the-2002-elections-midwest-ohio.html</ref> Four years after being released from jail, Traficant was pinned under his tractor. He died from his injuries on September 27, 2014.<ref>https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-james-traficant-20140928-story.html</ref> Even after his death, Traficant remains popular with the [[Alt-right]].

==Notes==
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==References==
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Categories: Alt-lite, Antisemites, Antifeminism, Atheophobia, Christians, Conspiracy theorists, Convicted felons, Former United States Representatives, Homophobes, Leftists who turned right with age, Ohio, Racists, Right-wing activists, Scams, Shysters, Tea Party, Transphobes, United States politics, We're on a mission from God