It’s one thing when a Republican challenges the intentions of a Democratic opponent; it’s another when a life-long Democrat calls out his own party and leaves. As the House of Representatives was voting to impeach President Trump, New Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew was opposed, ready to vote “nay” when an unnamed Democratic Party boss approached him, telling him he had to vote to impeach the president… or else. So, on December 19, 2019, he left the Democratic Party and became a Republican. He was reelected in 2020 — this time under the GOP banner.
In a recent interview with Rebecca Weber, CEO of the Association of Mature American Citizens, on her Better for America podcast, Van Drew said that once President Trump got wind of what was occurring, he invited him for a visit. Mr. Trump said “‘Jeff, you should be a Republican.’ I said, ‘Mr. President, I’m going to be a Republican…’ he jumped up and said, ‘let’s do it right now!’” And after telling Mr. Trump he had to go home first to tell his wife and kids, Trump made Van Drew a Republican just a few days later. “[The] best thing I ever did. I am very, very happy in the Republican Party” and if he were still a Democrat, he would be “in such pain…look at the things they have done to our country.”
Regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the 50-year-old Roe vs Wade abortion decision, he explained, “The United States of America never, ever guaranteed anybody the right to an abortion. When the Constitution was created, all abortion was illegal. So, all that this ruling did is say that this is not a constitutional issue.” Van Drew then pointed out how abortion is a state-by-state issue.
He did not mince words when discussing President Biden, his administration, and the Democratic majority in Congress. “He is the worst president,” he said. “[And] this is the worst majority party in the history of the United States of America over so many issues, whether it be the moral issues that you bring up or the fiscal economic issues. A year and a half ago, we were on top of the world. A year and a half ago, we were exporting energy. A year and a half ago, we were number one…There’s no place for America other than to be number one in the world. Some people don’t like that. They think that’s just too egocentric of Americans to think like that. I disagree…We’re the best country that was ever on the face of the earth. And we should be number one. And we were. [But under President Biden,] we opened our borders and let people pour in that are sick, that are bringing in drugs, that are hurting many of the people that are with them, that are on terrorist watch lists…it is like someone is purposely trying to destroy the fabric of our real America.”
When considering the Biden inflationary spiral that has caused the price of gasoline to soar beyond the reach of average Americans, Van Drew says it appears the president is playing “a joke” on us. “It’s a ploy…Even his buddy, President Obama, said that it was a little while back.” In some parts of the country, gasoline is hovering at or beyond $7.00 and Mr. Biden is offering to temporarily give up about 18 cents a gallon in taxes. “Eighteen cents isn’t going to make a major difference here, number one. What it will do is make sure that we fall even further behind in our infrastructure, because that money is used for infrastructure to fix our bridges and our roads and so forth. What it will also do is make sure that we don’t come up with any real answer, because he’s going to say that is the answer and that they’ve done something.” However, this is not what America wants to hear, and it seems they are getting fed up. Put simply by Van Drew, “That’s a bad answer. Everything they’ve done for our economy has been wrong.”