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What if Repubs aren't in disarray, and the endgame is co-governing status for the Freedom Caucus? [1]

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Date: 2023-01-06

Scott Perry (Chair) and Jim Jordan (Vice Chair) undoubtedly are highly involved, but the two mouthpieces that have been used are Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, which is a smart strategy since they both are lightweight.

Yes, Kevin McLoser is a joke...and we can spend our time laughing at him, and talking about Republicans in disarray. But, what if they aren’t in disarray? What if this entire exercise has a far darker purpose? What if their goal is a “European-style coalition government” run by three groups: The Democrats, the Republicans, and the Freedom Caucus.

“A week after the midterm elections in November, a small group of far-right GOP lawmakers and activists gathered on K Street in Washington, D.C., to discuss strategies to use their narrow majority to extract power in the House. The next Congress, influential activist Ed Corrigan said, could be a “European-style coalition government” run by three groups: “The Democrats, the Republicans and the Freedom Caucus.”

“The forum was convened by Rep. Andy Biggs, and attended by several other lawmakers, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Rep. Victoria Spartz.”

“The strategy outlined by Corrigan went beyond just extracting concessions from House leaders — it amounted to a game plan for the House Freedom Caucus to operate as a third party in a de facto parliamentary system, essentially co-governing the chamber with mainstream Republicans. As lawmakers prepared for a seventh round of voting on Thursday, House Republicans appeared to be on the precipice of allowing that to happen.”

“What would a coalition government look like in practice?” Corrigan asked the group, which was filmed and livestreamed but has attracted little notice beyond conservative media. “I would recommend the Freedom Caucus would be granted a specific number of committee assignments, and committee and subcommittee chairmanships,” as well as a variety of other new powers, including putting a Freedom Caucus member as chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee.”

And, the way I see it, all of this seems to be happening. While I am not a conspiracy theorist, the voting debacle of the the last few days has made no sense to me. Billionaire donors didn’t invest 900 million dollars in the midterms to watch this circus play out, without a purpose. And, I have been looking for an explanation and found it in the article, The Democrats, the Republicans, and the Freedom Caucus: Inside the right’s plans to seize power in the new Congress, written by Steve Reilly, Investigative Reporter, and Maggie Severns, Domestic Policy Reporter for Grid news.

The article suggests that “the endgame for the approximately 20 hard-right House members who have voted against McCarthy for speaker of the House is about securing the Freedom Caucus a say in all decision-making made by the new Republican majority.”

The brains behind this is “far-right nonprofit Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI) president Ed Corrigan, who worked for the Heritage foundation, and is a former member of Donald Trump’s transition team. His associates are CPI senior partner Mark Meadows, who in 2015 filed the “motion to vacate” that led to John Boehner’s removal as speaker of the House; and CPI senior policy director Rachel Bovard, a former longtime Capitol Hill aide.”

CPI was founded in 2017, and allegedly is “little-known outside Trump circles, yet it has quickly become among the most powerful political messaging forces in the MAGA universe. They raised $20 million last year alone, and its network of nearly a dozen affiliate groups, several headed by ex-Trump aides, likely raised more. Donald Trump himself has endorsed the group’s work, boosted its fundraising and even donated $1 million to the group from his PAC in 2021.”

“The network has broad reach and keeps an eye on future elections. These organizations employ or assist at least 20 key operatives, reportedly involved in Trump’s failed effort to subvert the 2020 election, including Cleta Mitchell, ex-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark. They helped raise millions for Trump-aligned members of Congress — more than $38 million over the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, according to the nonprofit OpenSecrets.

Sometimes, we come upon information that needs validation we are unable to provide, and/or is too complex of a story for us to write, and this is the case for me. If true, the story is extraordinarily important. So, I am publishing this diary today with the hope that someone with more depth and breadth than I have, will pursue this story further, and produce an article that will get traction. This is the link to the original article, and this is the link to the info on CPI. Independent on what happens, when I return home this afternoon, I’m going to email my Senators and Representative about it.

While I hadn’t heard of Ed Corrigan, I’m assuming others have. And, most everyone else has been mentioned in the January 6 Committee report, including Mark Meadows, Jeffrey Clark, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, and Ginni Thomas, who along with other members of the Conservative Action Project, which is part of CPI, signed a letter seeking new leadership in the House (the list of others who signed is quite telling).

While we have an 845-page report from the January 6 Select Committee detailing a lot of crimes allegedly committed by some of these people and others who participated in the Insurrection and tried to overthrow the 2020 election, we have no idea if and when the DOJ will be acting on it. I have been worried for a long time that even if the DOJ does move forward, it won’t be in a timely fashion. But, if this article is true, the takeover is happening as we speak. I would hope that our leaders are aware of this, but if they know, why aren’t they speaking out?

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/6/2145781/-What-if-Repubs-aren-t-in-disarray-and-the-endgame-is-co-governing-status-for-the-Freedom-Caucus

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