Did “America First” conservatives really “win” the battle over the GOP’s congressional leadership last week? Old-guard Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney may be out of power as the House Republican Conference chair. But her replacement, New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, is a swampy shape-shifter whose campaign coffers are filled with open borders, radical social liberal, Wall Street cash.
The multibillion-dollar moneyman behind Stefanik’s rise to power is Big Business oligarch Paul Singer. He founded the hedge fund Elliott Management and propped up the political bids of several Republican women who rode the gender card to victory: Stefanik in New York’s 21st congressional district; anti-Trump establishment Republican Barbara Comstock in Virginia’s 10th congressional district; and John McCain loyalist and Trump flip-flopper Martha McSally, who held Arizona’s second congressional district before losing her 2020 special election to retain the Senate seat she was appointed to when former Sen. Jon Kyl stepped down as the late McCain’s replacement.
Singer funded the Washington Free Beacon, ostensibly a “conservative” “news” website run by Trump-hater Bill Kristol’s son-in-law, Matthew Continetti, which in turn hired the Fusion GPS opposition research outfit to compile the infamous Trump dossier — which was passed on to the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee after Trump won the GOP primary.
Singer helped raise $1 million for Trump-bashing Mitt Romney’s failed 2012 presidential bid, $1 million for Karl Rove’s Super PAC in 2014, and $1 million for the failed 2016 presidential bid of pro-illegal amnesty shill Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. He pushed gay marriage and the alphabet soup agenda on the GOP. He underwrote fellow failed GOP presidential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s Common Core advocacy. He backed the open borders amnesty Republicans behind the “Gang of Eight” push for cheap foreign workers.
As I documented previously in this column and in my book, “Sold Out,” Singer helped fund the National Immigration Forum along with fellow hedge fund billionaire George Soros. NIF propped up a faux “grassroots” initiative of religious conservatives, dubbed the Evangelical Immigration Table, to lobby for the Gang of Eight. NIF was founded by far-left attorney Rick Swartz, who opposes tracking/deporting visa overstayers and opposes employer sanctions against companies that violated immigration laws. Swartz also served as an adviser to Microsoft. On Capitol Hill, Swartz worked closely with immigration expansionist Sen. Spencer Abraham’s legislative director Cesar Conda and Sen. Sam Brownback’s legislative director (and open borders, anti-Trump former GOP House speaker) Paul Ryan. Conda previously worked for the pro-amnesty U.S. Chamber of Commerce and mentored Ryan from the age of 19. Conda guided newbie Rubio as his Senate chief of staff from 2011-2014 and remains his powerful immigration Svengali behind closed doors.
While she may have earned Trump’s endorsement for the GOP No. 2 leadership position, Stefanik’s pedigree and financial allegiances lie with Ryan and his “America Last” sugar daddies. Citing OpenSecrets campaign finance data, Breitbart.com reported that Singer consistently gave Ryan the maximum personal donation during his swamp tenure. In addition, through his Elliot Management firm, Singer was one of the top donors to Ryan’s associated super PACs. One left-leaning website reported that over three election cycles (2014, 2016, 2018), Stefanik was “the second highest recipient of hedge fund contributions in the House, receiving $311,582, behind House Speaker Paul Ryan’s $311,582.”
Stefanik served as Ryan’s top campaign adviser in 2012 after serving in the Singer-supported George W. Bush administration. She praised her Beltway barnacle colleague as a “true friend and mentor” after he stepped down as House speaker in 2018 — a move that had nothing to do with wanting to “spend more time with his children,” as he claimed at the time, but everything to do with creating what he later called an “escape hatch” from his nemesis, Donald Trump (and, of course, cashing in on the massive Super PAC war chest he built up duping rank-and-file Republican MAGA donors).
Swamp-marinated birds of a feather flock together. The headlines may label Stefanik a “Trump loyalist” for now, but in the Beltway, the almighty dollar trumps party, principle or personality. Follow the money; find the truth.
Michelle Malkin’s email address is [email protected] To find out more about Michelle Malkin and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
I’m totally dumbfounded. I’m incredulous. I’m perplexed. I’m bamboozled. A member of the US Congress engaged in such obscene behavior and practice. Please say it ain’t so.
Looks like trolling: I have been watching after Elise Stefanik for a long time and could not find any suspicious activity on her side, lying or being insincere. She is a new person in this activity, and it looks like leftists do not want her in Congress.
Which is why i was wondering “Did trump make yet another bad call” when he backed her for the spot…
I will take a wait and see approach.
I don’t know her from “Adam”, but I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt (for now)…
Seriously, even if she IS a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”, could she be any WORSE than Liz Cheney was?
If she FAILS to live up to our expectations, she can ALWAYS follow in Cheney’s footsteps (being removed from her position).
We’ll be watching (closely)…
We SHOULD be watching every damn one of them closely.. AND DO TO others what we did to cheney
Michelle Malkin, Great commentary. I am glad that Cheney Traitor is out as House Conference Chair, but Stefanik did vote against funding for Trump’s border wall. The problem is, the swamp clown RINOS in the House and Senate are traitors to our Country and they love the status quo, with their communist Democrat buddies. Like Senator Tom Cotton on Laura Ingraham’s show. Cotton stated he was going to introduce a bill to stop the “wokeness” in the military. What a joke. Like Laura Ingraham stated, this bill will never pass the House, as Pelosi has control of the House. Cotton comes up with a bill, that he knows will never pass, but it makes him look good. I am so sick of the RINOS.
So you’d rather Cotton NOT HAVE DONE that? Have not even TRIED to do something about the marxisming of our military “Cause he should have known it stood no chance in hell of passing”??
IMO that is a defeatist attitude.
Michelle Malkin continues to be a true conservative and has to be respected. I want to believe in Stefanik but anyone associated with Bill Kristol is not in my circle of friends. Money supporters associated with Mitt Romney, Karl Rove, Paul Ryan, and George Soros are not to be trusted. Additionally, look at her voting record as a conservative. In the 30’s, as a conservative, in the vernacular, *****. Of course, I lobbied for Chip Roy for Conference Chair because he is a known quantity and you know where he will be when things get tough. At this point, knowing Trump championed her cause, I am watching her closely. I give Trump a 98% rating and as a conservative, miss him dearly. But, I also remember that he accepted AG William Barr’s recommendation of Christopher Wray for Director of the FBI. So, he could be wrong. I pray not. As a parting thought, why can’t we conservatives have our Leaders from States that are not California or New York? Thanks.
Trump has worked with the usual bad actors he has had to choose from. If you do not have anyone of superior integrity to choose from, you do the best you can. I no longer willingly or blindly trust anyone who is in the Republican Party as it now stands, and never will again. There is bone china, fine china, porcelain and earthenware. Every one of these people have a base of clay, and until I can find out their breaking point I will never trust a one of them again.