JANUARY 6th COMMITTEE REFERS TRUMP FOR 4 CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS ON THE SAME DAY a leading conservative Evangelical says the Republican party needs a fresh presidential candidate for 2024
The leader of a prominent Christian conservative organization is predicting that faith-based voters will flock to a “fresh candidate” in the 2024 presidential election as former President Donald Trump and other candidates begin to make their pitches as to why voters should select them as the nominee to take on President Joe Biden.
Although the midterm elections were a little more than a month ago, political observers have already begun to focus on the 2024 presidential election.
With the Iowa caucuses that historically kick off a string of presidential primaries in all 50 states slightly more than a year away, The Christian Post spoke with Bob Vander Plaats of the Iowa-based Family Leader, a socially conservative organization established to “strengthen families by inspiring Christ-like leadership in the home, the church and the government.”
Vander Plaats offered his assessment of the state of the Republican presidential primary, which currently consists of former President Donald Trump. Several other potential contenders are rumored to be weighing presidential bids but none have formally announced.
“The role that we play in Iowa is to have an open and fair playing field for everyone,” he said.
“Six months ago, I would have said if Trump doesn’t run, you’re going to see 10 to 15 candidates running. But if the former president does run, you might have one or two that might throw their hat into the ring but that would be about it,” Vander Plaats added. “Today, you’re seeing that I think there’s going to be a lot of candidates running even with the former president running.”
Vander Plaats attributed this change in the “conservative movement narrative” to the view that Trump has “high hurdles to win election back to the presidency.”
The conservative activist expressed gratitude for “the former president and his Administration for a lot of the good things that they did.” But he concluded that “the midterms [did not go] the way we wanted them to,” making it important for conservatives to rally around a “fresh candidate casting a vision for the future that can unite America.”
While Republicans were expected to make significant gains in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate due to Biden’s unpopularity, they netted only nine seats in the House and lost a seat in the Senate, thereby enabling Democrats to maintain control of the upper chamber. Republicans also suffered a net loss in the number of governorships they control nationwide and ceded a handful of state legislative chambers to Democrats.
Many cited Trump’s endorsement of candidates poorly suited for general election matchups in swing districts and states compared to other potential contenders, as well as his high unfavorability ratings among the general public as the causes of Republicans’ underperformance in the midterms. For his part, Vander Plaats seems to subscribe to this view, at least to some degree.
Vander Plaats, who endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, contends that the “quality of candidates” explained the wide disparity in results of the midterm elections among states and within individual states.
“For example, in the state of Georgia, [Republican] Brian Kemp did a great job as governor of Georgia, and the people of Georgia elected him overwhelmingly against a very tough candidate: [Democrat] Stacey Abrams,” he said.
On the other hand, Vander Plaats described Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker, endorsed by Trump in the primary, as “not as strong of a candidate.” Walker lost the election to incumbent Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock even as Kemp won re-election by more than seven points. The former football star faced carpetbagging allegations and reports that he paid for a former girlfriend to have abortions.
Former Vice President Mike Pence offered similar commentary in an interview with The American Enterprise Institute about his memoir So Help Me God.
“The common denominator that I see … is that candidates that were focused on the future, on bringing proven conservative solutions to the challenges the American people are facing today, did well,” Pence said. “Candidates that were focused on the past, particularly those who were focused on relitigating the past, did not do as well. … I think as you look in one race after another, that theme recurs.”
Another narrative has emerged following the midterms insisting that the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion, led to a surge in support for pro-abortion Democrats. Vander Plaats rejected the assertion that abortion and other social issues cost Republicans in the midterms.
“I don’t think that’s true,” he insisted. Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was “exceptionally pro-life and has advanced the pro-life agenda,” Vander Plaats said. DeSantis, he said, also took on the Walt Disney Company “because of the wokeism.”
“The state of Florida recognized him as being a strong leader,” he said.
DeSantis, who seems to be an early contender in Republican primary polling, won re-election by nearly 20 points in a state Trump carried by less than four points two years earlier, a bright spot for Republicans on what was otherwise characterized as a disappointing night.
DeSantis won the most populated county in the state, Miami-Dade County, which has a large Latino population and normally supports Democratic candidates.
Source: Christian Post,
To read more, click here: https://www.christianpost.com/news/iowa-christian-leader-wants-fresh-face-as-gop-nominee-in-2024.html
JANUARY 6th COMMITTEE REFERS TRUMP FOR 4 CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol held its final public meeting on Monday and made unprecedented criminal referrals against former President Trump.
The panel has heard from more than 1,000 witnesses, gone over millions of pages of documents and held nine public hearings as part of its year-plus investigation into what happened when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to overturn the 2020 election results and what led to that day.
The committee spent more than a year making the case that Trump was squarely at the center of efforts to overturn the election and was ultimately responsible for the deadly riot.
On Monday, the nine lawmakers voted unanimously to recommend the Justice Department file criminal charges against Trump and others, following a presentation of its findings.
Where to watch: The meeting has ended. Read below for a recounting of the hearing from The Hill reporters.
Source: the Hill
To read more and view video, click here: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3780559-live-coverage-jan-6-committee-holds-final-public-hearing/
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