Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said that big-business groups are ready to target House Freedom Caucus members if they don’t “play ball” with the GOP establishment and support Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) potential candidacy for House Speaker.
Wallace said that he has been told that “there’s a lot of pressure being put on by the establishment and business groups, saying that some of those Freedom Caucus members, if you’re not going to play ball and you’re not going to get involved, you’re going to get a primary opponent.”
The Chamber of Commerce has reportedly budgeted $100 million to destroy the Tea Party this election cycle and news of the chamber’s plans came not-so-coincidentally days after House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced that he would be resigning from Congress.
As Roll Call noted, the chamber’s “top targets in 2016 will be right-wing, tea party candidates” and its ultimate goal is to reportedly win back “the soul of the Republican Party” for the GOP establishment establishment by helping elect more moderate candidates “in contested primaries to strengthen their hand during policy debates on the Hill.”
GOP establishment strategist Karl Rove, who is aligned with many of the big-business groups and donors, said on the program that Ryan “is the indispensable man on my opinion” and “there will be a lot of pressure” for him to run for House Speaker.
“He’s the one person who can unite the disparate wings and move the caucus forward with a conservative optimistic agenda,” Rove claimed.
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