In the Republican Party’s Trump era it is baffling to note how some ostensibly on the Right believe the GOP should be selecting candidates based on identity politics. More curious still is that the latest call for President Trump to endorse a San Diego RINO candidate for Congress, Carl DeMaio, has come from a writer with a track record of attacking the president and his policies, ad nauseam.
In an article entitled “President Trump should endorse Carl DeMaio, who would be the only openly gay Republican in Congress,” Washington Examiner writer Brad Polumbo advances the argument that the president should endorse DeMaio—whose nasty comments about the president couldn’t be much worse—simply because he’s gay.
That’s right: for nothing more than that he’s gay. Not because he’s conservative mind you. Since he isn’t.
“If the president wises up and endorses DeMaio, history could be made by sending an openly gay Republican to Congress,” says Polumbo.
Except that’s not why our party picks candidates, nor should it ever be a reason. We choose people on the basis of their views, their beliefs, their merits, not their identity.
In the article, Polumbo also reveals DeMaio is scarcely conservative on the issue of life:
The candidate seems hesitant to identify as either pro-life or pro-choice, calling himself “constitutionally libertarian” on the issue in our conversation, and saying that Roe v. Wade is “settled law.”
We’ve no need for mushy moderates on the issue of life—which is, of course, another red flag. In fact, DeMaio has “battled” to be regarded as a moderate, yet is now begging for the MAGA base endorsement.
In 2014 he declared: “I am the gay, pro-choice, pro-reformer who has taken on his own party time and time again” and under the Obama adminstration, he effectively supported DACA and a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the United States.
In what universe does Polumbo think Trump would ever consider endorsing a pro-choice, pro-immigration moderate like DeMaio?
DeMaio, arguably, should go back to the Libertarian Party, which he endorsed for president in 2016 when he announced: “Never Trump? Well, maybe you should consider the Libertarian option.”
After all, if he still thinks the president is a “disgusting pig”—as he tweeted ahead of the November 2016 election—then maybe, just maybe, that’s one endorsement he should never get.
We’ve seen what Trump’s endorsement of spineless pukes like Mitt Romney (R-Utah) did for him during this impeachment saga. Why on earth would we need another one like him in Congress? It’s time for true America First candidates, true allies for Trump in Congress, not mushy moderates like DeMaio.
DeMaio has even accused Trump of knowing how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Odd. He should tell that to the Americans now cheering the booming economy, the hundreds of conservative federal judges serving on the bench, the work on the border wall, the signing of new trade deals, and to the strengthening of the NATO alliance by forcing other nations to pay their fair share.
Oh, and tell it to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Qassem Soleimani, too.
Truth is, most on the Right don’t care about the sexuality of a candidate running for office. But many do consider a candidate’s words and his record. And Carl DeMaio’s are exceptionally poor.