There’s a coup taking place in the Democratic party as radicals like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., seize control — and they’re trying to chase out anyone with even remotely moderate views.
And by next election, the Democrats could be in shambles, wondering what went wrong!
The same far-left socialist “progressives” that helped send Ocasio-Cortez to Washington are hoping to repeat that success.
As with Ocasio-Cortez, that formula doesn’t begin with running against a Republican.
It begins by attacking a fellow Democrat!
The far-left Justice Democrats – which backed Ocasio-Cortez as well as fellow “Squad” representatives Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., in 2016 – just endorsed three new candidates for Congress.
And in two of those cases, they endorsed far-left candidates to take on already seated Democratic members of Congress, just as Ocasio-Cortez did when she unseated longtime Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., in a primary challenge.
In this case, the group backed Alex Morse, who is launching a primary challenge against Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Morgan Harper, who is primarying Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio).
Neal, in particular, would be a major target; he’s served since 1989 and is chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, often considered one of the most powerful committees in Congress because of its budget control.
However, Neal has angered the far left for supposedly not going far enough or moving fast enough in demanding President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
That’s a weakness the Justice Democrats now hope to exploit.
The third candidate, Kara Eastman, will seek to run against Don Bacon, R-Neb.
And all three have had to embrace the Justice Democrat platform, vowing to support a far-left socialist agenda that includes abolishing the healthcare system as we know it.
Instead of private health insurance and a system incentivized by a free market, they back a “Medicare for all” plan that economists believe could be disastrous to both healthcare in general as well as to the economy as a whole.
They also pledge to back the radical Green New Deal, which could restrict, tax or even ban everything from cars to air travel to hamburgers.
The group’s candidates also want to make college education free, open the borders and even open up prisons to allow many offenders out (as well as decriminalizing many offenses).
But there is also good news for conservatives hidden in this.
Two pieces of good news, to be precise.
First, the party’s internal civil war means it is difficult if not impossible for them to function – which could help ensure the radical agenda fails in Congress.
That’s already visible now as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. struggles — and often fails – to keep her conference unified.
And second, while leftists may be able to beat entrenched politicians in primaries, where few people turn out, they don’t do quite as well in actual elections, when Americans often reject extremists.
In fact, the overall Justice Democrats record is downright dreadful.
In 2018, the group endorsed 79 candidates in primaries. Just 26 of them won, or had a success rate of less than 1 in 3.
But it gets worse: Of those 26, just seven won seats in Congress, a success rate of just 9 percent.
And it gets worse still, as exactly NONE of their endorsed candidates running in essential “swing” districts won, proving that extremist views can’t win in the most important races of all.
That means Republican candidates lining up against far-left Justice Democrats in Congressional races could have an easier time winning their own elections… and help ensure that they take back the House in 2020.
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert, and is the author of “America’s Final Warning.”