Starting with the organic rise of the Tea Party in 2008, a slate of enthusiastic patriots announced their candidacy for public office. The goal was to stop President Barack Obama’s leftward tilt while also changing the elitist GOP agenda, which too often seemed “uni-party.”

Fast forward to Donald Trump’s historic 2016 White House win. “America First” MAGA candidates threw their hats into various campaign rings—city councils, state legislatures, and Congress. Yet, no matter how hard many Tea Party and MAGA candidates worked, most could not compete with GOP coffers that easily paid for radio spots, television ads, colorful billboards, and glossy flyers that promoted the same Establishment candidates that got us into the current mess.

The Groundhog Day-like cycle, repeats every two years beginning in the primary:

Step 1 – Establishment and MAGA candidates announce their candidacy.

Step 2 – Establishment candidate ignores MAGA candidate.

Step 3 – MAGA candidate starts gaining traction; receives endorsements.

Step 4 – Local and state GOPs blanket the district or state with commercials, ads, flyers, and billboards (many deceptive) knowing the MAGA candidate lacks the financial resources to compete.

Step 5 – The establishment candidate wins the primary. GOP says Republicans must now come together.

Step 6 – RINO wins the election and quickly starts disappointing MAGAs.

Image: Young Kim and the Dems (edited). YouTube screen grab.

A prime example is Rep. Young Kim (CA-39). Almost as soon as Rep. Kim won her current 39th Congressional District race she started disappointing the very people who supported her campaign. Political activist Gale Stoddard, known as “the voice of the Filipino people,” shares her insightful story:

I have known Young Kim for over 25 years when she accompanied her boss, former Congressman Ed Royce, to my mom’s centenarian birthday parties held in my backyard. I also held three meet-and-greet fundraisers for her. Kim seemed the ideal candidate in 2020 for the Republican Party. With the expert conservative mentoring of the esteemed Ed Royce, we knew her rise in the political world was assured. But something went awry. ... [S]he has gone too far to the left.

Rather than run for reelection in the district in which she lived, Kim chose the new 40th Congressional District, which has a slight Republican advantage. An “America First” MAGA candidate (Ret.) Col. Greg Raths, a Mission Viejo City Councilmember, was also running. When it looked as if Raths might win the primary against incumbent Kim, it was all GOP Establishment hands-on-deck to stop him with what some claim were misleading radio and TV ads. Glossy flyers (from Kim’s PAC or local/state GOPs) attacking “America First” candidate Raths were mailed out on an almost daily basis. Again, former Kim supporter Gale Stoddard wrote:

My heart ached when I saw on TV the terrible ads Young Kim’s team created to burn the sterling reputation of an acclaimed member of the US ARMED FORCES, distinguished Marine officer Greg Raths. In my opinion, the ads were oozing with hate. …A lot of Chino Hills voters expressed their disdain to me and promised to never vote for Kim again.

In early July, after receiving yet another email message begging for a donation, Dorothy S. who lives in the 40th Congressional District e-mailed Young Kim as follows:

You should NOT have lied about Greg Raths. This is his neighborhood, not yours.

Following his primary loss, “America First” Raths put out a short video explaining what happened:

Every two years.... Albert Einstein famously said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

NOT. THIS. YEAR!

Thanks to Joe Biden’s dismal leadership and his Administration’s multiple failures a Red Wave is on the horizon. If there is any year for patriots to say, “Hell no, we won’t vote for House Never-Trump RINOs,” it’s the 2022 midterm election.

CNN’s Chris Cillizza, who leans so far left he might need a cane to walk upright, said on May 26:

With just over five months before the 2022 midterm elections, it’s becoming more and more clear that a Republican wave is building out in the country.

On June 15, Elon Musk tweeted:

Massive red wave in 2022.

Andy Roth wrote in “The Red Wave is Not Just Inevitable, It’s Also Conservative”:

What the red tsunami portends is not merely a coming Republican majority in Congress and state capitols, but a realignment that propels conservatives into power. All across the nation in one primary after another, conservative state legislative candidates are defeating milquetoast establishment and moderate candidates.

The problem with RINOs is that we never know which way they will go on an issue, such as the 15 spineless Republican senators who voted with Democrats to destroy the Second Amendment. As President Trump said on June 25 at his Illinois rally:

[W]e also have to defeat the backstabbers and the dreadful RINOs … And these RINOs are in many ways worse than the Democrats because you don’t really know where they’re coming from. You don’t know where they’re coming from.

The “America First” MAGA base won’t ever be valued unless the GOP Establishment has a shocking wake-up call.

What MAGAs can do:

• Become actively engaged in the GOP apparatus to grow our influence.
• Join nonpartisan conservative organizations. In Orange County, that would be Conservative Patriots of Orange County.
• Donate directly to MAGA candidates and/or organizations instead of state or local GOP Establishment apparatus.
• Follow and post RINO voting records to alert others.
• Volunteer with non-RINO Republican candidates.
• In open primary states consider registering as No Party Preference.

MAGAs choices on Election Day:

• Only for the House (of Representatives), skip the congressional race on the ballot where the “America First” candidate should have appeared but didn’t, and
• Write in the “America First” candidate (if write-in allowed).
• Grudgingly vote for the Republican candidate, accepting that, if elected, his or her focus will be uni-party, i.e., make nice with Democrats and likely ignore the MAGA base.

In the interim period before the 2022 midterm election, it behooves all of us MAGAs to contact our wayward Republican officeholders and remind them that every vote counts, especially those who are registered Republicans and that they should not dismiss our legitimate concerns lest they be defeated by a Democrat.

Economists at Chapman University believe Republicans will gain 53 seats in the midterm election due to high gas prices. The Senate is too close but, perhaps, Republicans should win the House with a few less RINO seats.

As we get closer to the pivotal November 2022 midterm election, look for state and local GOPs to insist that Republicans vote for any candidate with an “R” after their name. They will claim a RINO is still better than a Democrat. Many “America First” patriots will respond thusly:

NOT. THIS. YEAR!

You can contact Robin Itzler at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com.

(Image of Col. Greg Raths courtesy of Col. Raths.)