The GOP civil war: Populists versus Conservatives.

For several years there has been an informal Republican coalition between traditional conservatives and isolationist national populists.
It is not formal, but it is always apparent. If America were a European nation, these groups would be in separate parties. The major vehicle for populists is the House Freedom Caucus. Their battle cry is to always oppose compromise even though Democrats control the Senate, White House and media.
To them, “compromise” is a dirty word, and it is the major reason they worked to oust the last four GOP House Speakers. The Freedom Caucus advocates an imaginary world where longstanding Congressional rules don’t apply.
Republicans had majorities in the past, but the filibuster rule means the Senate requires 60 votes for passage, and the GOP hasn’t had that since 1911.
“Absolutely no compromise” is an amazingly effective war whoop in online fundraising and it always guarantees applause in the populist strongholds; the Libertarian Party, “Steve Bannon’s War Room,” Alex Jones’ Infowars, and the Tucker Carlson Network, but it also means nothing is accomplished.
It’s a major reason zilch has been done in 25 years to stop the tremendous growth of mandatory spending which is on track to consume 80% of the federal budget.
No compromise has often been a major hurdle in achieving pro-growth tax reform, increased defense spending, and the elimination of wasteful domestic programs. It derailed major parts of the conservative reform agenda.
The 38 members of the Freedom Caucus are easily able to defeat the GOP majority and they have done it several times in the 118th Congress, even on border security bills.
The other populist accusation is that “Republicans are useless. They can’t close the border or deport the millions of illegals.”
That is because the GOP controls only one chamber in one half of Congress and it has often been by just a one vote margin.
The Freedom Caucus always claims the enemy is the “uniparty,” and they often say there is no difference between many Republicans and Democrats. It’s crazy talk and conservatives represent about 90% of the Republican Conference.
They told us Kevin McCarthy had to be removed as Speaker because he supported a 45 day stop gap measure which included a 30% spending cut and a strong Secure the Border bill. McCarthy was removed by the “crazy 8” and weeks later they supported a stopgap!
The stopgap never mattered and as always, it was all about publicity. It doesn’t bother them if the conservative cause is setback. Their goal is to get on television so they always participate in meaningless publicity stunts because they can be used in online fundraising. You often need to stop looking for logic in their actions because there isn’t any.
Some people think the Freedom Caucus is just hardcore conservatives. They have been around for a long time and are not an obstacle. The problem is that the Freedom Caucus and their allies are advocating a new governing coalition which would sideline the traditional conservative cause.
Populist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claims the very conservative “Mike Johnson is Mitch McConnell’s twin and worse. . . There’s also not any daylight between him and Nancy Pelosi at this point. . . The Democrats love Mike Johnson so much, he is now their Speaker! . . .
“As I told Tucker Carlson, I think he is being blackmailed to do the bidding of the left. It certainly seems that way.
“He has fully abandoned his conservative principles to fund the radical wish list of Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden, and the Democrats.” Rep. Greene also said, “I want peace” and claimed stopping the “warmongers” was her major mission.
She continued “Funding Ukraine is probably one of the most egregious things he can do.” Greene describes Vladimir Putin is a supporter of “Christian values.” Greene also claimed Speaker Johnson is pro-abortion, and supports ‘The trans agenda, the climate agenda, foreign wars and is doing nothing about the border crisis.” All of her claims are lies.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) described Greene as “Moscow Marjorie” and claimed she is constantly defending Russian aggression. Lawler said, “She always wants America to do nothing and appears to be unconcerned about the activities of China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and radical Islamists.”
Lawler said her constant “Tantrums are absolutely unacceptable and they do nothing to further the cause of the conservative movement. . .
“She has clearly gone off the deep end. The only people who have stymied our ability to govern are the very people that pull these stunts to undermine the narrow House Republican majority.”
Lawler argued the lack of congressional action on several conservative priorities is because of the Freedom Caucus which has always hampered the Speaker’s ability to negotiate.
He said “Members in our conference have continually undermined the Speaker’s ability to negotiate. . . They are upset about things that haven’t happened, but they should look in the mirror. That starts with Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) agreed and denounced the “petty political stunts. Some members would rather upend our work instead of advancing the conservative agenda. Americans sent us to Washington to govern.”
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) responded to the isolationist populists by saying “The world is on fire and ignoring blatant and unprovoked aggression is not the answer.
“America is facing the most dangerous combination of national security challenges since the end of the Cold War.
“Speaker Johnson clearly understands the threats we face from Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and radical Islamists.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence describes populists as “Putin Republicans” and says they may now represent a majority of the House GOP. We understand why Pence was shocked when he was booed at a previous CPAC for defending Israel, and when the attendees at the America First Political Action Conference began chanting “Putin, Putin, Putin.”
Pence says “The positions I take as a traditional conservative are increasingly at odds with isolationists and national populists.
“It’s really a debate about whether or not the Republican Party is going to continue to hew to the commonsense conservative agenda that has defined our movement over the last 50 years or whether we’re going to heed the siren song of populism unmoored to conservative principles. There are prominent Republicans today who oppose key parts of the conservative agenda.”
In 2023, Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk of Turning Point said their dream ticket would be Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
William Galston of the Brookings Institution identifies “War Room” as the top peddler of “false, misleading and unsubstantiated statements.” He also says “The Republican Party is grappling with the fact that conservative orthodoxy is one thing and populism is another.
“Populists are not anti-government. Populists are in favor of government that helps people like them.”
The populists claim Democrats and Republicans are part of a “uniparty,” and they want a new coalition that is no longer right versus left, but instead, “bottom-up versus the ruling oligarchy regime.” They advocate and foster an internal GOP civil war.
They want a new political realignment that moves beyond “Reaganism,” and “the old conservative vs. liberal battles”. They envision common ground with the left in forging a new populism.
Like the French Revolution, the populists seek ideological purity for their crusade, and many of them have left the conservative cause behind as the advocate national populism.
They claim it is a return to “the original Trump,” but the former president does not support their tactics. He endorsed Speaker Kevin McCarthy in many personal calls to members of the Freedom Caucus, and later backed Speaker Mike Johnson and $60 billion in Ukraine military aid.
We admire Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) but dumping Kevin McCarthy was a dumb move. The result was a month of chaos, inaction and a tremendous amount of internal anger.
All work on separate spending bills ceased. Spending reductions were traded for spending increases, and the GOP majority shrank from five seats to one. Four committee chairmen and 20 other GOP incumbents are already retiring because they are sick of the internal fighting.
We believe another big problem is that neo-isolationism is now rampant on the right, and many conservatives have clearly turned against the Reagan Doctrine.
When populist Rep. Greene kicked off her campaign to oust the conservative Speaker she stood behind a podium with the logo “Mike Johnson: The Uniparty Speaker”. The only lawmaker who joined her was libertarian Rep. Thomas Massie who previously claimed the Islamic State posed “no immediate threat” and then President Trump was wrong to authorize the 2017 military campaign that abolished the caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
Massie was also angry when Trump authorized the missile strike which killed Lt. Gen. Qasam Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Republic Guards Corp. Massie lashed out at Trump that day and said “War propaganda is a powerful drug and so readily available right now.” In addition, Massie has long had the most anti-Israel and pro-Iran voting record in the GOP.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the Policy Chairman of the Freedom Caucus, voted to fire Speaker McCarthy and says he is tired of being reminded 60 votes are needed for passage in the Senate.
His policy is no compromise at any time, and to just ignore legislative reality. He says if nothing is accomplished, that is fine with him. Roy continued “We have got to plan now to drive a steamroller over the weak-kneed individuals in the Congress that use 60 Senate votes as the excuse not to fight.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) doesn’t care what Roy is driving because any Freedom Caucus legislation will not be scheduled for a vote. All Republicans in the House and Senate support the strong Secure the Border Act (HR 2) but Schumer will not bring it up.
Roy is also angry because funding for national defense and homeland security has been “wrongly used as an excuse to go along with Democratic priorities”. He wants them both cut.
Roy says he is tired of hearing “We just can’t risk defense. Well, if that’s your outlook, you’re never going to change the town.” Roy was solidly against the Ukraine/Israel aid package.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Communications Chairman of the Freedom Caucus, says “It makes no difference to me if Hakeem Jeffries or Mike Johnson is Speaker right now. They are both in the uniparty.”
She earlier said, “Every time that dirty four-letter word called ‘compromise’ comes up, it’s always Republicans stepping away from their principles and siding with socialists, communists and Marxists.”
Similar to her fellow populists, Boebert is furious military aid to Ukraine and Israel passed and a budget was approved without a government shutdown. For 30 years the “shutting down the government” strategy has never worked because Democrats refuse to negotiate.
Another populist leader is Candace Owens, but she is wrong in claiming the United States should have a leader like Vladimir Putin, a dictator who allows no human rights.
She believes Putin is “an incredibly smart person”, but the examples she listed are lies.
We don’t want to belong to the party of Putin. Her foreign policy outlook is like Code Pink, and she appears to be saying Hitler should have been ignored if his atrocities were confined to Germany. Pat Buchanan continues to believe America was wrong to enter WW II.
The populists want to return to the policies of the original America First movement of the 1930s which advocated strict isolationism and protectionism. Many of the populists today want to abandon NATO and collective security. Their prominent leaders want America to give up its veto in the UN Security Council and slash defense spending.
Many populists agreed with Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham who both said the Trump administration was wrong to abolish the Islamic State caliphate in 2017 because the conflict in Syria and Iraq “was none of our business.”
Anyone who doesn’t share their outlook is labeled a “neocon, globalist warmonger who is part of swamp.” It shocks us but many populists we once praised are now constantly repeating blatantly false Russian state propaganda while defending Putin’s aggression and war crimes.
Rabbi Michael Barclay responded to Candace Owens by saying “This is a woman who is such an anti-Semite and so ignorant of history that in 2018 she publicly said Hitler was “OK” until he tried to go global.
“Owens went on Tucker Carlson’s show to speak about how the October 7th attack on Israel really wasn’t that bad, and why should she even care. She refused to even condemn Hamas.”
Candace Owens says the United States should no longer be the world policeman. It’s a common accusation but it’s not true. America often does not react. America did nothing when millions died because of atrocities in Cambodia, Rwanda, Congo and Darfur.
The result was genocide. She wants to do nothing about all global aggression and that was the “lead from behind” strategy of the Obama administration which gave us the Islamic State.
The UN has no power to enforce its own rules and treaties, and America has always voted against a UN army. Regional organizations such as the European Union, the African Union and ASEAN don’t have hard power. Perhaps the American century is over but if we pass the baton, the China century could well have dire consequences for the United States.
Another populist cause was advocated by Steve Bannon who said “If we put together a unity ticket of Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy, Jr. it would be insurmountable — we would bring over many of the national populists on the Left.”
Bannon claimed Trump and Kennedy are both are “against warmongers, globalists and a proxy war on Russia.” This was before Trump supported the aid package for Ukraine.
Kirk says “We need a realignment outside the two-party system. I believe there is a new coalition being built — not a coalition that is right versus left, but instead, bottom-up versus the ruling oligarchy regime.”
The American Conservative magazine, which was founded by Pat Buchanan, has highly praised Kennedy and his call for foreign policy isolationism.
In conclusion, the Republican Party is overwhelming conservative and 21 of the moderates represent Congressional districts carried by Biden. The battle with the Freedom Caucus is often about their constant need for attention which they know means a big boost in online fundraising. Once again, attacking the GOP leadership works well for them financially.
They want to change the GOP from conservative to populist. They don’t care about national security issues, and their tactics are wrong.
They rule out all compromise, so everything is stalemated, and that often means the only option is an omnibus or continuing resolution. The Freedom Caucus claims to be conservative, but they hurt the conservative cause.
Their strategy is constant chaos because it keeps them in the news. With a one seat majority they can easily derail the GOP leadership. They are not asking for legislation to be more conservative.
They want everything shutdown, but we have tried it for over 30 years, and it has never worked. Democrats consistently refuse to negotiate, and the result has always been a public relations disaster for the GOP.