by Fr. Mark Hodges, reporter
The Horn News caught up with Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican and leading member of the Freedom Caucus, and got answers on why he says next week’s election is a must-win for conservatives.
At a meeting of the city Chamber of Commerce in Lima, Ohio, Jordan came out swinging.
“This election, the choice for the American people is crystal clear. The differences (between Republicans and Democrats) couldn’t be clearer,” Jordan said.
The sixth-term congressman addressed taxes, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), ObamaCare, First Amendment freedoms under attack, a U.S. border security wall, and the illegal caravan of thousands organized to invade the country.
“What Democrats are going to do if they take control is they are going to try to raise people’s taxes,” he predicted. “They are going to work to abolish ICE and have an open border.”
And if Democrats win this midterm election November sixth, “they will expand ObamaCare,” which has become a federal black hole sucking tax dollars and piling up national debt.
“We have to replace ObamaCare with a patient-centered, family-centered, doctor-centered approach to healthcare,” the Ohio Fourth District Representative emphasized.
“Never forget…the lies of ObamaCare — many of them said by the former president himself —
- You like your plan, you can keep your plan.
- You like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
- Premiums are going to decline.
- Premiums are going to decline 2500 dollars on average.
- Deductables will go down.
- They even told us the website was going to work. Remember that?
- They told us the website was secure.
- The co-ops that they created –20 some of them– were going to be wonderful, (yet) every single one of them went bankrupt.”
“Everything they told us about ObamaCare turned out to be false,” Jordan concluded. “That’s why we’ve got to replace it with a model that actually empowers families, empowers individuals and lets them shop for the kind of insurance and care that fits their needs.”
“If you go to a patient-centered model versus a government-centered model, you’re going to get lower cost and better care,” Jordan added.
Jordan is running against Democrat challenger Janet Garrett, a former teacher turned liberal activist. She also spoke to the Lima Chamber of Commerce.
Garrett said that if elected she would seek Medicare “for all,” expanding ObamaCare and making the government bigger. “I don’t think the Affordable Care Act went anywhere near far enough,” she told The Findlay Courier.
Congressman Jordan warned that our nation is in danger of losing fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech and religious freedom. As an example, he told the Chamber about a confrontation he had while serving on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
In a committee hearing, Jordan inquired about so-called “safe spaces” on campus.
“In a ‘safe space,’ could you say this sentence: ‘Donald Trump is president,’” Jordan asked a college professor.
The professor responded, “Well, it depends…”
“Simply stating a fact on a university campus – where students go to learn facts – could get you into trouble,” Jordan told the Lima Chamber.
Jordan also noted that under Obama, the Internal Revenue Service systematically targeted American citizens because of their conservative beliefs.
Jordan serves on the Committee on the Judiciary, including a subcommittee on the Internet. He said social media companies like Facebook and Google have become the biggest threat to conservative speech. He listed many examples of internet accounts –personal, ideological, and political– which have been deleted or banned.
Even Jordan was “shadow banned” by Twitter, along with three other House conservatives.
Shadow banning is a deceptive practice of social media companies. They make it look like your account is just fine, but they secretly block all your tweets and posts so no one else can see them.
“Twitter claimed it was just a glitch in the company’s algorithm, but there are 535 members in Congress, and only four conservatives were shadow banned,” Jordan pointed out. He then quipped, “What was the ‘glitch’ in the algorithm? Our four names?” to laughter from the crowd.
The Horn asked Jordan specifically about the huge group of 7,000-10,000 migrants staged to invade the U.S.
“It just underscores why we need a border security wall,” the sixth-term congressman told The Horn. “Every sovereign nation has a right to control their border and know what’s happening on their border –that’s part of the definition of being a nation,” he explained. The migrant caravan “just underscores why we’re going to do that.”
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the caravans, which are organized and supported by the open borders group People Without Borders, “a deliberate attempt to undermine our laws and overwhelm our system.”
Jordan added that a border wall would help slow down the nation’s drug epidemic.
“The best thing the government can do to help is… actually secure our border,” he explained. “Do you think the fentanyl is being manufactured in Ohio? No, it’s being manufactured overseas and being brought into the country, smuggled through our border.”
“We build a border security wall, we not only help with the drug problem, we help with the human trafficking problem, and the gang violence problem.”
The Washington Examiner calls Jordan “a dream candidate for those looking to drain the swamp” of compromising establishment politicians. Numerous times, Jordan has stood up to those in power — even of his own party — to protect free speech, a free press, and religious liberty.
“Too many forget what they were elected for,” Jordan jabbed. “Our job is to do what we told the American people we would do. I have done that and will continue to do that.”
Jordan also defended President Trump, saying, “In just two years, regulations reduced, taxes lowered, Gorsuch is on the court, Kavanaugh is on the court, the economy is growing at a rapid rate, unemployment at its lowest in nearly fifty years, we’re out of that crazy Iran deal, the embassy is in Jerusalem, and the hostages have been returned from North Korea,” the Speaker-Hopeful rattled off. “By anyone’s definition, the president’s accomplishments have been amazing.”
Jordan’s Democratic opponent repeatedly emphasized, “I am running because I care. I will always care.” She focused on healthcare, but failed to mention the millions of exceptions to that concern, such as preborn American children. Garrett is a longtime pro-abortion extremist.
Garrett lost to Jordan the past three elections. This time she is paying hefty sums for negative ads to ridicule her opponent — including depicting him as a Muppet. The Horn News asked Jordan specifically about Garrett’s desperate Kavanaugh-esque hit pieces against him.
“I think everyone sees through all that,” Jordan told The Horn. “We’re talking to voters about what we’re going to do, and you don’t hear from us the negative talk. We’re doing positive ads.”
In the last election, Jordan beat Garrett by more than 2-to-1. But recently, Garrett received a flood of campaign donations from liberals across the country, such as actor William Baldwin. TV host Chelsea Handler is also a vocal Garrett supporter on social media.
When asked about possibly becoming Speaker of the House, Jordan replied, “The main thing in the next 13 days is to keep the (Republican) majority. We have to get the majority on election day, so I’m trying to help our candidates all over the country.”
“But if we win, I’m running for Speaker,” Jordan pledged. “I’m not the favorite, but I’m running because I think we’ve got to do what we can.”
As President Donald Trump called Jordan to the podium at a recent rally, the huge crowd cheered and chanted, “Speaker of the House! Speaker of the House!”
Adam Brandon of the Examiner commented, “A Jordan speakership would bring the legislative process out into the open… Supporting his candidacy should be an obvious choice for (those) who believe in the values of individual liberty.”
— Father Mark Hodges is a reporter for The Horn News.
1EarthUnited 