Bob Good Is In Big Trouble!
Yesterday, Texas congressional incumbent and mainstream conservative, Tony Gonzales, who had been forced into a GOP primary runoff in South Texas by neo-fascist extremist Brandon Herrera, beat back the challenge, although just barely. He beat Herrera 15,023 (50.7%) to 14,616 (49.3%). Herrera won in 17 of the sprawling district's 29 counties. And it was costly. Gonzales was forced to spend $3,908,627 to win the primary. Herrera spent 1,227,740. Gonzales’ allies (including AIPAC, which kicked in over a million dollars to remind Texas voters that Herrera is a fascist) spent over $4 million slamming Herrera and bolstering Gonzales. The House Freedom Caucus spent $117,705 on Herrera’s behalf.) Several of Gonzales’ far right colleagues— including Matt Gaetz, Bob Good, Ralph Norman and Eli Crane— broke with establishment protocol and backed Herrera. Trump, however, kept his opinion to himself… on that race.
But… speaking of the House Freedom Caucus, they may be on the verge of being decapitated. Yesterday, the current chairman, Bob Good, got some very bad news just before his June 18 primary. Good is about as MAGA as anyone can be, except for one teeny-weeny detail— the only one, in the end, Trump cares about. Good endorsed Ron DeSantis instead of Trump. So, yesterday, Trump, likely incited by Marjorie Traitor Greene and Kevin McCarthy, sent this bloodthirsty message out to the cult:
Trump won the district by over 8 points and he’s wildly popular among the kind of reactionary, primitive bRepublicans who live in Pittsylvania, Campbell, Louisa, Powhatan, Amherst and all the small rural counties that make up VA-05. McGuire, of course, quickly followed Trump’s endorsement with this— likely to be his predominant message for the next three weeks:
Other House Republicans, besides Traitor Greene, who endorsed McGuire includeKevin McCarthy allies Mike Rogers (R-AL), Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA) and Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA), Ryan Zinke (R-MT), Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) and Morgan Luttrell (R-TX). Super PACs connected to McCarthy, who wants revenge against Good for voting to kick him out of the speaker’s chair, have already spent $2.5 million slamming Good and more than a quarter million more putting out a positive message for McGuire.
Yesterday, Kevin Freking, reporting for the Associated Press wrote that Trump’s endorsement will be tough for Good to overcome, even though Good has repeatedly debased himself trying to kiss Trump’s ass, most recently by crawling up to NY to support Trump at the courthouse. “It was too late” wrote Trump.
Nikki Ramirez, reporting for Rolling Stone yesterday pointed out that “crawling on one’s proverbial knees to pay homage” to Señor Trumpanzee won’t actually stop him from trashing you publicly, as Good is learning the hard way. Early voting in the primary has already begun “and Trump putting a last-minute finger on the scale could very well cost Good his seat.”
If Good wins reelection, with the help of several Trump allies like Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Chip Roy (R-TX)— but none of his Virginia colleagues— it will make Trump look politically weak and ineffective. He lost. amajor runoff battle yesterday, when state House Speaker Wade Phelan won his runoff against fr right, Trump-backed crackpot David Covey, 12,813 (50.7%) to 12,447 (49.3%). Over the weekend, Trump attacked Phelan and ordered the cult to cast their ballots for Covey. He failed.
CNN reported that “The toxic infighting that has dominated the House GOP majority— and has now landed squarely in Good’s conservative district in rural Virginia— is part of a larger battle over the direction of the GOP. As many Republicans in Washington say that compromise and consensus with Democrats is the way to govern in divided government, Good and his bloc of members excoriate such deal-cutting as they push their no-compromise approach. ‘This is the most important primary in the country,’ said Gaetz, who led the charge to oust McCarthy and has targeted two other sitting Republicans in their primaries so far this cycle. ‘Bob is our masthead. Bob Good is our leader among House conservatives to get us on the same page to ensure that it is the people’s interests that rise above the special interests. They know that they hate us. But you know what, there are more of us.’”
But MAGA had an orgasm over what Rashida Tlaib allegedly said at a gathering of Palestinian Americans when she disparaged Biden.