Even with the new ones about to assume office.

The Michigan GOP has been in some sort of disarray since the last “true” conservative GOP Governor of the state, John Engler, left office in 2003. The epic nonsense from the leaders of the party and of some of its elected officials — who seem only to find their conservative talking points six months before they are up for election — is quite legendary. I touched briefly on this in an article I wrote last month about the current leaders and the former gubernatorial candidate trading barbs after the beating the GOP took here in November. Former Candidate Tudor Dixon Strikes Back at Incompetent Michigan GOP Leadership

Now it looks like newly elected Republican John James of the 10th District is about to continue in true MI-GOP style and wave a white flag on conservatism on the economic side even before he is sworn into office. This, of course, after he was one of the few wins in Michigan for the “R” team on election night.

In an interview with the Washington Examiner, he had these nuggets of wisdom to pass along:

Instead of accepting the will of a majority of the GOP conference and preparing to support House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for speaker in a floor vote scheduled for Jan. 3, an obstinate minority are vowing to block the California Republican’s ascension. Their opposition threatens to wreak havoc, delaying the incoming GOP majority from organizing and tackling issues like inflation, public safety, and oversight of President Joe Biden and his administration.

“It’s extremely unfortunate that a lot of this stuff is being aired in public. I think the most effective way is to handle family business within the family and then come out on a unified front. But some folks have chosen their methods,” James, a staunch McCarthy supporter, told the Washington Examiner in an interview this month in Washington while attending orientation meetings.

“This is the biggest frustration the people in my district see,” the 41-year-old businessman and Army combat veteran added. “They see the chaos and discontent going on in Washington, and they wonder: Why can’t you get your stuff together?” That sentiment relates to James’s low opinion of certain House GOP negotiating tactics — for instance, plans to leverage approving an increase in the federal debt ceiling to squeeze spending cuts out of Biden and Senate Democrats.

I happen to live in Mr. James’ district here in Michigan.

He seems to forget that in Macomb County, there was a fight encouraged by the state chair and co-state chair to remove a duly elected county chairperson.

James did not comment on that.

He also sat idly by while the co-chair of the party, Meshawn Maddock, openly attacked the eventual Governor’s nominee here and helped damage her candidacy before going up against Gretchen Whitmer thus paving the way for the incumbent to win re-election.

I did not hear James question any of that.

Now, all of a sudden, the representative-elect wants to let everybody get along and not have these fights out in public about the Speaker to be. That’s all fine and dandy but it seems he didn’t have the backbone for doling out that advice while he was trying to get elected.

James continues on in the interview and has even more advice about using the only card that the Republicans will have in any current budget negotiation: limiting the increase on the federal debt ceiling and cutting spending. The self-described budget hawk thinks that this discussion and action are going to harm the nation’s future.

Not that the rapidly approaching 32 TRILLION dollars in debt already accrued really matters I suppose.

Let’s all just get along and hope for the best.

I know many people who think John James is a nice and sincere person and I’m sure he is. However, after running for state office twice and losing and now beating a tired old political left winger by only 1,600 votes in the midterms, now is the time to show some political backbone.

Do the right thing and actually fight for the blue-collar types back home and don’t worry about getting along with Democrats who hate you because you are a Republican. Also, maybe slow the roll on complaining about people who have been in DC and know that questioning the future Speaker wanna-be is probably in the best interest of not just the party but the country.

That is actually what the constituents back home want and more importantly, deserve.