The Liberty Daily 
Tuesday’s primaries had a few surprises with another potential surprise popping up in Pennsylvania if the final count goes in a certain direction. But even in the early hours on Wednesday, we have already learned a lot about the state of the America First movement. There were some positives, but overall I’m not coming away from Tuesday with a feeling that America or the Republican Party are heading in the right direction.
The big question that’s still to be answered is whether Dr. Mehmet Oz or David McCormick win the U.S. Senate Republican primary in Pennsylvania. As counting ended Tuesday night, we’re already seeing potential shenanigans that are reminiscent of the 2020 stolen election. Is the fix in, or is the Pennsylvania election system simply horrible? Either way, it’s bad news for the America First movement because both candidates are globalist RINOs.
Here are some things we’ve learned already…
Dirty Politics and Propaganda Still Work
Kathy Barnette was a good candidate in Pennsylvania. She wasn’t great. She surged in the final three weeks of the race due to a few things going her way, including the opportunity to highlight her status as a woman conceived through rape when the SCOTUS leak brought abortion to the national forefront. But that late surge made her two biggest opponents panic, especially Dr. Oz. His cronies sprung to action last week and went into full-blown dirty politics mode.
Sean Hannity led the charge with misleading representations of both Barnette’s history as well as her performance in the 2020 election. The argument he made that stuck the most was that she lost to a “weak” Democrat in that congressional race. What he didn’t mention is that the “weak” Democrat was an incumbent in a very blue district. He also failed to mention that Barnette received 48% more votes than the GOP candidate who ran in the same district against the same opponent two years earlier.
There simply wasn’t enough time to debunk claims that she supports Black Lives Matter, defunding the police, and Critical Race Theory. She doesn’t, but between Hannity and others the false rumors stuck. Dirty politics and propaganda worked, and Barnette finished third.
Donald Trump Still Has Influence But Not Enough to Unseat Brad Little
President Trump took another rare endorsement loss on Tuesday when Idaho Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin failed to defeat incumbent Governor Brad Little. McGeachin had made national news a couple of times last year and received both kudos and the coveted endorsement from President Trump. It wasn’t enough to move the needle and Little, a RINO, defeated McGeachin handily.
Still, Trump had some good wins with his endorsements, including Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano surging following a late endorsement by the President. He was already expected to win but his final margin was several points higher than the last few polls indicated.
Scandals Still Sink Good Candidates
Congressman Madison Cawthorn lost. I’m not going to dwell on the details or how big of a blow this is to the America First movement in the House, other than to note that Cawthorn was considered a rising star just a few months ago. What happened? He embarrassed the GOP Establishment with claims that he was asked to attend an orgy by a fellow member of Capitol Hill, so they dug up every ounce of dirt they could find to get him booted.
He had scandals, but should they have been enough to sink his career? No. Unfortunately, a plurality of voters disagreed with that assessment.
Mail-In Ballots Ruin Everything
Lastly, let’s talk about the big race of the night. Dr. Oz and McCormick are neck-and-neck with the mail-in ballots remaining. In most countries, they would have had all the ballots easily counted by now, but this is America and The Swamp is still in charge. Just because Democrats use mail-in ballots regularly to manipulate results doesn’t mean Republicans are immune.
There was a time not too long ago when getting a mail-in ballot was a special scenario for those who were travelling or otherwise unable to go to the polls on election day. Today, most states have some form of easily available mail-in ballots, and that has made elections far more complicated than they should be in tight races.
As Harmeet K. Dhillon noted on Twitter:
India counts votes and announces election results much more efficiently than many US states. Calling Pennsylvania elections “third world” is kinda unfair to said third world.
India counts votes and announces election results much more efficiently than many US states. Calling Pennsylvania elections “third world” is kinda unfair to said third world.
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) May 18, 2022
America First Needs Better Candidates
As I said earlier, Kathy Barnette was a good America First candidate. She wasn’t great. Madison Cawthorn was great up until the point that he made himself a target. Janice McGeachin had the right credentials and a true America First spirit, but somehow her campaign didn’t materialize properly.
There were some America First victories on Tuesday, including Doug Mastriano, but most were not surprising in any way. All of the surprises swung away from the America First movement, which tells us we’re not getting the best possible candidates. The fight against RINOs is nearly as important as the fight against Democrats. If we continue to let the Republican Establishment call the shots, we’re never going to do more than make incremental changes to bloated governments in a time of great need for the American people.
We need better America First candidates. Period.
