Hogan’s ‘Big Tent’ Will Crowd Out Gun Owners

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “I don’t know what the future holds in November, but I know that the Republican party is going to be looking at what happens after President Trump and whether that’s in four months or in four years,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan responded to a leading question by host Chuck Todd Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “And I think they’re going to be looking to, ‘How do we go about becoming a bigger tent party?’

“How do we … find that middle ground where people can stand together and by avoiding divisive rhetoric and winning suburban women, winning over Democrats and Independents and winning with minority votes,” Hogan elaborated. “We’re going to have to find a way to appeal to more people and have a bigger tent.

“Right now, luckily as chairman of the National Governors Association I get to avoid a little politics for a little while because I represent Democratic and Republican governors together and don’t have to get too actively involved in the political games,” Hogan responded when asked if he could vote for Joe Biden. “But I’ll have to make that decision between now and November.”

That’s some “Big Tent Republican,” trying to appeal to everyone but the constituency that prevailed in 2016. It makes it fair to ask what he’s willing to give up in exchange for votes. And that makes it fair to ask what that tent expansion he’s calling for means for gun owners.

With Hogan, we don’t have to look far.

“NRA-Endorsed Incoming GOP Governor Will Keep State’s Sweeping Gun Control Law,” The Blaze reported in 2014. So much for “support for and commitment to the Second Amendment” that NRA used as its excuse for the Hogan endorsement (and phony “A” grades” for betrayers, going back for decades, is a topic that could fill volumes).

It wasn’t enough for Hogan to simply enforce existing Intolerable Acts. He had to add some new disarmament edicts because the infringements are never enough.

“Governor Hogan disregarded our veto requests and has signed the Handgun Permit Review Board Bill (HB 819), and the ‘red flag’ bill (HB 1302),” Maryland Shall Issue noted in 2018. “And that is not the only bad news. The General Assembly passed and Governor Hogan signed into law SB707 which purports to ban bump stocks and other so-called ‘Rapid Fire Trigger Activators’.”

It’s no accident that Hogan is getting face time on Meet the Press. The Washington Post has been portraying him as a “lead GOP voice” for the handling of the state’s COVID-19 response. And no less an enemy inside the gates than Bill Kristol floated him as a presidential challenger.

It’s an old trick the Democrats excel at – flatter some useful idiot Republican into parroting their agenda talking points, praise him and make him feel important in the media, and then come election time, turn on him and add to the pile-on criticizing him for being “extreme.”

It reminds me of the way Democrats couldn’t say enough good about Sen. John McCain when he passed. Funny how, when he was still with us and running for reelection, their allies in the national media ridiculed him as too right-wing, too unethical and too dangerous, the political equivalent of a carcinogen (NSFW).

Hogan’s “Big Tent” will be so filled with jackasses and RINOs there will be no room for the elephants. He makes fair the question: With Republicans like him, who needs Democrats?

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.