There are no Republican moderates: the Ballad of Don Bacon
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With the House passing the Defund Hospitals and Food Assistance to Fund The 1% bill, I’ve seen a lot of people talking on social media about how the Freedom Caucus always folds. I don’t think that’s the right way to look at it. This bill, after all, is a panacea for the far right of the Republican conference, beyond their wildest dreams. They might do a little kabuki to show their nuttier-than-thou credentials and to stave off any primary challenge, but it wouldn’t make sense for a non-token number of Freedom Caucus yahoos to vote against legislation this vile and inhumane — it represents their stated values perfectly.
The real question is why the faction of House Republicans that ostensibly got rolled went down without a fight, and indeed are happy not to fight even if they have nothing to care about politically anymore. Take this representative example:
Don Bacon, Nebraska’s 2nd District
Bacon privately told the White House in the spring he wouldn’t accept more than $500 billion in reductions to the program. He said he wanted to limit Medicaid changes to work requirements, excluding noncitizens from eligibility for benefits and mandating more frequent eligibility checks.
Bacon is not seeking reelection — a major pickup opportunity for Democrats. His Omaha-based district is one of only three GOP-held seats that then-Vice President Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential election. Bacon won his 2024 race by about 7,000 votes.
Red lines! Take 2:
House Republicans are racing against time to secure enough votes for President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending bill as several GOP members remain undecided ahead of a crucial vote.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., defended the controversial bill in an interview with ABC News Live, acknowledging concerns about Medicaid changes while emphasizing what he sees as critical benefits for middle-class Americans.
[There are for all intents and purposes no middle class benefits in this bill.]
And, take 3:
It’s official. U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., is not running in 2026.
The retired Air Force brigadier general announced his retirement from the House to a group of local reporters Monday, confirming leaks that emerged late last week in Washington, D.C., and Omaha, that his fifth term representing the Omaha area in the U.S. House would be his last.
“I hope to be remembered for … I’m a Christian, first … American, second … somewhere down here being a Republican,” Bacon told reporters. “It’s about doing the right thing … I’m a traditional conservative at heart.”
Well, hopefully you’ll be remembered as someone who ended his political career shutting down as many rural hospitals in his state as he possibly could.
The answer here is that every one of these House “moderates” as as much of a fraud as Josh Hawley himself. Even when they’re politically free, this is what they want. Ultimately, if they get their upper-class tax cuts, they agree with JD Vance (also sometimes portrayed as a pro-welfare-state moderate by gullible stooges) that 17 million people losing health insurance and rural hospitals closing and people paying higher electricity prices and losing their food assistance are immaterial minutia. The real kayfabe is these guys pretending that they have any real differences with Chip Roy when the chips are down.
The only thing to do now if to make sure as many of them lose their jobs next November as possible.