What Will Good's Defeat Tomorrow Do To The Freedom Caucus?
I don’t think anyone would ever accuse Tom McClintock of being a moderate. He’s always been viewed as a far right extremist and he sits pretty comfortably in a deep rural red district (R+17 partisan lean) at the northern end of the San Joaquin Valley, west of Sacramento, Stockton, Merced and northwest of Fresno. It includes all of Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa counties and parts of Stanislaus, Madera, El Dorado and Fresno counties. The closest thing to a city are the parts of Modesto and Turlock. Other than that, there’s Riverbank (24,623), Oakdale (pop- 23,181), Placerville (pop- 10,747) and Sonora (pop- 5,121). Biden took 25% of the vote there, an improvement over Hillary’s 22%. You know how no one ever heard of GOP Senate and gubernatorial candidates like Mark Meuser and Brian Dahle, the ones who get less than 40% statewide? They win big in CA-05. Dahle, for example only took 17.7% of the statewide gubernatorial vote against Newsom in 2022 but won in McClinton’s district with a whopping 62.7%. Yeah, it’s that kind of district.
McClintock is a career politician from the L.A. suburbs who was elected to the Assembly in 1982 and the state Senate in 2000. He lost 2 races for Controller, one for governor and one for lieutenant governor. He lost a congressional race as well, until he finally stumbled onto what is now CA-05 (then CA-04), nowhere near where he lived (and still lives!). In Congress, he’s been a far right loon— Climate Change denier, anti-mask nut, anti-mail-in-voting, extreme xenophobe, anti-LGBTQ equality— although sometimes so far right that he opposes GOP positions, like when they impeached Mayorkas and censured Rashida.
He quit the Freedom Caucus in 2015. Yesterday he was on NewsNation complaining about them, accusing them of burning everything down when they don’t get their way. “The tactics that they’re using aren’t advancing those principles. They’re an impediment to those principles… We saw that with the ousting of McCarthy. He had produced, with a very slender majority, some absolutely remarkable accomplishments, including the Fiscal Responsibility Act that bent federal spending back by $2.6 trillion over a 10-year period of time— not nearly enough, but a tremendous accomplishment… All of those things with a majority of just five members. He was able to accomplish all that and was then destroyed… by eight Republican malcontents.”
Yesterday another Freedom Caucus extremist, Warren Davidson (R-OH), who hasn’t left the caucus yet, as far as I know, endorsed John McGuire, the far right nut who’s running against Freedom Caucus chair— and far right nut— Bob Good. The primary is tomorrow and things look dicey for Good because of Trump— and Moscow Marge— coming out for McGuire. Tonight Trump is appearing at a tele-town hall for McGuire.
“I love this country with a soldier’s passion. I’ve served in Congress since 2016, and we need reinforcements to help Make America Great Again. I’m happy to join President Trump by supporting and endorsing John McGuire for Congress. I look forward to serving with him in the 119th Congress to support President Trump and the America First agenda. Drain the swamp!”
Davidson’s decision is sure to send shock waves across the House GOP. But even more, his decision to back McGuire will be seen as a grand betrayal by the right-wing group that is meticulous about appearing united publicly, even amid internal divisions.
…Good, meanwhile, argues that his critics have lied to the ex-president about his record and turned Trump against him.
As GOP colleagues within Good’s own party have stacked up against him, including some he personally tried to unseat, the Virginia rabble-rouser has heavily leaned on members of the Freedom Caucus to show their support in his race.
On Friday, three Freedom Caucus members— Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Andrew Clyde (R-GA) and Andy Biggs (R-AZ)— joined Good for a campaign event in Louisa County, Virginia, where almost all touted their membership in the group.
“My question to members of the Republican Congress who aren’t in the Freedom Caucus is why?” Roy said to the crowd.
There were signs Davidson didn’t agree with Good’s leadership as the Freedom Caucus board voted to name Good as their next chair last December.
During that time, Davidson sent a letter to the group’s board informing them he intended to step down from his spot on the leadership team as he also announced his opposition to Good’s campaign for the top spot.
“I ask that we consider how to best increase our influence while preserving our power to move policy in the right direction. I strongly feel that Bob Good as Chairman will impair that objective,” Davidson wrote in the letter.
While Good was among one of the eight members who voted to remove former Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the gavel, Davidson was one of the members who spoke in favor of McCarthy during his January speakership fight.
And when it comes to Trump, allies of Good also argue there have been times in the past when Trump has attacked the Freedom Caucus over policy disagreement, but that Trump has come to see the group’s members as his biggest defenders. Still, Trump has never been so personal as to actively campaign against one of its members— let alone its leader.
"...McCarthy. He had produced, with a very slender majority, some absolutely remarkable accomplishments, including the Fiscal Responsibility Act that bent federal spending back by $2.6 trillion over a 10-year period of time"
isn't that the deal he struck with biden? Isn't that NOT a good thing?