Rep. Kevin McCarthy is measuring drapes for the speaker’s office, expecting to move in after the 2022 election. Hey Kev, leadership is keeping your caucus together so as not to hand Democrats big wins (i.e., the $1.2 trillion non-infrastructure bill). Leadership also is not voting with Democrats on bills that invade Americans’ medical privacy (i.e., the Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act). 

McCarthy exemplifies the big divide between the “America First” MAGA base and Establishment Republicans. This is why an expected Red Wave has the potential to turn into a Red Puddle.

The latest and most problematic divide between the MAGA base and the establishment is how Republican organizations and elected officials are going head over heels (pun intended) for transgenders. What better way to turn a potentially historic 2022 red wave into a puddle than having millions of fed-up Republicans sit home on election day (or week or month)?

Less than four short years ago, Republic National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel sided with President Donald Trump on his order to bar transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military. The RNC even passed a resolution at its February 2018 winter meeting referring to transgenders as having a “disqualifying psychological and physical” condition.

Now the same RNC chairwoman welcomes those same people with “disqualifying psychological and physical” conditions to join the Republican party. In November, the organization announced it was starting a Pride Coalition in partnership with the Log Cabin Republicans.

How about the RNC putting the same effort into investigating and litigating the 2020 presidential election fraud or the dangerous January 6 witch hunt? MAGAs demand answers before the next election! Nah, the RNC is too busy building its Pride Coalition.

As John Stonestreet and Kasey Leander wrote in “The RNC’s Pride Coalition.”

The RNC is mistaken to think that it is possible to be fiscally or politically conservative without, on some level, being culturally conservative first. You can’t have limited government while at the same time embracing a movement wishing to deconstruct and redefine marriage and the family since only the family reliably produces citizens able to govern themselves.

The Family Policy Institute of Washington was one of many conservative organizations that disagreed with McDaniel’s announcement. In an editorial entitled, “RNIC’s ‘Pride Coalition’ Betrays Christians and Families” –

We have no issues with LGBT Republicans (who represent somewhere near 1% of the Republican base) in joining the party and working on issues we hold in common. There are many I appreciate working with. However, we strongly oppose partnerships supporting LGBT groups who advocate for the LGBT movement’s policies on marriage and gender. These policies directly oppose the Christian policy agenda on family, marriage, children, and life. This is a sharp departure from the biblical values that the party often claims to uphold, as the LGBT movement’s agenda is antithetical to many issues the party claims to stand for.

The problem isn’t limited to the official Republican organization. The California Federation of Republican Women (CFRW) is the nation’s largest state federation under the auspices of the National Federation of Republican Women. Texas is second.

Any registered Republican woman can be a CFRW member. Men are welcome to join but as associate members.

In 2020, a trans female with primary membership in a southern California RWF club rose to the rank of club president. That’s weird. Didn’t RNC Chairwoman McDaniel say these folks have a “disqualifying psychological and physical” condition?

Image: Clouds reflecting in a puddle by H.A.W.C. 101 (cropped and edited in befunky). CC BY-SA 4.0.

But nothing says red, white, and screw you than having Republican Rep. Darrell Issa (CA) go along with this “disqualifying psychological and physical” condition by conducting the installation of the club’s officers.

Disillusioned members reached out to MassResistance, a national, leading pro-family activist organization. Despite being ignored or called transphobic, some members introduced an emergency amendment at CFRW’s October 2021 convention. But whenever a member approached the microphone to discuss biology or identity, leadership turned off the mic.

“It seems the CFRW executive board respects its members the way a dog respects a fire hydrant,” said one disgruntled member.

The transfer of common sense is not just happening at establishment Republican organizations. Recently, several conservative representatives were among 21 House Republicans that stood on the U.S. Capitol steps waving a TransPride flag. The three supposed conservatives were Elise Stefanik, Claudia Tenney, and Burgess Owens. Writing in “21 House Republicans Bow to The Transgender Mob; Wave TransPride Flag on House Steps,” Marmee Rooke points out:

Instead of standing up against abusive activist groups responsible for silencing differing opinions, Republicans are helping pass their legislation seeking to make sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) a federally protected class. Conservatives argue that this will help to solidify the already divisive voice of the transgender movement.

Fortunately, MAGAs are not helpless. Republicans can only win elections with the “America First” MAGA base. Using our power, MAGAs need to:

• Be vocal and active with like-minded political organizations and elected officials. Let them know why you are withholding donations.
• CFRW members should register their husbands, sons, and brothers as MEMBERS. The organization has already allowed a biological male to be a member so how can they decline allowing other biological males to be members?
• Consider starting a competing club or organization that promotes the values that might be missing in your current organization.
• Let your voice be heard:
  • Contact Ronna McDaniel, Chairman of the Republican National Committee
  • Email Susan Blair, President of California Federation of Republican Women President@cfrw.org
  • Email Ann Shockett, President of National Federation of Republican Women aschockett@nfrw.org

Unless the national and state Republican organizations get with the voters’ values and concerns, that huge red wave Republicans are excited about might be nothing more than a little red puddle.

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