As Establishment Republicans Scurry to ‘Dump Trump’ Conservatives Rise Up

The sudden “Dump Trump” movement last week has many people up in arms. Voters where I live, in Alabama’s 2nd district, are furious that Rep. Martha Roby was one of the first to “Dump Trump.” They are so mad, in fact, that they’ve burned up her phone lines and they have mounted a write-in campaign for her primary challenger.

Yes, that would be me, Becky Gerritson. I challenged her in the 2016 Republican Primary.

I understand the frustration of voters who are fed up with politics as usual. Donald Trump represents hope for those individuals, and they are not about to give up that hope. Candidates like Trump, Cruz and Carson were welcomed by disenfranchised Republicans because they pledged to break the cycle of the political elites and big-money lobbyists from controlling our politics.

I do respect, yet disagree with, those who have been consistent in their opposition to Trump, such as Senators Ben Sasse and Mike Lee, and even commentator Erick Erickson. But in the recent “Dump Trump” movement, a correlation is apparent: follow the money! The list of prominent names recently dumping Trump could be titled “The Chamber’s Bought and Paid for RINOs.”

In this campaign cycle, the pseudo-conservative U.S. Chamber of Commerce is one of our nation’s biggest supporters and financial backers of amnesty. I personally went up against the U.S. Chamber in my own primary in which they spent nearly $2 million promoting liberal Martha Roby.

As you can imagine, such an amount allowed them to utterly control the airwaves for their establishment candidate—particularly in our rural Alabama district. No other conservative faced such a massive obstacle in their primaries—although the more limited money spent by the Chamber is partially to blame for the toppling of conservative Tim Huelskamp.

Many on the list of GOPers who have disavowed Trump reads eerily similar to the list of candidates the U.S. Chamber supports. Here are a few examples:

Joe Heck, Nevada (beneficiary of $3,550,374 as of latest reports)
Rob Portman, Ohio ($4,606,324)
Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire ($1,910,300)
Mark Kirk, Illinois ($550,150)
John McCain, Arizona ($1,550,450)
Martha Roby, Alabama (my primary opponent, $1,750,000)
Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania ($5,106,000, has refused to say whether he will vote for Trump)
Ron Johnson, Wisconsin ($750,300, has been tepid in his support)

It seems clear that the Chamber is using its massive war-chest to compel opposition to Trump from within the party. And over the last week, we have seen that it’s working. Martha Roby and other “Dump Trumpers” are listening to their biggest campaign contributors rather than their constituents.

President Obama has taken our country down a path toward socialism, unsustainable debt and unprecedented threats to our national security. A vote for Hillary is a vote to continue Obama’s fundamental transformation of America.

In this crucial election cycle, we must defeat Hillary Clinton. We must support the Republican nominee and the party platform that upholds conservative values. Despite calls for presidential write-in candidates, like Rep. Roby proposes, the reality of state election laws make a presidential write-in an impossible scenario for a Republican win. So conservatives, keep your eyes on the prize. Take a deep breath, pray and vote! {eoa}

Becky Gerritson is president of the Wetumpka, Alabama, TEA Party and founder of Born Free American.

This article was originally published at conservativehq.com. Used with permission.