Clark County resident Mark Moore discusses Joe Kent’s endorsement of Jaime Herrera Beutler in her bid to become Washington’s Commissioner of Public Lands

Mark Moore 
for Clark County Today

When I got involved in politics about 3 and 1/2 years ago, it was for the express purpose of driving Jaime Herrera Beutler from Congress because of her vote to impeach President Donald Trump. I knew Jaimie from church and while she had always been a little moderate for my taste, I figured she was a safe pro-life vote, and was doing the best she could. Like so many other Americans I was infuriated with the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump in what was clearly a nakedly partisan political move by the radical left. The damage to our nation under the illegitimate presidency of Joe Biden may be irrecoverable.

I had known Joe Kent because of an organization that I belong to called American Contingency. Not only did Joe have one of the most compelling life stories I’d ever heard, I also knew him to be articulate and incredibly well informed on issues that I believed critical for the future of our nation. So, I volunteered for his campaign and became active in the Clark County Republican Party.

In the last 3 and 1/2 years, an amazing group of patriots have worked to reform the CCRP and return it to the grassroots, its rightful owners. With this context in mind, it will not be hard to understand my intense frustration with Joe when he made the decision to publicly support JHB in her campaign for Washington Commissioner of Public Lands. If there’s an area that Jaime actually shined while in Congress, it would have been her work in this very field. Still, I was not convinced she deserved an opportunity to return to public service. My assessment of her impeachment vote will never change.

Ironically, one of the areas that I found commonality with Joe Kent was that during the same timeframe he was working in the most elite level of special operations warfare in the Middle East with primarily Kurdish fighters, I was a missions coordinator working primarily with Persian Kurdish believers from Iran. The Kurds are the largest people group on earth without a nation state of their own, and considered to be some of the fiercest warriors on earth. I found the Kurdish people to be amazing, humble, incredibly intelligent and loving. I miss them terribly, and I know it has been very difficult for Joe to see how once again America has abandoned them in service of a corrupt foreign policy. I believe this to be an influence in his decision to run for Congress.

My experience with the Kurds was universally positive, I got to see the very best of their culture during the time they traveled outside of Iran to be trained as pastors. While I was aware of it, what I did not see, and what Joe Kent did see, was the utterly ravaging effects of tribalism in that region. He saw the bloodshed of various factions fighting with one another, even amongst the Kurds. In spite of the richness of their history and the strength of their society, tribalism and fractional fighting in their midst has kept them from unifying and establishing their rightful place on the world stage. This dynamic is sad, and it has resulted in the Kurds having no seat at the table when it counts, leaving them to fight among themselves while decisions are made for them by their enemies.

The highest responsibility of a general during a time of war is to understand three things. First, the strategic lay of the land. Secondly, the strength of his force. Thirdly, and most importantly, the strength of his coalitions. It should be obvious to even the most casual observer, the strategic political landscape in Washington state put Republicans at a significant disadvantage. A realistic assessment with regard to the strength of our forces is that because our coalition is so fractured by infighting we have not had a seat at the table and decisions are being made for us by our enemies.

I tend to be a scorched earth type of person when it comes to the Republican establishment. I believe them to be at least equally responsible as Democrats for the state of our nation. Establishment Republicans have enriched themselves while Rome has burned and I will always be committed to holding them accountable. That’s why I will likely never be promoted to general.

But I’m not the candidate for Congress in the Third Congressional District, Joe Kent is. Joe Kent has more first-hand knowledge of the utter devastation of factional infighting than I ever will. After almost 500 in person events in the district while campaigning, Joe gets to see the carnage of internal Republican chaos. While I’m just fine continuing in our battle against sellout Republicans, the voters that Joe Kent will need to win this race are not fine with it. The most common sentiment I hear as a Precinct Committee Officer from my neighbors is how distasteful the infighting is. They often do not want to be involved. If they give a fair hearing, I explain that it is necessary to uproot the corruption. However, by and large voters want to see unity in the party and often they will not participate because of this.

Joe Kent has pledged consistently that he will support whoever the Republican nominee is for a given office in Washington state. He has never wavered from this position. I wish that I could say I was pleased with Joe’s decision to endorse JHB for this position, but while we need warriors to win the battle, we need diplomats to win the peace. Without peace and unity in the Republican party, we will continue as the minority, and an ever-decreasing minority. While I am frustrated with this position, I respect it. Joe Kent has again shown his capacity for statesmanship, I hope the voters of the Third Congressional District recognize this as doing what is best for the voters in Washington’s Third Congressional District.

There are only two relevant questions at this point. First, how will the voters of the district respond to this endorsement. Secondly, how will Jaimie Herrera Beutler respond to this endorsement? JHB, by her own admission, knows that Joe Kent’s Republican opponent in the jungle primary has absolutely no path to victory. She also knows what virtually no voter knows, that the only purpose for Leslie Lewallen remaining in this race is to provide an attack vector for Republican dark money to be spent against Joe Kent. In the last election cycle, REPUBLICAN dark money Political Action Committees spent over $10,000,000 against Joe Kent. It is not a stretch to understand that is why he lost by less than 2,700 votes. That dark money was spent on behalf of Joe’s Republican opponent with her approval, and went so far as to circulate a flyer comparing Joe Kent to Adolf Hitler. Is this truly what Republicans want to see repeated?

The average voter would rightfully be indignant at the prospect that Republicans would do such a dishonorable thing. What average voters are waking up to is the fact all Republicans are not the same. As a matter of fact, most average Republican voters understand they have much more in common with their neighbors who are average Democrat voters than they do with the elitist Republican leadership of the last three decades. I am not an average Republican voter, I am a highly engaged activist and I understand the nature of the battle. Both Joe Kent and JHB will need the vote of the average Republican voter, the average moderate voter, and likely the votes of some average Democrat voters. Otherwise, we are likely to lose our republic.

The first question cannot be answered until the first Tuesday in November when the voters of the Third Congressional District decide if Joe Kent will replace radical leftist Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in the US Congress.

The second question, how will Jaime Herrera Beutler respond to Joe Kent’s endorsement, can, and should be, answered much sooner. JHB still holds considerable influence in the district. She can, and should, call upon Leslie Lewallen to abandon her campaign. This would go a very long way in demonstrating her commitment to the voters that she is worthy of redemption as a public servant. She more than most, understands the carnage of a bloody primary and if she is committed to public service, she has a moral obligation to do all she can for the Republican cause. As I have stated, her policy positions were a bit moderate for me, but I genuinely believe her to be a good woman.

As for my patriot friends who will be confused, frustrated or dismayed by Joe’s position, I say the following. Hold the line, victory is upon us if we simply stay the course. Joe Kent is still a generational candidate. I have made clear to him my frustration and in truth fear I may have wounded a friend, yet I have concluded in the end I trust him to be a force for liberty in the US Congress.

We only lose if we quit.

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