Former Congressman Barney Frank said that the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was a “fag burner” as opposed to a flag burner. The comments came as he tries to save his political legacy from Donald Trump’s threat to undo Frank’s signature piece of legislation the “Dodd-Frank Bill.”
The comments about Scalia were made as Frank took part in a panel on the MSNBC show “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” What began as a discussion on Donald Trump’s call to strip anyone who burns the American flag of their U.S. citizenship quickly devolved.
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At one point Barney Frank said, “You know, Scalia was actually the leading advocate of fag burning, not flag burning and I think that’s where he got himself a little confused.”
Meanwhile the former Congressman’s greatest political achievement is in danger of being overturned. The Dodd-Frank bill was passed soon after President Obama took office. Named for the former Massachusetts Congressman and former Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd, the law restored many Wall Street regulations which were passed under the New Deal, but were later repealed.
President Elect Donald Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress have vowed to repeal the Act which was passed when the Democrats had a majority in the Congress.
Frank spoke about his concerns on the CNBC show “Power Lunch.”
“What I worry about is the biggest banks … will use the problems of the small banks as kind of a battering ram to get rid of other parts of the bill, ” said Barney Frank.
Republicans have complained that the law is bad because it inhibits banks from lending due to restrictions on the eligibility of borrowers.
To this Barney Frank said, “Tell me what specific things in that law now inhibit lending other than saying you can’t lend money to people who can’t pay their mortgages.”
