It appears that there is a great divide in the Freedom Caucus. As it turns out Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) are not the faces of the caucus. In fact, Boebert does not even like to be linked to Greene at all.
The House Freedom Caucus Board of Directors met recently, and the two women argued over Greene showing up at a white nationalist event. Another board member had to interrupt them to prevent the incident from ballooning. Although the caucus generally maintains a united front to the public, within it there are severe fractures.
Originally, the caucus evolved out of the Tea Party and was started to support the limited, drown-it-in-the-bathtub government attitude, that conservative political advocate Grover Norquist (R) advocated, The Washington Post reported.
Those Freedom Caucus members supporting Donald Trump have been splitting away from the original group. The release of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) taped comments this week did not help matters either.
Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), a current member, said in an interview, according to The Politico:
‘We need to reevaluate where we’re heading, I like the principles that the Freedom Caucus was founded on, but I think that if we can’t work together as a group and push our ideas in a civil manner, then we’re not going to be very effective.’
The Freedom Caucus began in 2015 committed to:
‘[O]pen, accountable and limited government, the Constitution and the rule of law, and policies that promote the liberty, safety and prosperity of all Americans.’
Then, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) retired and never looked back after the Freedom Caucus chaffed him. The next Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) encountered the same problems. So it came as no surprise that McCarthy experienced the same.
Founding member and former Chief of Staff to Trump, Representative Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) said the caucus was not designed to be “an extreme outrage machine,” in a sly slap at the more vocal members:”
‘We were supposed to be thoughtful conservative renegades: cooperating with leadership when that best served conservative goals, and opposing leadership when that was necessary toward the same end. We were not designed to be just obstructionists. We were not designed to be an extreme outrage machine.’
The Freedom Caucus has experienced other cracks in its foundation. Members split last year over the GOP’s floor strategy, in essence, whether to stop Democrats from quickly passing noncontroversial legislation.
This caucus has also been divided over the GOP’s strategy to act as one, former Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said:
‘When we take a position, we’re unified. But we don’t take as many official positions as people think we do.’
The Freedom Caucus is made up of about 35 active members. Interestingly enough, Greene, Boebert, and Representative Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) would never have made the cut at the beginning given that they have been “potential chaos agents.”
Those representatives who founded the Freedom Caucus were:
- ‘John Fleming (R-LA)
- Matt Salmon (R-AZ)
- Mark Meadows (R-NC)
- Jim Jordan (R-OH)
- Ron DeSantis (R-FL)
- Mick Mulvaney (R-SC)
- Scott Garrett (R-NJ)
- Raul Labrador (R-ID)
- Justin Amash (R-MI)’
Three White Lions is Gloria Christie’s new serialized book available in episodes on Amazon. Go to Kindle Vella and insert her name. She also writes for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report her newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor in a briefer version of Bipartisan Report. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery. Find her here on Facebook.
