On the eve of the most consequential election of our lifetimes, I’m struck again by the prevalence of Trump Derangement Syndrome within Maine’s small but influential RINO (Republicans In Name Only) community.
At age 76, one of Maine’s most senior RINOs is David Emery of Tenants Harbor. He began his political career in 1970 when he was elected to the Maine House of Representatives. After two terms at the Statehouse in Augusta, Emery went on to serve four terms (1974-1982) in the DC swamp as Maine’s first district Congress Critter. In his last term, he was Chief Deputy Republican Whip under minority leader Trent Lott. Remember him?…
Bear with me here as I complete this portrait of a RINO with a nasty case of TDS.
In 1982, Emery ran for the US Senate against Democrat George Mitchell, a former federal judge who had been appointed to the seat to succeed Ed Muskie, whom President Jimmy Carter had appointed Secretary of State.
Emery began the race with a commanding 36-point lead in the polls. But when the campaign ended on election day, Michell won with 61% of the vote. Emery lost 15 of Maine’s 16 counties, carrying only his native Knox County.
In 2006, he entered the Republican primary for Governor and finished dead last in a three-way race behind fellow RINO Peter Mills, sister of reigning Gov. Janet Millstone, and state Senator Chandler Woodcock of Farmington.
Then, in 2016, Emery ran for a state Senate seat and lost again.
You may be asking: why doesn’t Emery just go away?
Good question.
RINO Dave reappeared last Friday in Portland, introducing Bill Clinton at a Kamala Harris rally. Emery was joined by Gov. Millstone and US Rep. Chellie Pingree.
No doubt about it, David Emery has a serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Just go away, Dave. You’re a loser. You’re a buffoon. You’re a disgrace. You should be ashamed.
But he’s not the only buffoon. Let’s not forget former Senate President Kevin Raye, who endorsed Joe Biden in 2020. And how about former Senator Kim Rosen? Kurly Kim joined former Senator Roger Katz and former Portland mayor Ethan Strimling as plaintiffs in the petition to remove Trump’s name from the ballot in Maine.
I could go on, but you get my point. These double agents have done enormous damage to the Republican brand, and they set a terrible example for newcomers. Their mushiness, like their TDS, seems to be contagious.
That was my first thought the other day when I saw a campaign mailer from a first-time GOP candidate running for a seat in the Maine House of Representatives from a district that split its vote evenly between Trump and Biden in 2020.
The candidate claims to be a “moderate,” and boasts of his “Middle of the Road” ideals: “I represent the 90% in the middle instead of the 5% on either edge.”
I don’t know who’s been coaching him, but if he’s elected, he’s in for a rude awakening at the Statehouse swamp. He will have to make either/or decisions, and he will find that the mythical “middle” ground he touts is an illusion.
Two examples come to mind.
Where is the “middle ground” in the debate over freebies for foreigners? Life-long Mainers on housing waitlists are being pushed to the back of the waitlist line to accommodate illegal immigrants who crashed the southern border and made their way north to Maine. How do you split the difference between supporting or opposing these giveaways?
Similarly, where is the middle ground in the debate over forcing teenage girls to share toilet and shower facilities with mentally ill teenage boys in Maine’s K-12 government-run schools? Does anyone seriously believe the transgender supremacists are going to back away from imposing their dangerous, demented ideology without a fight?
Granted, transgenderism and illegal immigration are very divisive “culture war” issues. GOP candidates who sprint for the tall grass rather than going on offense are the problem, not the solution to what ails Maine.
If you don’t have a backbone as a candidate, you will never grow one after you arrive at the swamp.
Those are my thoughts on Election Eve.