How to Win Back the House in 2020

By Jon N. Hall

One of the worst set of choices the American electorate ever made was the 2018 midterm elections that gave the U.S. House of Representatives to the Democrats. Those decisions gave us “the Squad,” led by socialist Sandy O, a.k.a. AOC. In promoting their harmful un-American ideas, such as the Green New Deal, a ban on fracking, reparations for slavery, forgiving college debt, open borders, and tons of “free stuff,” the Squad was able to enlist veteran Democrats like Sen. Ed Markey in their cause. To satisfy fringe elements in their benighted base, House Democrats launched the insane impeachment of the president, and just as the coronavirus began infecting the nation. At the center of all the idiocy and dysfunction is the person whom the obedient new Democrat majority saw fit to make Speaker of the House: Nancy Pelosi.

During the 2018 campaigns, Americans were warned about the folly of giving the House back to Democrats. They were reminded that the first trillion-dollar deficits came about when Democrats controlled spending. Even before the pandemic hit, the deficit was already on track to yet again top $1 trillion. But the coronavirus gave Crazy Nancy the excuse to borrow and spend like never before. In fact, on October 8 we learned that Congress ran a 2020 deficit of $3.1 trillion. That’s more than three times the deficit of the previous year and smashes the old record of $1.4T set in 2009. Pelosi was Speaker when we ran our first trillion-dollar deficit, and she’s Speaker now, when we return to trillion-dollar deficits. See a pattern?

Pelosi has given the novel coronavirus a new moniker. Rather than calling it the “Wuhan virus,” or the “China virus” as the president does, our dowager empress has dubbed it the “Trump Virus.” For Democrats, that kind of thing is what passes for brilliance, and it may indeed be effective in shaping the opinions of those with “bumper sticker minds.” But a bumper sticker that would have some grounding in reality would be that the $3.1T federal deficit is the “Pelosi Deficit.” After all, Congress “controls the purse strings.” Spending legislation starts in the House; Pelosi runs the House; hence the Pelosi Deficit.

Nancy Pelosi is simply the most expensive woman in human history. Rational voters who care about our nation and its currency cannot vote for a party that would make such a cranky old woman Speaker of the House and second in line to the presidency. But how did we get a reprise of this wasteful woman?

Speaker Pelosi’s predecessor was Paul Ryan, who was elected Speaker on October 29, 2015. Four days earlier in a short blog, this writer had expressed concern about Ryan’s views on immigration and suggested that House Republicans put former Speaker Newt Gingrich back as Speaker. More disappointing than his positions on immigration, Ryan turned out to be a flop on deficits, reversing the dramatic improvements made under Speaker John Boehner. So under Ryan, the deficit got worse, which is inexcusable given his repeated warnings over the years about a looming debt crisis.

Ryan’s ineffectiveness as Speaker will be revisited in November when the Supreme Court reviews the next challenge to ObamaCare. The case hinges on the ACA’s mandate that folks carry health insurance, which Congress supposedly had struck out of the law. But all they did was zero out the penalty/tax. Now, that may have been all they could get passed at the time, but it makes it very simple for an all-Democrat Congress in 2021 to set the “tax rate” back up, effectively reinstating the mandate. If a Democrat Congress can easily raise the mandate’s rate, then that would likely affect the high court’s decision in the case. So voters who don’t want the mandate to come back should want Congress in the hands of Republicans.

House Republicans should have drafted Gingrich for Speaker back in 2015; he had indicated that he would accept the job. Instead, they got Ryan’s listless leadership, and that may well have cost them the House in 2018, leading to the return of Pelosi, whom some call the “”Wicked Witch of the West.” (I myself would never call her that, as Nancy’s originally from Baltimore.)

Under Pelosi, the current House of Representatives may be the worst ever, and certainly the most un-American. If Americans have fond memories of the 1990s, they should note that they had the first all-Republican Congress in 40 years. We not only had balanced budgets, we had the first real (i.e. “on-budget”) surpluses since 1960, and in 2000 the largest surplus ever.

Remember that the sunny 1990s were a time of “divided government.” But divided government only seems to work when Congress is run by Republicans. To his credit, President Clinton was able to adapt to the historic 1994 midterms and work with the new Republican Congress. He actually signed on to some of the items in Gingrich’s Contract with America and used the line-item veto Newt gave him. And Clinton even declared that “the era of Big Government is over.”

Divided government with Democrats running Congress has proved to be an expensive proposition. But “unified government,” with the current crop of Democrats in control of everything, would be disastrous for the republic. This is especially so when radicals like Sandy O have gained outsized influence. But at least the mask is off -- the Dems no longer pretend they aren’t socialists.

Sensible Americans will vote to re-elect President Trump. But just as important are the decisions the voter will make for Congress. President Trump needs a Congress he can work with. But if, heaven forbid, Biden is elected, to thwart the fundamental transformation of our nation, America will need divided government as never before, and that means a Republican Congress. It’s late in the game, but House Republicans should promise to draft former Speaker Gingrich for his old job. That might just help the GOP regain the majority. Remember the 1990s, folks.

Nancy Pelosi is so “authoritarian” that she actually spoke of “enemies of the state” recently. That brought to mind a bit of dialog spoken by Colonel Hans Lanza: “You are sheltering enemies of the state, are you not?” (Watch below for ten seconds, or longer if you don’t fear socialists). Considering the ongoing “Pelosi riots” that have erupted in Democrat-run cities in the Blue States, there seems to be lots of enemies of the state nowadays. But who are the enemies of the people, Nance?