RICHMOND, Virginia—Her surprisingly activist support for the long-shot primary challenger to Eric Cantor is part of a larger plan to shape the GOP, conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview.
“I think Jeb Bush will be the nominee of the Republican Party [for President in 2016]. I would be stunned if he weren’t,” Ingraham told Breitbart News.
“I think it’s important to raise these issues about Jeb Bush now so people are not shocked that, oh my gosh, he’s for immigration amnesty. Oh my goodness, he’s for fast track trade authority. Wow, he’s for doing more deals with China,” she said.
“It’s important to talk about these things now before we end up getting into a situation where it’s a fast track to the nomination and it’s a done deal, it’s a fait accompli,” she said.
Ingraham spoke at a Dave Brat campaign rally in Glenn Allen, Virginia on Tuesday evening. Brat, an economics professor at Randolph-Macon College, is challenging House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) in the June 10 Republican primary in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
Brat’s criticisms of Cantor’s immigration positions have forced Cantor to suddenly discover his inner anti-amnesty warrior in the last two weeks of the campaign, at least as he’s described himself in his television ads and direct mailers.
Ingraham explained why she believes Cantor will pivot back to his pro-amnesty positions within days after the June 10 primary, if he is renominated.
“Here’s what we know,” she told Breitbart News. “Anyone who’s ever had any wiggle room or squishy language on the issue of immigration has always moved to the amnesty position eventually. If people say the following–well, you can’t deport 11 million people; we have to pull these people out of the shadows; the system is broken; we have de facto amnesty.”
“If they say all those things,” Ingraham continued, “those are just the cliches of the Republican and Democratic establishment and all of those statements are essentially meaningless. It’s kind of play-doh, you can turn it into anything you want, or silly putty, it doesn’t mean anything. So what, that’s not policy!”
“Eric Cantor could have taken immigration off the table. He chose not to,” she stated.
“He could have said we’re not talking about this, you people are untrustworthy.You’re allowing all these people into the country now. You’re busing people who are here illegally to destinations to live with other illegal aliens,” Ingraham said.
“He could have spoken out against all of this,” Ingraham concluded, but he did not.
Ingraham was highly critical of the job the mainstream media has done reporting on the primary. “The press corps,” she said, “has done an abysmal job covering the Brat-Cantor race.”
“There’s been one piece in the Washington Post that was somewhat fair introducing Dave Brat after all these months where he’s been running and challenging Cantor. Cantor won’t debate him,” she said.
“Now they’re allowing this ridiculous choreography of this Luis Gutierrez supposed animosity towards Eric Cantor on the issue of immigration that happened a couple of weeks ago when Gutierrez came down here. They cover it like it’s some real issue that they disagree on immigration when anyone who has been following this issue at all knows that Cantor and Gutierrez are working hand-in-glove on the timing of when immigration reform will pass and what form it will pass,” she continued.
Ingraham pointed out that Frank Roche, an anti-amnesty candidate she supported in May’s 2nd Congressional District Republican primary in North Carolina, did surprisingly well against Renee Ellmers, the pro-amnesty incumbent who had an epic immigration outburst on Ingraham’s radio show.
“It was $18,000 versus hundreds of thousands of dollars [and he got 41 percent],” Ingraham said.
Ingraham said she did not know why the national Tea Party and conservative groups are not coming to help David Brat.
“I think that in some cases people are worried about their access. I think people are making their bets on who’s going to win and who’s going to lose. It’s the same reason there are a lot of people out there who are reluctant to criticize Jeb Bush now.”
“There are a lot of people who are reluctant to get involved in primaries. If Dave Brat does not win people can say, ‘well, Laura Ingraham has no mojo.’ I don’t care what people say about me. It doesn’t matter to me at all,” Ingraham said.
“What matters to me is that I do whatever is in my power to try to save this country in my own little way. I think right now our country is in real peril.”
Ingraham explained why she is so supportive of Dave Brat, who she has endorsed and supported throughout his campaign.
“I think Dave Brat is a great guy, so courageous, so earnest, so smart. If he went toe-to-toe with Eric Cantor in a debate he would have wiped the floor with him. It would have been like Nigel Farage versus David Cameron in Britain,” she said.
Ingraham was pessimistic about the Republican Party’s chances of winning back the White House in 2016, but her reasoning is based less on short term political punditry and more on a sense that a dramatic social and political realignment is in the works.
“I doubt the Republicans will put up someone who can beat Hillary,” she told Breitbart News.“I think there’s an interesting realignment going on,” she said.
“You can’t have a situation where the middle class stays down as long as they have today,” she explained.
“I think [that realignment is] what’s going to happen ultimately. It might not happen in this next Presidential election, but it will happen. Look out Republican and Democratic parties when that happens.”
“I think the Republicans better watch out,” Ingraham advised, “because there are a lot of conservatives looking for ways to work with the left on issues like shrinking government surveillance, pulling back from military intervention in unnecessary engagements, stopping fanatical trade deals that lower American wages.”
“The question is do you want to live in a country run by, essentially, 100 families or do you want to live in a country where the middle class has a real chance to have a better life and leave a better life for their kids,” she explained.
“Right now,” Ingraham said, “I think we are edging closer to that country where just the rich and powerful have a consistent say.They have an alliance with the far left groups that have their own agenda to bolster union membership and swell the ranks of the Democratic Party.”
“I think this will not end well for the capitalists. If they think this is going to be a good ride, it’s not going to end well. History is replete with examples of the perpetually impoverished rising up against the fat cats.”
“That will happen here. There are no gates that are strong enough or walls that are high enough when that eventually blows.”
Image source: Duane Berger
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