On Wednesday, Republican Representative Ken Buck from Colorado announced that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election in 2024.
Yet, instead of thanking his colleagues in a standard statement issued as part of the announcement, Buck decided to blast his Republican colleagues on his way out – blaming his departure on the continued election denialism that many conservatives in the lower chamber have embraced.
In a social media video that Buck released this week, he said:
“Too many Republican leaders are lying to America, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen, describing January 6 as an unguided tour of the Capitol and asserting that the ensuing prosecutions are a weaponization of our justice system.
“These insidious narratives breed widespread cynicism and erode Americans’ confidence in the rule of law. It is impossible for the Republican Party to confront our problems and offer a course correction for the future while being obsessively fixated on retribution and vengeance for contrived injustices of the past.”
For a while now, Buck had broken off from his Republican colleagues who stood on the flag of election fraud. He was one of the most notable dissenters during the GOP’s fight over the speakership.
Buck was one of the GOP members who blocked Representative Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, from winning the gavel, which led Republicans to scramble to find a replacement for the ousted Kevin McCarthy.
At the same time, Buck was one of the eight members of the House GOP who voted in favor of vacating McCarthy from the speakership originally back in early October.
In voting that way, Buck said he had issues with how the House handled the budget process under McCarthy’s leadership.
Last month, Buck commented about Jordan to ABC News:
“Jim at some point, if he’s going to lead this conference during the presidential election cycle … is going to have to be strong and say Donald Trump didn’t win the election.”
Buck spoke in broader terms during the statement he released on Wednesday, though. He said that the GOP has decided to veer off course from the foundation that was led by leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, who centered their principles on liberty and “economic freedom.” Instead, he said:
“The Republican Party of today … is ignoring self-evident truths about the rule of law and limited government in exchange for self-serving lies.”
Buck, who served five terms in the House and is a former prosecutor, said he was grateful for the time that he spent in Congress, as well as for the support that voters have given him for his fight against the left’s policies.”
That being said, he said he was worried that the current state of the GOP was not providing an alternative to the left that is sufficient. As he said:
“Americans are rightfully concerned about our nation’s future and are looking to Republicans in Washington for a course correction. But, their hope for Republicans to take decisive action may be in vain.
“Our nation is on a collision course with reality, and a steadfast commitment to truth – even uncomfortable truths – is the only way forward.”
