He’s Sorta Kinda Officially, Unofficially One Of Us Now

Well, it’s sorta kinda official. Fancy suit wearing hoity-toity Congressman Jeff Van Drew is one of us now. Yesterday it was announced at the White House with President Donald Trump telling reporters, “Jeff will be joining the Republican Party.”

Honestly, I’m happy anytime we get a new Republican even if he is a fancy suit wearing hoity-toity Congressman.

What does not make me happy is when the “powers that be” or the “establishment” try to clear the field for any candidate. Let them fight for the line at convention or screening and if they want to run without the line let them fight against both the Party and the candidate who earned the endorsement.

Unfortunately, it’s beginning to look like the “establishment” is going to try to ram a Van Drew candidacy down the throats of voters in CD2. President Trump sent a message during yesterday’s White House photo opp. From The Hill:

“I’m endorsing him, OK? We’re endorsing him. I can’t speak for these two gentlemen, but I can say I’m endorsing him,” Trump said, gesturing to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Vice President Mike Pence, who joined him in the room.

An endorsement from the President in a primary election is a pretty big deal and it sends a message. At this point I am not ready to listen to that message. I spent years working against Van Drew, and of course Team Van Drew, especially the years Bob was Cumberland GOP chairman. Bob spent more years than I working against Van Drew, so many years the two definitely don’t send each other Christmas cards.

Now, after all those years of working against a guy we’re supposed to just say, okay we support him. Nope! Not us. We welcome Van Drew into the party, but like any other new member he has to earn our trust and respect.

There are examples of those who have earned trust and respect already running in this primary. Last cycle, when I first learned of Brian Fitzherbert, I openly wondered who the young guy thought he was running for Congress. Since then, he has proven he is an excellent organizer through his work with Young Republican organizations. He earned the trust and respect of many in the party.

More recently, David Richter burst on to the scene back in March of this year. Admittedly, I was less than kind to him, as were others. Richter toughed it out, kept showing up at events and meeting fellow Republicans and continues to earn the trust and respect of many in the party. I went from poking fun at him to calling him “frontrunner.” Bob, who endorsed Fitzherbert, after a recent appearance on the radio show by Richter told me, “I’m really starting to like that guy.”

Van Drew has only officially sorta kinda been a Republican for less than 24 hours. He’s done nothing to earn the trust or respect of anyone in the Party.

Unfortunately, for us, President Trump does not care that Van Drew has done nothing to earn our trust and came out and endorsed Van Drew.

If you doubt the “establishment” is already falling in line behind Van Drew, here are 258,000 reasons to remove that doubt:

That’s a $258,000 media buy before Van Drew even filled out his change of registration form. That’s more money than two of the three Republicans already running have raised.

In CD2 it’s beginning to look like if some people get their way Van Drew will be the guy. Just remember those “some people” are the exact same people who tried to shove Hirsh Singh down the collective throats of CD2 Republicans in 2018.

If the Republicans already running in CD2 want to stop Van Drew from being the guy, I strongly suggest Bob Patterson, Brian Fitzherbert and David Richter call a truce, get in a room together and figure it out. Don’t be stupid!

If Richter, Patterson and Fitzherbert all stay in we will have Van Drew as our nominee. I have no dog in the fight, I live in CD1, but I do not want to have to support Van Drew, which is exactly what will happen if he wins the GOP primary. That’s how partisan politics works – you support the winner of your primary, if you don’t like that rule, stop being a partisan.

Finally, since I have no dog in the CD2 fight, here’s a little advice for Mr. Van Drew: start earning some trust and respect from you new fellow Republicans. You have almost $1 million in your campaign account and that kind of money can buy a lot of love. The Committee to Defend the President just did a $250k media buy to support you, so there’s a little money for you to spread around. Other than that, you are welcome to come on The Bob and Steve Show, but understand that while we’ll be nice, we will not kiss your ass like that guy on another radio station.