GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado announces he will not seek reelection next year, citing election denialism in the party. His defection is realistic because even though he’s normally a RWNJ, he did draw the line at still believing Trump won the 2020 election with most of the remaining GOP incumbents in the House. Buck knows what happened to Liz Cheney and misread the possibility that he could have been a compromise Speaker in the caucus that doubled down to elect Mike Johnson (R-LA). Buck would likely have gotten primaried in 2024.
Buck, a right-wing representative from Colorado, slammed the Republican Party as a whole for embracing Donald Trump's deranged and wholly debunked lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
Buck also pointed to the failure of many of his Republican colleagues to condemn the deadly January 6th insurrection as a source for serious concern.
"We lost our way," said Buck. "We have an identity crisis in the Republican Party. If we can’t address the election denier issue and we continue down that path, we won’t have credibility with the American people that we are going to solve problems."
During an interview on MSNBC, Buck said that he has always have been disappointed with our inability in congress to deal with major issues."
"And I'm also disappointed that the Republican party continues to rely on this lie that the 2020 election was stolen and rely on the January 6th narrative and political prisoners from January 6th and other things," he added. "If we're going to solve difficult problems we've got to deal with some very unpleasant truths — or lies — and make sure that we project to the public what the truth is he," he said.
Clearly, Buck is horrified by the Trumpification of his party. MAGA has infected the Republican Party to its core and any politician who remains in at this point is doing a grave disservice to America.
“I have decided that it is time for me to do some other things,” Buck said in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “I always have been disappointed with our inability in Congress to deal with major issues, and I’m also disappointed that the Republican Party continues to rely on this lie that the 2020 election was stolen.”
Like Buck, Granger was one of the roughly two dozen Republicans who opposed Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for the speakership last month — and who drew criticism from hard-right parts of the Republican base for doing so. The holdouts ultimately forced Jordan to withdraw from the race, and both Buck and Granger later backed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for the leadership position.
On Wednesday, Buck hinted that other Republican lawmakers could soon announce “in the near future” that they would also be leaving Congress.
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