Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, interviewed John Gibbs, who served in President Donald J. Trump’s administration, as a senior staffer to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson, about his primary challenge to 3rd Congressional District incumbent Rep. Peter Meijer (R.-Mich.).
Meijer is one of 10 House Republicans who voted Jan. 13, 2021, to impeach Trump–his first vote as a freshman congressman.
Gibbs, a former software engineer and Christian missionary to Japan, told The Star News Network that working for Trump taught him that personnel decisions are policy decisions, which was one of his motivations for challenging Meijer.
TRANSCRIPT
McCabe: Michigan Republican Congressman Peter Meijer was one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald J. Trump on January 13, 2021.
John Gibbs, a former senior aide to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, told The Star News Network why he went home to Michigan to defeat Meijer in the Republican primary.
Gibbs: When I walk around my district, people literally hugged me when I tell them I’m running against Peter Meijer. All the people are with us, everybody. But this establishment machinery, both again at the local level and national level, they seem to really have no issue with the betrayals that have happened not only with Peter Meijer but as well as other Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump as well.
Meijer: The attempted insurrection, the involvement of a sitting American President and propagating, the falsehoods that led up to that required a significant response. And so that is why I ultimately arrived at the decision to impeach.
McCabe: Gibbs, a former software engineer and Christian missionary to Japan, said Washington changed Congressman Meijer.
Gibbs: When I look at him, I look at his profile and who he is as a person, he might be a good guy, but politically he’s out of sync with the district and out of sync with where our country is going.
He’s one of those guys that went to DC, the bright lights got to him. The cocktail parties, the allure of being liked by the media, and he totally ran with it and went all the way as far as voting to impeach President Trump.
McCabe: It is still true that personnel decisions are policy decisions, Gibbs said.
Gibbs: When it comes to lessons learned working for President Donald Trump and our administration, there’s quite a myriad of them. One is that everybody on our side is not necessarily our friend, so to speak.
I guess a lot of people are already familiar with that. But when you’re in the administration, you learn it at a real deep level, and you really develop this sense. It’s kind of like a Spidey sense where after a while you can kind of tell if you’re in a meeting or you’re working with someone, are they for their own agenda?
Are they for a minor agenda? Are they secretly a Liberal at heart? Or are they really trying to be a part of the revolutionary reform agenda that we were all about?
McCabe: Despite his vote to impeach President Trump, Congressman Meijer continues to enjoy financial and political support from the House Republican leadership. Gibbs told The Star News Network, he’s relying on the support he gets inside the district. The primary is August 2nd. Reporting for The Star News Network, Neil W. McCabe, Washington.
