Two down, eight to go.
That was former President Donald Trump’s joyful reaction when RINO Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois announced in October that he would not seek re-election.
The 45th president was referring to the 10 GOP lawmakers who voted to impeach him after the Jan. 6 riot. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio was the other Republican to announce he would not return.
But Trump recently released a new slate of people he is eyeing for defeat in 2022.
Through his Save America PAC spokeswoman, Trump recently tweeted that he was seeking to endorse “good and SMART,” America First Republicans who will challenge lukewarm GOP incumbents.
“Any interest from good and SMART America First Republican Patriots to run primary campaigns against Representatives Tom Rice, John Katko, Don Bacon, Don Young, Fred Upton (challenge accepted), Andrew Garbarino, Peter Meijer (challenge accepted), David McKinley (challenge accepted), Nancy Mace, Jaime Herrera Beutler (challenge accepted) and Chris Smith?” Trump tweeted.
“You will have my backing!”
Trump noted that Gonzalez, Kinzinger, and Rep. Tom Reed of New York have “already QUIT, they are out of politics, hopefully for good.”
Continuing, Trump noted, “Warmonger Liz Cheney (challenge accepted) is on the SKIDS with a 19% approval rating.”
“Saving America starts by saving the GOP from RINOs, sellouts, and known losers!” Trump concluded.
“In the Senate, the ‘Disaster from Alaska,’ Lisa Murkowski (challenge accepted), must go. There is ‘almost’ nobody worse!”
While there was plenty of overlap between his enemies list, Trump’s Twitter-posted challenge did not mention two GOP lawmakers who did vote for impeachment. They include Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington and Dave Valadao of California.
It’s unclear exactly why Trump chose the others. But, there are clues.
For example, Reed announced back in March that he would not run for another term next year following a sexual harassment scandal. Reed voted against impeaching Trump, but apparently earned the former president’s ire by voting to certify Joe Biden’s victory, as did Young.
Garabarino of New York and Bacon of Nebraska each voted against impeachment, yet they supported creating the Democrat-dominated special commission investigating the Jan. 6 violence.
Cheney, like Kinzinger, voted to impeach, and they are the only Republicans serving on the Jan. 6 commission.
More recently, Katko, Gonzalez, Kinzinger, Upton, McKinley, Smith, Young, Bacon, Garbarino and Reed all helped Democrats pass Biden’s massive $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” bill.
Mace recently voted to refer a criminal contempt of Congress case against former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to the Justice Department.
Murkowski voted to impeach over Jan. 6.
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