On the Republican side, there’s a disturbing new way of campaigning that involves calling other Republican candidates you oppose “RINOs” when they didn’t win the seat. Because so much of politics today comes down to money, billionaires are buying elected offices, sidelining true conservatives with false labels. Anyone with money can label themselves “America First” and call a RINO a conservative who has been working in the trenches or a new conservative who vociferously defends basic conservative principles like election integrity, something most don’t have the courage to do.
The problem becomes more solemn when these dishonest or counterfeit candidates run in the general election. Their dishonesty and inexperience are exposed, and their loss costs the GOP its mandate. And those who actually manage to win the general election cannot be trusted.
It’s quite uncomplicated to find out who the real RINOs are. They have low ratings from conservative groups like the American Conservative Union (which now also rates state legislators), have a history of supporting or voting with Democrats, criticize solid conservatives like Donald Trump, claim there is no voter fraud, etc.
This new crop of big-money-backed candidates are taking and abusing this common criticism by vastly expanding the definition, making the term meaningless. They insult conservatives with solid records as “swamp creatures” and cite undiscovered past events of newcomers who dared to speak out about voter fraud and other controversial issues.
It has become quite controversial due to its seepage into Trump’s support. For the most part, Trump’s support has rightly chosen a solid conservative in primary races. But there were a few races where everything happened behind the scenes and most conservatives would agree he picked the wrong person.
The behind schedule conservative leader and writer William F. Buckley Jr. invented the Buckley Rule, which states that in political races, conservatives should support the most electable conservative. Some of Trump’s endorsements have not been consistent with this principle – although to his credit, he sometimes withdraws his endorsements when he sees his candidates underperforming in their races.
Two of his questionable endorsements were the result of lobbying by California tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel convinced Trump to support J.D. Vance in the Ohio Senate race over solid conservative Josh Mandel. Vance blamed Mandel, the former Ohio treasurer backed by Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, about being RINOs. But in 2016, Vance he said on Trump: “I can’t stand Trump. “I think it’s harmful and it’s leading the white working class to a very dark place.” He marked he had never been a Trumper himself and worried that the former president might be an “American Hitler.” Vance ultimately won the main race.
A second Thiel-backed candidate is running for U.S. Senate in Arizona next ‘The Twilight Zone” race. This brand new “Richie Rich” candidate, who has lived entirely off Thiel’s money throughout his career, has rigged Trump’s endorsement and is constantly criticizing the solid conservative in the RINO race. Blake Masters, whom opponents call “Fake Blake”, has no history as a conservative and has a long history as a radical libertarian who once convinced a friend to become an abortion supporter. But thanks to Thiel’s millions, including Trump’s coveted endorsement, he managed to make Arizona’s proactive, solidly conservative Attorney General Mark Brnovich falsely look tender.
His millions have infiltrated conservative media, social media and other outlets to portray Brnovich as a do-nothing when it comes to voter fraud, when nothing could be further from the truth. An offhand remark that Brnovich made about a day after the 2020 election, in which he said he had not personally seen any fraud yet, was stretched to mean that Brnovich did not believe fraud existed at all.
In fact, Brnovich fought fraud harder than anyone, walking a very fine line between being found guilty of fraud by a left-wing judicial system and being disbarred – he narrowly survived 12 attorney complaints filed against him and his staff by Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs . The reckless things Masters says will most likely get him – and The Week – fired says he doesn’t even believe there was fraud
Polls point to Brnovich results at least five points more than Masters against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in the general election. Masters has said so many offensive things – and continues to do so – that Kelly will destroy him in the general election.
Another weird race in Arizona is the GOP gubernatorial primary, that is between clear RINO, Karrin Taylor Robson, and clear Trump-endorsed conservative, Kari Lake. Lake has skyrocketed in the race thanks to her brilliance, years of media experience as a news anchor and unwavering stance on issues such as voter fraud that many Republicans are afraid to defend.
But Robson, who is largely bankrolled by her wealthy husband, insists she is a conservative in the race, constantly pointing to several tiny donations Lake made to Barack Obama and John Kerry in early 2010, when she was briefly a Democrat.
The reality is that Robson’s record is terrible – and it was while she was a Republican. Serving as ASU regent, she voted against a bill considered by the Arizona Legislature – which is now law – banning abortion for fetal defects such as Down syndrome. She voted provide illegal immigrants with subsidized tuition at Arizona universities that is lower than what American citizens pay in other states. Brnovich sued universities over this and forced them to stop this practice. She he worked as a paid lobbyist for leftist, open borders Chicanos por la Causa in 2018 and her annotations they look like a who’s who of RINO, he doesn’t even try to hide them.
There is supposed to be a red wave this year. But will the billionaires who changed the meaning of RINO to include anyone other than themselves ruin it for us?
