While Representative Matt Gaetz and the “hateful eight” have acted in a rather crude manner with no foresight in taking their grievances against leadership, they do have valid grievances. Republicans are very bad when it comes to keeping promises to voters.

Before the 2010 midterm elections, the Republican base was urged to come out in force and help the GOP take the House in order to repeal Obamacare, even though they damn well knew they couldn’t keep that promise.

The House Republicans’ “Pledge to America” vowed “to repeal and replace the government takeover of health care with common sense solutions focused on lowering costs and protecting American jobs.” The party won more than five dozen seats, the most in seven decades. There is no chance this pledge will be achieved.

While Republicans have a big majority in the House, Democratic control of the Senate and the presidential veto power make repeal or major change impossible.
— New York Times, 11/22/10

In 2014, Republican voters got more of the same as they were told giving the GOP a solid majority in the Senate would result in the repeal of Obamacare, even though they damn well knew they couldn’t keep that promise.

In addition to their oath to keep up their efforts to repeal Obamacare, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner said Wednesday the new Congress would authorize the Keystone pipeline and send a slew of House-passed jobs bills to the president next come January. That’s when Republicans will formally take control of the Senate, putting Republicans in charge of the entire legislative branch.
— Daily Mail, 11/6/14

Of course, Republicans didn’t have that vetoproof majority so Obamacare (again) stayed in place. But during the 2016 midterms, leadership assured voters that a Republican House, Senate AND president would mean the end to Obamacare. We just had to elect Donald Trump and it would get done….

Republicans narrowly failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But their newly passed tax legislation included a provision getting rid of Obamacare’s mandate requiring Americans to buy insurance, and President Donald Trump immediately declared victory in the partisan health care wars. “When the individual mandate is being repealed, that means Obamacare is being repealed,” he crowed at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “We have essentially repealed Obamacare.”
— Politico Magazine, 12/20/17

Seeing how Republicans on the Hill look at their base as suckers, why not play this hand one more time!

“If we can get the House back and keep our majority in the Senate, and President Trump wins reelection, I can promise you not only are we going to repeal Obamacare, we’re going to do it in a smart way where South Carolina will be the biggest winner,” Senator Lindsey Graham said in an interview with a South Carolina radio station.
— The Hill, 8/8/19

Obamacare is just one of many promises made-promises unkept by Republicans over the course of many years. There’s balanced budgets, lower taxes, and many more. Just because Republicans depend on short memories and assumed intellectual inferiority, doesn’t mean trust will continue to be in infinite supply. We all know there’s hope because Donald Trump made many pledges to Americans in 2015-16 and actually accomplished more despite the Category 5 political interference he faced his entire term from within the party, from Democrats, and their media. He left office with achievements for the American people than was, more often than not, labeled “historic”.

Some politicians can keep promises, while Republicans can definitively only point to one in recent memory.

Republicans don’t have a monopoly when it comes to blatantly breaking promises to the base. Malcolm X made it clear that any black person in 1964 that voted for Democrats was a “chump” and “traitor to your race”. Democrats continue to break promises and blacks continue to give them the supermajority of their votes.

Unlike President Donald Trump, Republicans appear more interested in keeping their personal perks of power that delivering on promises made to put them in their seats of power. Until we have term limits (a very unlikely self-inflicted wound), there’s no reason to believe any promise a politician makes before or after an election. We all known this yet we allow them to sucker us every two years.

And seeing how Newt Gingrich is going off halfcocked against Matt Gaetz, let’s not forget the 1994 “Contract with America” that helped Republicans take the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years.

How many of those promises were actually written into law…?

Some observers cite the Contract with America as having helped secure a decisive victory for the Republicans in the 1994 elections. Republicans were elected to a majority of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1953, and some parts of the Contract were enacted. Most elements did not pass Congress, while others were vetoed by, or substantially altered in negotiations with President Bill Clinton, who would sarcastically refer to it as the “Contract on America”
— Wikipedia

Yeah, the “Contract with America” helped Republicans and Gingrich to become speaker. Making promises they knew they could keep? Not so much.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 24% of Likely U.S. voters said removing McCarthy from his position as Speaker would be good for Congress, while 26% thought it would be bad for Congress. Forty-one percent (41%), however, said it would not make much difference.
— Rasmussen Reports, 10/4/23

While this doesn’t defend Matt Gaetz’ actions, it does make them understandable.

Seeing how most in the media, political class are useless in any other profession, it’s incumbent on them to keep their gravy train going. In the political world it means not upsetting big money donors, contractors and lobbyists who shower them with unseen perks and help them fund reelection campaigns. In the media, it means no pushback to the myth that they are trusted in the dissemination of news and opinion. Donald Trump is a threat to all of them and the very idea of him running again and possibly winning is something they need to nip in the bud immediately and they rightly assume they can create a fissure between him and his supporters. This HAS to be done and it’s started.

As evidenced by his first term, Donald Trump was a very rare breed of politician: he made campaign promises, he kept them, and the country was physically better off. He did this despite a Democrat, Deep State, and media blitzkrieg that began from his initial presidential announcement in 2015 to present. In the end, the American people ultimately won and despite the latest false narrative that his nominations cost the party the midterm election, an unheard of 80% of Republican candidates who received Trump’s endorsement, won their primary and general election.

Given the present onslaught, you’d never believe Republican voters were ever recently all-in with a Trump 2024 run for president.

As of August, 82% of Republicans would vote for Donald Trump in 2024. So what (if you’re to believe the media and Republican establishment) happened between then and now? One name-calling stint by Trump turned into a quick coronation for DeSantis… seriously? We don’t even know the true back story behind it because Trump doesn’t initiate; he counter-punches. And since when should we not be wary of establishment Republican candidate choices made for their voters?

If Donald Trump can be successfully taken out before the 2024 primaries, which is highly unlikely, who stands to gain? The answers are rather obvious.

GAIN: THE DEEP STATE

Of course the media made scant mention of it, but Donald Trump scared the hell out of the government establishment when he signed an Executive Order regarding Schedule F, which he would use his Constitutional right to hire federal employees who are loyal to the values of the president they duly elected and fire those who would “resist”, and we know a lot of resistance went on during his presidency. Thanks to the 2020 election results, the federal government class was spared but they also know Schedule F will be one of the top items on a President Trump agenda in 2025 and for good reason.

A Trump presidency in 2025 means a living hell for federal tyrants like Anthony Fauci, Alejandro Mayorkas, and others whose federal policies have brought on severe hardship, and/or actually killed an obscene number of Americans.

A Trump presidency defangs an out-of-control federal enforcement culture that believes they alone decide our elections, who will or will not be allowed First Amendment freedom of assembly, who can and cannot lie under oath, who can be framed with impunity, and who will be punished with punitive legal bills to stave off partisan investigations. Schedule F will invoke departmental reviews and the actions of types like James Comey and Clapper, John Brennan, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lois Lerner will not go unaddressed. The undeserving should not be allowed to walk away after the damage they successfully inflicted on political opponents. If jail isn’t an immediate possibility, the loss of those cherished pensions should be the first things rescinded.

A Trump presidency (at least on Capitol Hill) means hundreds of thousands of liberal Democrat federal employees, with incomes two or three times the national median, potentially imperiling a very comfortable lifestyle, generous potential pension and benefits, respectable mortgage payments in gentrified neighborhoods, fully-stocked refrigerators and pantries, fancy car payments, private school tuitions, and the obvious inability to find comparable employment with inflated salaries.

GAIN: RON DeSANTIS

So what’s behind the current spat between the boys? Something must be happening behind the scenes. Trump knows, is letting the appropriate parties know he’s on to them, and the dirty specifics will be revealed when it stings the most.

Note who’s staying clear of the dust-up: Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy….

If Ron DeSantis were to join Trump on the ticket, he’d potentially have four years experience as a Veep and could be poised for eight years as POTUS. A DeSantis run now for the presidency takes four years off his time near and/or in the White House. Who benefits from that? Not the American people, but having Trump gone is a win for the GOPe, Democrats, and their media. Trump supported DeSantis when no one outside of Florida knew he existed. Loyalty is hard to come by within the Republican Party.

DeSantis, Lake, etc. have followed the successful Trump playbook on how to handle a hostile local and state media (a few names by The View panel doesn’t count).

We have no idea how DeSantis would hold up with a 24/7 national media, federal agency onslaught coming down on him, his campaign staff, and his family for months and maybe years. It won’t be pretty and only Donald Trump has shown he can take hundreds of punches without being knocked down, let alone out.

For example, a 2022 fictionalized version of the “Trump pee tape” has emerged, targeting DeSantis.

Twitter Stunned by Character on Series Claiming to Have Been Sexually Assaulted by DeSantis

While this is outright slander, there will be millions of ignants on social media who’ll believe it actually happened as well as those in the media who’ll pose this as possible art-imitating-life and force DeSantis days and maybe weeks to refute.

It’s only the beginning. DeSantis may hope Trump announces soon so many of those front-runner arrows won’t be aimed solely at him.

GAIN: GOP ESTABLISHMENT

A Trump presidency attracts America First candidates to serve Americans and threatens those so-called Republicans who ran for the power and perks they’d receive; the needs of their voters are secondary and of low very priority. Remember all of those reliable Republicans like Lisa Murkowski insiders like McConnell supported.

A Trump presidency hastily eliminates the lower tier candidates who know going in they have zero chance of winning the nomination. Adding “presidential candidate” to their resume could help them achieve pundit status (a paycheck) at Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, etc. If they are humiliated at some point by Trump yet speak out against him, job prospects obviously improve.

GAIN: GLENN YOUNGKIN, WINSOME SEARS

Why has Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears now turned on the Trump who endorsed and supported her ticket?

Never assume politicians make comments off the cuff and strongly-worded, behind-the-scenes instructions have not come down from on high with carrots attached.

The people speculating about Youngkin’s national future don’t much care what he has done or not done for transportation infrastructure in Northern Virginia. They think the 55-year-old former investment banker may have found a formula to make the last six years just fade away—to return to the GOP leadership style we associate with names like Bush and Romney.
— Politico, 7/14/22

Ah, the golden Bush and Romney years. Only bubble-wrapped D.C. pundits hope that’s what Republicans want to revert back to.

If (Trump-endorsed) Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin were to run and receive the 2024 nomination as a possible VP to DeSantis, Sears would become Virginia’s governor without the inconvenience of running for it. Kinda’ like New York’s Kathy Hochul’s unelected promotion when Andrew Cuomo was pushed aside. For the political class, that’s some good incentive and all that need be done is a simple twist of a knife in the back by someone who knows how to use a bayonet.

Given his pedigree, Youngkin is the kind of “Republican” who’ll burns his voters after the election while going easy on Democrats. Just give him time.

GAIN: THE MEDIA

While there’s a notable ratings, thus revenue lag after Trump left office, who knows how he’ll approach the #FakeNewsMedia the next go ’round. For those of us who were actually IN the news business damn well know, ethics rules have clearly been broken, the public has been lied to way to many times to count, the media’s Constitutional protection should be revisited, and Trump is the only politician with the guts to start this discussion and they know it.

The obvious need be stated for CNN and MSNBC viewers: the media was given Constitutional protection so it could be a watchdog of government and report back to The People. We clearly have a media that is self-serving, has chosen a side, fabricates stories, invents “sources”, demands we only know what their chosen political party wants known, buries what their chosen party wants buried, destroys the reputations of those who are enemies to their chosen party, while using the First Amendment as their personal shield.

Impartial media that just reports the news is what should be protected. Opinion, disguised as news, should not be and thanks to the media’s overreach during the Trump years, several have been forced to pay millions in settlements because of their intentional slander of Americans. If there’s no more Trump, the media’s ground-and-pound of Americans will continue unabated, if not increase, since punishing is just what they love to do most.

So take all this drama with a grain of salt and look at it as another opportunity to vet those who would portend to “lead” us.

Remember, there are many in the conservative media who did everything they could to damage Donald Trump in 2015 and 2016 because he didn’t pass their personal litmus test. Some of these so-called unelected “leaders” have yet to apologize for the damage they did then, and more are back at it again today because it gives them relevance.

Donald Trump won despite them and can win again despite them.

We can only hope a 2025 Trump presidency cleans the whole house, not just the toilet.

In California state law, the election code is titled “Division 13. BALLOTS, SAMPLE BALLOTS, AND VOTER PAMPHLETS.”

In Article 1 of this code we find Election Code 13200, which reads as follows:

“Ballots not printed in accordance with the chapter shall not be cast nor counted at any election.”

h/t — UncoverDC, 12/17/20

Uh oh.

One would think this ONE SENTENCE would be clear enough as we’re not talking wordy legalese or anything that requires a pertinent degree to decipher.

13205 (b) In elections when electors of President and Vice President of the United States are to be chosen, there shall be placed upon the ballot, in addition to the instructions to voters as provided in this chapter, an instruction as follows:

“To vote for all of the electors of a party, mark the voting target next to the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates of that party. A mark of the voting target next to the name of a party and its presidential and vice presidential candidate, is a vote for all of the electors of that party, but for no other candidates.”

It ain’t there….

This, too, seems rather cut-and-dry and the ramifications are clear as it appears this has been going on in California for quite awhile.

“To vote for all of the electors of a party, mark the voting target next to the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates of that party. A mark of the voting target next to the name of a party and its presidential and vice presidential candidate, is a vote for all of the electors of that party, but for no other candidates.”

BTW — Hillary Clinton has gone on a four-year tear on why the Electoral College should be eliminated as she lost the 2016 presidential election despite winning the popular vote.

If you subtract Hillary’s California’s popular vote (8,753,788), that according to California law should not be counted, she received 57,090,822 votes to Donald Trump’s votes adjusted to 58,485,826. Hillary Clinton LOST the popular vote in 2016.

Have fun with that, President Trump.

“To vote for all of the electors of a party, mark the voting target next to the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates of that party. A mark of the voting target next to the name of a party and its presidential and vice presidential candidate, is a vote for all of the electors of that party, but for no other candidates.”

“To vote for all of the electors of a party, mark the voting target next to the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates of that party. A mark of the voting target next to the name of a party and its presidential and vice presidential candidate, is a vote for all of the electors of that party, but for no other candidates.”

“To vote for all of the electors of a party, mark the voting target next to the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates of that party. A mark of the voting target next to the name of a party and its presidential and vice presidential candidate, is a vote for all of the electors of that party, but for no other candidates.

Ballots not printed in accordance with the chapter shall not be cast nor counted at any election.”

The above instruction must appear on every ballot for the purpose of informing the voter. If the paragraph doesn’t appear on the ballot, back to Election Code 13200, it can’t be counted.

And guess what? According to data collected by the American Independent Party in California, those words did not appear on ballots in 53 of California’s 58 counties.

In the remaining five counties, ballots required additional wording that is outlined in California Election Code 12305 (c). Some of those county’s ballots included the wording from section (b), but ballots in all five of those counties were still missing the required wording from section (c).

This means 100 percent of California’s voting was conducted in complete violation of its state election laws.
— UncoverDC, 12/17/20

We’re not counting on this being pointed out by any Democrat-friendly media outlet, but when millions of Californians have lost jobs and incomes while most state officials and employees have yet to miss a paycheck, they should be expected to know how to do their jobs. And this doesn’t just affect the presidential election.

Think about it: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi technically has not been reelected. Congresspersons Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee, and Eric Swalwell technically have not been reelected. Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and 47 other congresspersons technically have not been elected and/or reelected. Alyssa Milano, Cher, Chelsea Handler, Michael Rappaport, Debra Messing, LeBron James, Bette Midler and all the other rabid California Democrats’ votes don’t count. And we go back to previous elections, according to California election law, Senator Dianne Feinstein was technical not reelected. Kamala Harris wasn’t elected either.

This could be the mother of all voter disenfranchisement and this ball-drop wasted the time and effort of 12.8 million voters.

Heads need to roll on this one. Then again, we live in the 2020 version of the United States of America and we should all know what the rules are by now. When a private citizen screws up, the government makes sure we get it right and it usually involves some kind of penalty. When the government screws up, few (if any) are ever held to any kind of accountability and we’re forced to accept their business-as-usual.

A screw up with all of the potential Constitutional ramifications as this one will be blown off because too many in power would be adversely affected and we can’t have that.

Enter the latest distributor, blogger Erick Erickson.

I haven’t been in a Safeway since my family moved home from Dubai in 1990.

While that may be true, it’s clear he doesn’t avoid other supermarkets. Timing is everything.

The congressman did not want to be seen with me on Capitol Hill. He needed to get some stuff anyway and decided he’d let me walk with him through the cereal and dairy selections at the Safeway near my hotel. He is not happy with President Trump. He was never a die hard Trump supporter. He supported him in the general and never expected him to win. But he did. So the congressman, whose district Trump won, has been a regular supporter on Fox News and elsewhere defending the President. He is happy to be quoted, so long as I don’t name him. He says he just needs to vent. I suggest what we’re doing is one of the reason’s Trump won — a congressman says nice things in public and bad things in private.

“Everybody does this shit,” he says. It’s his turn. We have known each other for years and have been promising to connect this week while I’m passing through DC. So this is it. I’m passing along his comments, not endorsing them.
— Erick Erickson, 4/11/18

IF that person actually exists.

#NeverTrump blogger Erick Erickson has found it within himself to relay the words of an anonymous Republican in a conversation he claims to have had at a Safeway supermarket somewhere in the Washington, D.C. perimeter. We admire his memory skills in being able to document the rant of this congressman word-for-word. Obviously, it would’ve had to be by memory because it’s hard to believe an irate congressman would allow himself to be documented via a smartphone or other recording device while demanding to remain anonymous… again, IF the dairy aisle meeting really occurred.

I read you writing about this, about wanting to say nice things when you can and criticize when you need to. He may be an idiot, but he’s still the President and leader of my party and he is capable of doing some things right.

But dammit he’s taking us all down with him. We are well and truly f**ked in November. Kevin [McCarthy] is already circling like a green fly circling sh*t trying to take Paul’s [Ryan] job because nobody thinks he’s sticking around for Nancy [Pelosi]. She’s going to f**k up the cafeteria again too. [Lord’s name in vain], at least I’ll probably lose too and won’t have to put up with that sh*t.

It’s like Forrest Gump won the presidency, but an evil, really f*cking stupid Forrest Gump. He can’t help himself. He’s just a f**king idiot who thinks he’s winning when people are b*tching about him. He really does see the world as ratings and attention. I hate Forrest Gump. I listen to your podcast and heard you hate it too. What an overrated piece of sh*t movie. Can you believe it beat the Shawshank Redemption?

To make this encounter appear authentic, Erickson interjected some of his on-call wisdom.

Aside from his misspelling “Spielberg”, Erick’s gray matter stenograph was flipped back on.

Judiciary is stacked with a bunch of people who can win re-election so long as they don’t piss off Trump voters in the primary. But if we get to summer and most of the primaries are over, they just might pull the trigger if the President fires Mueller. The sh*t will hit the fan if that happens and I’d vote to impeach him myself. Most of us would, I think. Hell, all the Democrats would and you only need a majority in the House. If we’re going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherf**ker. Take him out with us and let Mike [Pence] take over. At least then we could sleep well at night. You know having Mike as President would really piss off all the right people, too. They think they hate Trump. Mike is competent.

I say a lot of shit on TV defending him, even over this. But honestly, I wish the motherf*cker would just go away. We’re going to lose the House, lose the Senate, and lose a bunch of states because of him. All his supporters will blame us for what we have or have not done, but he hasn’t led. He wakes up in the morning, sh*ts all over Twitter, sh*ts all over us, sh*ts all over his staff, then hits golf balls. F*ck him. Of course, I can’t say that in public or I’d get run out of town.
— Erick Erickson “quoting” unnamed Republican Congressman

If Erick Erickson was any kind of blogger/writer of integrity, he would have never agreed to keep such comments off the record.

If Erick Erickson was any kind of Republican, he would never have allowed such a tirade to continue without proper rebuttal, but seeing how Erickson is a #NeverTrumper, IF that conversation occurred, he was probably nodding in agreement while trying to pay attention as he was surrounded by hundreds of readily-edibles.

Our guess is that this is #FakeNews by another so-called conservative irrelevant begging for attention, and in the liberal Democrat tradition, by any means necessary.