How Republican rebels could reshape politics as we know it

Just last year, we saw House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) ousted. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is already on thin ice with some Republicans, and Democrats are committing to step in and save him if needed. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is on his way out, and there will be a serious fight over who comes next. Every major piece of legislation seems to pass with Democrats peeling off a group of Republicans, often a minority of them, to get liberal priorities across the finish line.

Who is to blame for this in-fighting among Republicans in the House and Senate?

This is a rebellion against irresponsible governance brewing among the American people, and new conservative leaders are simply giving it a voice.

Democrats and the mainstream media want us to believe that this is a civil war led by conservatives. These “Republican rebels” just don’t understand the big picture. They seek personal fame and glory at the expense of good governance.

Leadership in both houses wants voters to believe that they are the responsible grownups. But what has their “grown-up” governance done for us?

We haven’t balanced the budget since the Clinton administration.

Interest on the debt is about to surpass all defense spending.

Social security and Medicaid are projected to go bankrupt by 2036.

The prospect of stagflation looms over us for the first time since the 1970s.

Millions of illegal immigrants are flooding across a southern border controlled by cartels.

Biden’s weakness emboldens our enemies abroad, and our allies whom he endangers seek costly handouts.

Our Department of Defense seems to place the profits of military contractors and lobbyists ahead of actual defense.

Our education system churns out students who believe capitalism is evil, the Constitution is outdated, and socialism is the future.

It is precisely because of this failure to govern that the Freedom Caucus in the House and a small band of conservatives in the Senate are now openly fighting against irresponsible leadership by what some have begun to call “the uniparty” — a small group of Democrats and Republicans who want us to believe that everything will be just fine so long as we don’t have the audacity to challenge their small but powerful cabal.

These brave Republican rebels are taking unprecedented steps to fight back. They’re engaging in fierce leadership battles and digging up archaic procedural rules to stop or slow bad legislation. They are even endorsing in primaries against members of their own party, such as Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), who endorsed me against Republican incumbent and uniparty loyalist Celeste Maloy for Congress.

This is not a Republican civil war. This is a rebellion against irresponsible governance brewing within and among the American people, and these new conservative leaders are simply giving it a voice.

What we are seeing is the start of a backlash that will be no less consequential than the conservative backlash of the 1980s after the mismanagement of both Republicans and Democrats during the ’60s and ’70s.

But beware: The uniparty’s most powerful weapon isn’t its hundreds of millions of campaign dollars or its stranglehold on power in Washington. It is demoralization.

Uniparty members depend on your quiet compliance. Do not let them convince you that their destructive governing is the best we can do.

Entitlement reform is possible. A balanced budget is possible. A secure border is possible. Our foreign policy need not include endless foreign wars. Our education system can teach history again.

I have spent 31 years wearing our nation’s uniform, including in combat as the commander of a Green Beret A-Team all over the world. I recognize bold leadership when I see it.

We are down, but we are not out. It’s about to be dawn again in America.

And when it is, we will have these conservative fighters, these “treacherous” Republican rebels to thank for showing the leadership that the American people are demanding.

Godspeed to those leaders, and may the American people send in the reinforcements you deserve.

Colby Jenkins is a Republican candidate for Utah’s 2nd Congressional District.