‘To Hell with It’: A GOP Congressman Reflects on His One Term in Trump’s Party - POLITICO

Meijer, 34, a former sergeant in the Army Reserves who served in Iraq, made reforming war powers and veterans issues his top legislative priorities. Four of his bills were signed into law, including establishing a Department of Homeland Security trade and economic security council. And he made an unauthorized trip to Afghanistan to help evacuate Americans and Afghans during the hurried military pullout in August 2021. That trip earned him a scolding from the White House and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But none of that compared to the onslaught from the ostensible leader of his own party, who backed Meijer’s primary challenger, John Gibbs, a Stanford-educated provocateur who pandered to Trump and peddled QAnon-style conspiracies. Gibbs ultimately lost to Democrat Hillary Scholten in the general election, just as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had hoped when it quietly promoted Gibbs’ extremist candidacy.