“It is time to drain the swamp of failed leaders like [House Speaker Paul] Ryan,” says Ed Martin, the late Phyllis Schlafly’s hand-chosen successor and president of her Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund.
Republican lawmakers are set to hold leadership elections this coming Tuesday, November 15.
The conservative Eagle Forum president is urging conservative lawmakers not to elect Ryan, whose open borders trade and immigration agenda stands in direct opposition to the vision of President-elect Donald J. Trump and the “mandate” given to him by the American people who propelled him to victory.
“Now is the time to move forward on the Trump agenda, not back to the failed Ryan policies,” Martin told Breitbart News. “On Tuesday, November 8, the American voters showed conclusively that Paul Ryan is not the leader for this moment in our history. The message is clear: Ryan’s judgment was rejected!”
Martin explained that “the voters’ clear message is that Ryan is wrong for the American people and the Republican Party in at least two ways: First, his policy agenda, which included amnesty for illegals, as well as open borders, free trade deals, and a plan to cut Americans’ hard-earned benefits, was soundly rejected. Second, his political judgment in failing to support Donald Trump was ill-advised.”
“Paul Ryan should yield to a new Republican leader whose policy positions and political judgment are in line with the Trump Republican Party,” Martin added. “There are plenty of Republican members ready to lead, including stalwarts, especially in the Freedom Caucus.
Trump’s win on election night represented Phyllis Schlafly’s final victory. The late conservative icon and grassroots warrior led the conservative grassroots into battle for more than half a century.
Schlafly was one of Trump’s earliest and most influential backers in the conservative movement. In August, Schlafly called for the American people to “get rid” of Ryan.
“Get rid of him! We don’t want anybody who believes in open borders,” Schlafly told Breitbart.
Schlafly said that Ryan repeatedly demonstrated that he is “not really for America” and is “not for American citizens.” She further explained that if Speaker Ryan could not get in line with the majority of the American electorate on immigration, he “should resign.”
“I don’t think we should accept him as Speaker,” Schlafly said. “We need a new leader in Congress who will represent the issues that Donald Trump ran on because they were the winning issues.”
“I think one of the reasons Trump was nominated was because he wants to put America first and defend the interests of the United States,” Schlafly said. “Obviously, Paul Ryan is not an ‘America first’ guy.”
Schlafly also indicated at the time that if the GOP were to follow Ryan down the path of supporting the donor class’s corporate agenda, it would have meant the death of the Republican Party.
Indeed, it was Ryan’s failed 2012 campaign with Mitt Romney that led Republican leaders and consultants to issue the GOP “autopsy report.”
The “autopsy,” commissioned and championed by Reince Priebus, took as one of its conclusions that to win elections, Republicans must embrace an immigration agenda that would import future voters who tend to overwhelmingly support Democrat policies. “The Priebus manifesto,” as Schlafly called it, argued against opposing amnesty efforts and appealing to the Republican electorate’s “core constituency.”
“We must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. If we do not, our Party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only,” Priebus’ commissioned report stated.
Schlafly told Breitbart News in August that she was hopeful about the future of the GOP because Trump will lead the Republican Party in a different direction than Ryan–one that is in line with the wishes of “real Republicans,” rather than the desires of Republican donors.
“He’s got the traditional values of real Republicans,” Schlafly said. “I don’t think the GOP is going to die. I think Trump is going to revive it.”
“If [Paul Ryan] can’t get in line with majority of the electorate on the biggest issue [immigration], he should resign, and we should get someone who fulfills the wishes and the hopes of the majority who just nominated Trump,” Schlafly said. “It doesn’t sound like he [Ryan] is loyal to the Republican Party. We need someone who is going to be a spokesman for the Republican Party and its nominee. And if Ryan doesn’t fill that bill, we should get another one.”
It is unclear whether conservative lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus, led by Congressman Jim Jordan, will elect Paul Ryan as House Speaker, given that Ryan stands opposed to nine of ten GOP voters on the critical issues of trade and immigration.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.