After 35 House Republicans ignored the request of their party leaders and voted with Democrats to establish a 9/11-style fact-finding commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol Hill riot, detractors said the GOP was irreparably divided.
Their vote, made in opposition to Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, and GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York, brought the fault lines of the party into stark relief, they said.
Those lines separate the old guard, neocon establishment Republicans like Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, from Trump-supporting “America First” Republicans like Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.
But events this week prove that the deepest fractures aren’t in the party of Lincoln and Reagan; they’re in the party of Jefferson and Jackson.
On Monday Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.,
released a statement that set off a firestorm within the Democratic caucus. She equated the United States and Israel with terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the Taliban, claiming they all committed "unspeakable atrocities” and “crimes against humanity.”
The following day, 12 Jewish House Democrats released a rather tepid statement, given Omar’s comparison, asking her to “clarify her words,” and calling the comparison “as offensive as it is misguided.”
Omar lashed out and accused her colleagues of being Islamophobic. Other Democratic House members rushed to her defense, including:
- Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who called the 12 Jewish lawmakers “sick”;
- Cori Bash of Missouri, who claimed they were anti-Black; and,
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who said they were placing Omar into physical danger.
The party that holds the White House almost certainly loses seats in the midterms, and statements that accuse the United States and Israel of "unspeakable atrocities” aren’t likely to attract any new voters to their tent.
Add to that the Democratic Party’s radical agenda — open borders, profligate spending, federal takeover of elections with no accountability — and they’re cooking up a recipe for disaster.
But what about the GOP? Didn’t the 35 defecting Republican lawmakers prove that they’re divided as well?
Stated differently, do old guard, neocon Republicans still have a place in the GOP when it appears to be moving further to the right and become more populist?
“It depends very much on the district where the candidates are running,”
he told Newsmax during a recent phone interview.
“In districts that look more suburban to urban, the answer is yes,” they do have a place, while “in districts that look more suburban and rural, the answer is no.”
Jakubowski also writes a Newsmax column called “The Red Pill,” and is a Newsmax TV contributor. He’s been featured on The Rush Limbaugh Show, the BBC, and iHeart Media to name a few.
He explained that “there’s been a reformation of our party that is now reaching into the working class minority segments like Latinos in Texas and Florida,” and that this evolution is a positive move.
“No longer are people willing to stomach the old-school, GOP candidate that they view as part of the swamp,” he said. “They really want a candidate that’s willing to fight for them, and in some ways Donald Trump is a proxy for how folks view that.”
And Jakubowski believes the upcoming elections will be proof — in the form of a big win for the party, with the “America First” agenda being more important than any single person for the GOP’s future — including Trump himself.
He foresees “a purity of alignment” within the party by the time of the 2024 presidential election, one that would “be in line with that [America First] voice.”
Jakubowski doubts that Trump will run in 2024, but will instead work as a chess master moving pieces behind the scenes.
Because of the changing demographics of the Republican Party, he said “If I were a betting man, I’d bet more in the [populist] DeSantis direction than I would in the [establishment] Romney direction.”
He concluded, “We’re birthing a new party and the birthing process is painful and it’s going to have contractions that exist within it. But I think that as it comes out it becomes more and more clear that the ‘America First’ message will be impossible to stop.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Omar
released a statement Thursday saying that she didn’t actually say the things that she actually said.
Denying reality won’t help them either. And while the GOP is coalescing toward victory, Democrats are disintegrating into failure.
2022 will be a big year for Republicans; 2024 may be even bigger.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter, who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.