Florida Congressman Byron Donalds sought to ignite – or reignite – the spark among conservatives who were disappointed in the 2022 midterm elections at America Fest 2022 on Sunday. Donalds said he is happy to see Speaker Nancy Pelosi go, but focused his remarks on the Republican Party.
“Sometimes on our side of the aisle we ask do we have a Nancy Pelosi,” he said. “Do we have someone who will push the hard deal? Do what needs done no matter what. Where are the Republicans? That’s what I want to talk about today. Where are the Republicans?”
Donalds asked where the Republicans are on the FBI. He vowed House Republicans will investigate the FBI after talking with his “good friends” Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. James Comer.
“In a country of the people, by the people and for the people the law enforcement arm of our government should not be tamping down free speech in the United States of America,” Donalds said.
In 2016, the other side talked about Russia in 2016, but in 2020 there was nothing to see and we had the most secure election in history. And nothing has been said by the other side – or the FBI – about 2022.
“We already know thanks to Elon Musk the FBI and other people at Homeland Security were knee-deep in suppressing free speech,” Donalds said.
He said if someone truly believes in democracy, they cannot have agents of the government doing what the FBI has done or representatives of the Department of Justice calling parents domestic terrorists because they care about their child’s education.
“House Republicans have not forgotten and we’re going to get after the Department of Justice,” he said.
He asked about the DOJ and what they were doing during the Jan. 6 Committee and what they’ve been doing regarding the Jan. 6 detainees.
“I know in our politics today people say ‘shh, shh Byron. Hey, you can’t talk about that,’” he said. “Actually I can. Nobody is allowed to storm a federal building. Nobody. We all must be held account when we do things that are wrong, but the Department of Justice also does not have the right to strip American citizens of their Fifth Amendment rights to the United States Constitution. They also don’t get that right, and so we need to get down to the bottom of that as well.”
And what about Hunter Biden. He asked attendees to imagine if Democrats had Donald Trump Jr.’s laptop and compare how Republicans have handled Hunter’s laptop. Donalds said Hunter has been a “dumpster fire” almost his entire life and is selling art for $500,000 a painting.
“But it’s not really about Hunter – this is about Joe Biden,” Donalds said. “I believe that Joe Biden’s entire agenda – his domestic agenda, his energy agenda, his foreign policy agenda has all been tainted by the business dealings of his son and his brother. We’re going to get to the bottom of that too.”
Removing woke policies from the military will happen under GOP leadership in the House, Donalds said.
“We cannot be dividing our own soldiers whose job it is to defend our nation, to defend our Constitution and to repel all enemies across the globe,” he said. “They must be united and anything that the government does to divide our own men and women needs to be stopped immediately. So this woke nonsense needs to get out of our military.”
Donalds called ESG “fascism” and is being promoted by the radical Left.
“House Republicans have to make sure we do everything we can to get it out of our financial markets,” he said.
The border was a topic Donalds touched on for quite a while. He said he knows that Biden is in the White House, but said Republicans can control the border through funding.
“Securing the southern border is not about Democrats versus Republicans, it is not about liberal versus conservative, it is about securing the homeland and protecting all people in these United States,” he said.
He said his Republican colleagues in the Senate have a spending bill in the chamber that will cut a deal on nine months of spending by Democrats and Joe Biden. The crowd booed.
“No, you should boo them,” he said. “Boo them again. Because any senator that is a Republican that is going to support an omnibus spending bill is complicit in allowing our southern border to be unsecured. If you have Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, who are going to allow for an omnibus spending bill which pushes all of Biden’s agenda into September of next year, what you are going to do is put more fentanyl on our streets, allow more illegal people into our country, you are going to further weaken our border agents, more border agents committing suicide – and they’re committing suicide at the fastest rate of anybody in the United States – all because you want to cut a deal. I’ve got a message for Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans – stand down today. Do not be complicit in a spending deal with a President who lies to the American people and gaslights the American people about our southern border. There are too many people who are dying in the United States and it must end now.”
Ultimately, he asked where Republicans are when it is time to win.
“I’m licking my wounds too y’all,” he said. “I was ready for a red wave too.”
He highlighted McConnell’s statement during the campaign cycle about the quality of some Republican candidates. He asked if anyone has ever heard of a great coach complain during the season about not having the best players.
“Those men, those leaders never sit around and complain about who they have on the field,” he said. “They go win with what is on the field.”
Donalds encouraged Republicans to spend more time in urban communities. Democrat policies aren’t liked by a lot of voters, but there are also a lot of voters who do not trust Republicans.
“They don’t really know if they can trust us with the reins of government, with the future of our economy and with the future of our children,” he said. “And so we have a responsibility to take our message to all Americans, to engage all Americans, especially those in urban corridors.”
He said a lot of black voters vote Democrat simply because Republicans don’t talk to them.
“That is a responsibility for the RNC. That is a responsibility for state parties all across the country. And that is also a responsibility for elected officials like myself and it’s a responsibility for all of you in this room today,” Donalds said.
Democrats are not going anywhere, Donalds said. Seven months ago, they were depressed at their prospects for the election, but they didn’t quit – they doubled and tripled down.
They collaborated with their “friends” in the media, who Donalds says biggest lie is a lie of omission.
“They don’t want to talk about the issues when the issues are at hand,” he said. “They want to talk about them after the election, right before Christmas when we’re all in the giving spirit and just want to spend time with our families and get away from politics.
“Our political adversaries are not leaving the battlefield. So you can be upset about 2022. I’m upset about 2022. But I’m in this fight regardless of what happened in 2022 and my question for you today is are you in this fight now? Are you going on to 2024? Turning Point, are you going to be with us to go take back the White House and the Senate in 2024? You got my word, I’m with you in that fight – let’s go get the job done.”
