Veterans of President Donald J. Trump‘s White House and their supporters gathered Tuesday to launch The Jefferson Society political action committee at Washington’s Capitol Hill Club, a PAC dedicated to backing House candidates aligned with their once-and-future boss’s agenda.
One of the new political action committee organizers told The Star News Network the Jefferson Society was born from the lessons learned from the White House Personnel Office, especially the last year of the Trump administration when John D. McEntee II led that office.
The organizer said that the right personnel is vital to getting the right policy, which was confirmed in the Trump administration and is true in the House of Representatives.
The organizer said the Jefferson Society looks to get involved in Republican primaries and in Republican districts to take out GOP congressmen who oppose the America First agenda.
“Our goal is pretty straightforward, to bring conservatives together to organize and support candidates who will always put America First,” he said.
“We want action-oriented candidates elected, who are committed to the issues that underscore our movement, issues like law and order, especially when it comes to violent crime and illegal immigration, and freedom of thought and freedom of speech, which are under attack like we’ve never seen before, foreign and domestic,” he said.
The organizer said the political environment favors America First policies.
“These fundamental issues resonate, not with just GOP voters; they are a big reason why so many Americans today identify as a Republican rather than a Democrat,” he said.
“These issues that fall under a large umbrella of American culture are under assault,” he said. “These are not, and cannot, be simply talking points shrouded in esoteric Beltway issues that are really designed to allow the DC political class to continue business as usual. Those days are truly gone.”
In addition to the host committee and contributors, there were also a number of House candidates and potential House candidates attending, including Dr. Garrett Barton, who said he is challenging Rep. H. Thompson “Tom” Rice in the GOP primary.
Rice voted January 13, 2021, to impeach Trump and was one of 35 GOP congressmen who voted May 19 to approve the creation of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
“He may be a good guy; I’m not arguing that one bit,” said the physician living with his wife and family in Cheraw, South Carolina. “The problem with Tom Rice is that Tom Rice came out and said, ‘I know what my constituents want, however, this is what I felt.’”
Barton said Rice then refused to admit he made a mistake when he voted to impeach Trump.
“Every time he’s been given the opportunity to say he is sorry, he never backs down,” he said.
“On top of that, he was the first Republican to vote to decertify the election,” he said. “Then, he went to Politico, a left-leaning news source, and said he wished he hadn’t done that.”
The keynote speaker at the was former Acting Attorney General Matthew G. Whitaker, a member of the hosting committee.
“What are the policies, and what is the agenda that we’re going to win in 2022?” Whitaker asked.
“I don’t think there’s anybody in this room that doubts that conservatives and Republicans are going to take the majority in the House. The Senate’s going to be a battle,” he said. “I’m paying very close attention to all of this, as you are as well.”
The former tight end for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes said it was important for conservatives to stay grounded in their principles, regardless of the political winds.
Whitaker said it is a point he makes whenever he speaks at chicken dinners across his home state of Iowa.
“One of the things and one of the themes I’ve talked about is: ‘What is the conservative agenda? What do we stand for as conservatives?’” he said. “I think one of the principles that we have to continue to fight for is the rule of law. What I mean by the rule of law is that we follow the constitution as it’s written – we don’t, for political expediency, diverge from that.”
Already, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and his administration have done the opposite, he said.
“You see the hazards of the Biden administration when they diverge from the constitution and the rule of law,” he said. “I put as exhibit A, this OSHA vaccine mandate, that the Supreme Court rightly and justly slapped down.”
The lawyer, who served as chief of staff to Attorney General Jefferson B. “Jeff” Sessions III, before leading the Justice Department from November 2018 to February 2019, said he appreciated Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch’s take on Biden’s use of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to enforce a vaccine mandate on companies with more than 100 employees.
“If you read Neil Gorsuch’s concurrence, what he says, we all need to remember,” he said.
“That is, that there are certain things, like a vaccine mandate that affects 84 million Americans, that is too important for an unelected, nameless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington, DC, to sign a pin and put on the American people,” he said.
“That type of mandate needs to come from Congress, as it was intended by our founding fathers and through our Constitution because those elected representatives are responsible to us, the people,” Whitaker said.
“While I’m talking about the rule of law, I cannot help but remind everyone that in the United States, we are unique, some would say,” he said.
“I would agree that the people are sovereign,” he said. “We elect representatives to represent us in Washington, DC and not vice versa. These are people that work for us and should implement our policies, so an OSHA administrator does not represent our interests.”
In addition to Whitaker, the host committee, which included former Secretary of Energy Dan R. Brouillette, former Ambassador to Iceland Dr. Jeffrey Ross Gunter, former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller, former Chief of Staff to Miller Kashyap P. “Kash” Patel and Rep. Peter A. Sessions (R-TX-17).
Sessions, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee during the 2010 Tea Party wave midterm, told the Jefferson Society supporters it is important to play smart in a wave election.
“Those of you that are candidates here and want to run for Congress, we need you,” he said.
“We need you to be balanced. We need you to be regular. We need you to come with a sense of urgency, but with a balance towards making lives better,” he said.
“Here’s the bottom line,” he said. “If you will come and put yourself to the test, you can win this time. If you will come and be mature and thoughtful about what you’re trying to do and articulate yourself in such a way with a written plan, we can do it.”
Sessions said another key to victory is holding Democrats to account.
“If we are going to win next time, we have to hold the Democrats accountable for what they are doing,” he said. “If they are the issue, we shall win. If we become the issue, it becomes more problematic.”
The Texas congressman said leading to the 2010 midterm; House Republicans forced House Democrats to take tough votes.
“When we were back 40 seats, and we won net 63,” he said. “We won it because we had a plan by which to get 100 votes, so to speak, in the water against them. We held them accountable. Even Barney Frank had to go take out a loan to win his reelection. He was worried about it in Massachusetts.”
Sessions said in a wave election, it is also essential to make sure the correct people get elected, like the candidates he recruited for 2010.
“We went about it, and we got Mark Meadows. We got Mick Mulvaney. We got a whole bunch of people that were in that class, and I could tell you a story about how most of them materialized from Kristi Noem, all the way up and down the line.”
“We need to make sure that we have people like President Trump that are effectively out showing the right light, the correct way,” the congressman said.
“Be willing to be open to common sense ideas,” he said. “They are out there. They work, but let’s hold the Democrats accountable, and let’s go and let’s whip their ass.”
Neil W. McCabe is the national political editor of The Star News Network. Send him news tips: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @neilwmccabe.
Photo “Garrett Barton” by Garrett Barton.
