House Freedom Caucus chickens come home to roost

The Tea Party was, at first, a legitimate political movement in Washington, D.C. A sentiment of anger over bloated budgets, government bailouts, and Obamacare swept in a fresh wave of legislators who promised to bring some true fiscal restraint to the table.

Unfortunately, within a few years, many of them excelled in only one thing: chaos.

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More concerned with maintaining high “scores” from various political organizations such as Heritage Action and FreedomWorks, they lost the plot entirely. Rather than working to gain incremental wins with a divided government, they took an all-or-nothing approach that began a cycle of possible government shutdowns and debt default games of chicken.

All of it culminated in the creation in 2015 of the House Freedom Caucus. For whatever reason, members of the caucus thought it was smart politics to attack members of their party. “RINOs,” “squishes,” and “the establishment” became hallmark phrases of those who spent more time attacking GOP leadership in the House and Senate than doing their jobs. It is crystal clear that no one in the House Freedom Caucus ever read Dale Carnegie’s indispensable book, How To Win Friends and Influence People.

Former Speaker John Boehner had enough of dealing with members more interested in chaos than legislating and retired. Boehner later said of the group, “They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos.”
Former Speaker Paul Ryan took on the role with hesitation, but the House Freedom Caucus and its allies provided Ryan with no quarter. In the first budget that he negotiated with President Barack Obama, Ryan secured some significant wins, including the lifting of the ban on crude oil exports. The United States is now one of the largest oil exporters in the world.

Not that it mattered. After the budget passed, the hashtag #DumpRyan began spreading on what used to be Twitter. Scam Super PACs sent “outraged” emails calling for House members to boot Ryan and “draft” former Rep. Trey Gowdy for speaker.

Who was it among House Freedom Caucus members (and the initial chairman) who led the charge in chasing Boehner away and criticizing Ryan? The man who now wants the speaker’s gavel — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). He has failed two votes already and likely will fail a third time.

Why? Because there are a handful of House members who will not support him and with such a slim majority, that’s all it takes. Jordan’s style rubbed off on supporters as House representatives who voted against him have received harassing messages, phone calls, and even death threats. It got so bad, it forced Jordan to send out a post on X (formerly Twitter) condemning threats against members. It boggles the mind the political climate is so bad that the guy who wants the top job in Congress, and who would be second in line to the presidency, must say, “Hey y’all. Stop sending death threats to my fellow Republicans.”

What makes matters worse is that Jordan-aligned groups such as Turning Point USA are imploring people to “light up” the phone lines of members who voted against Jordan, referring to them without a hint of irony as the “chaos caucus.”

Jordan may ultimately prevail, as no one else seems to want the job. Still, if he wins, what kind of governing coalition will he have? He won’t have the trust of some members and will face pressure to pass legislation by fellow radicals that won’t get any traction in the Senate and likely put swing district seats in danger.

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It’s easy to blow things up when you represent a district in which you don’t have to worry about losing. Jordan is learning the hard way that spending the last 15 years doing all the things a leader doesn’t do is having ramifications now that he wants a leadership position.

Jay Caruso is a writer and editor residing in West Virginia.

Tags: Beltway Confidential, Opinion, Blog Contributors, Jim Jordan, House Republicans, Speaker of the House, Opinion, Washington D.C.

Original Author: Jay Caruso

Original Location: The House Freedom Caucus chickens come home to roost