In an unbelievable moment of transparency and honesty, Donald Trump’s problematic former chief strategist and advisor, Steve Bannon, admitted to something that everyone not drinking the orange Kool-Aid has always known — Congress is filled with establishment Republicans who will put Trump’s liberal agenda ahead of conservative principles.
In an interview with The Hill, Bannon admitted as much when he encouraged Trump supporters to roll up their sleeves and get to work helping to re-elect RINOs.
I guess that whole “drain the swamp” thingy is going to have to wait.
Using Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) as an example — he’s been in Washington for 21 years and garners a 50% (F) Liberty Score® from Conservative Review — Bannon explained:
“One of the things we have to convince people of is, it doesn’t matter that Pete Sessions is a RINO. He’s a vote for Donald Trump, and that’s all you have to think about. And not just, you have to vote for him — you’re going to have to go out and work a precinct, and ring doorbells, and do a phone bank for him.”
There you have it! Trump needs establishment RINOs — notice Bannon didn’t say conservatives — to support his agenda because conservatives won’t. Although, there are so-called conservatives in Congress who have sold their souls to Trump’s non-conservative agenda. I’m looking at you, House Freedom Caucus.
Bannon’s indirect admission is that Trump and the GOP are one and the same when it comes to being a RINO and that conservatism no longer represents the Republican party. It was just last week, for example, that I wrote about how the Convention of States Project and Club for Growth were using their organizations to promote Trump and re-elect establishment Republicans.
Beginning with Barry Goldwater in the 1960’s and culminating with Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s, conservatism had become the benchmark of the Republican party. However, beginning with George H. W. Bush, conservative values were abandoned by the GOP, giving rise to the RINO (Republican In Name Only) to describe the Republican party. Since that time, it has grown in popularity to describe people like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner during the Obama years.
However, in the Age of Trump, RINO has come to describe Republicans in other ways.
For example, RINO stood for Repeal In Name Only when it came to keeping the promise to destroy Obamacare “root and branch,” and it stood for Rescind In Name Only when it came to keeping the promise to get rid of Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) executive order.
Regardless of how it’s used, however, RINO will forever represent the Republican establishment — a party devoid of conservative ideals and willing to let liberal Democrats run the show.
You know, when you look at it that way, it’s no wonder Bannon is okay with re-electing RINOs. How else will the NY liberal in the White House get anything done?
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative. His politically incorrect and always “right” columns are also featured on NOQReport.com.
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