Editorial
The ideological split within the Idaho Republican Party is about to receive a national spotlight.
U.S. Senator Jim Risch, who is the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is a political dinosaur who has been using doublespeak to grift conservative Idaho Republicans since 1974.
Risch has raised the ire of those following the confirmation proceedings of President Trump’s cabinet nominees. As reported by Jewish Insider, Risch declined to commit to supporting Tulsi Gabbard to lead the U.S. intelligence services and Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense. “Ask me this question again after the hearings,” Risch told a report from Jewish Insider on Saturday, November 23 at the 2024 Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia. “These appointments by the president are constrained by the advice and consent of the Senate. The Senate takes that seriously and we vet these.”
Risch’s lack of commitment for Trump’s nominees comes swiftly on the heels of U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski’s comments on November 22. “Our role, of course, is to vet these nominees…when we talk about a vetting process, it’s what the nominees go through,” stated Murkowski when speaking with Dominic Michael Tripi. “It’s not just your resume, it’s all aspects of your life and your background.”
Both Murkowski and Risch are using political doublespeak. In reality, they are both stating that they base their confirmation votes of Trump’s nominees on whether or not the bureaucratic fourth branch of government believes it holds enough control over said nominees. If the FBI doesn’t want someone in Trump’s cabinet, all it has to do is what it has done since 2015 — lie, cheat, and manipulate by using manufactured “evidence” and “expert testimony.”
As shown on November 12, when Risch praised the nomination of Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, he has no problem publicly supporting a nominee he agrees with before “vetting” and committee hearings.
Risch’s attitude towards two of Trump’s most important nominees makes his demand to be a Trump delegate at the 2024 Republican National Convention all that much more egregious; highlighting his agenda is self-centered and does not seek to advance the political will of Trump-voting Idahoans in Washington D.C. Only one day before his comments at the Halifax Forum, Risch tried to assure constituents of his conservative bona-fides with an X post stating, “I’ve voted for every appointment Donald Trump has made…We’ve been given a mandate and I’m working hard at it for Idahoans.”
The American people have already vetted the man making the nominations — and that man got the most legal votes for president than any other candidate in American history. As president, Trump has the authority to grant clearance to anyone at any time, whether confirmed by the senate or not. At no point does a “vetting” by a federal policing agency legitimize anyone’s qualifications or character, especially the FBI which has proven to be so corrupt it directly interfered in Trump’s presidential campaigns and his first term as president.
Nearly 77 million American citizens clearly stated that the era of the “expert class” telling the American people what to do and who their representatives can and can’t have on their team is over. It’s time Risch and other neocon politicians stop playing political games to advance their own careers and fill their own bank accounts and start heeding the voice of their constituents.
To Senator Risch and the rest of D.C. political swamp: Confirm Trump’s nominations and support the Make America Great Again movement or resign. It’s that simple.
Risch’s half century on the public dole includes:
- 1974 to 1988 — Idaho Senator (lost Idaho Senate seat in 1988 general election).
- 1994 — lost primary for Idaho Senate seat.
- 2003 to 2009 — Lieutenant Governor (defeated Lt. Governor Jack Riggs in the 2002 primary after Riggs was appointed by Kempthorne in 2021 when Butch Otter resigned from Lt. Governor position to take a U.S. Representative seat). Risch served under Otter when he won election for Governor after Kempthorne resigned.
- 1995 to 2002 — Idaho Senator and Senate Pro Tempore (appointed by Governor Phil Batt to the Idaho Senate seat he couldn’t win in the 1994 primary).
- 2009 to current — U.S. Senator, ranking Republican, term ends in 2026.
