“THEY GOT TO GO”: Jerry Falwell Backs Steve Bannon Effort to Oust ‘Fake Republicans,’ Calls for Evangelical Army to Rise Up to Defeat Them. [archive]

“There are four or five ‘Fake Republicans’ in the Senate and many in the House. If they can be replaced in 2018—the political class needs to go. . . . I’m talking about people like Susan Collins, [Lindsey] Graham, [Jeff] Flake, [John] McCain, [Mitch] McConnell. . . . they don’t always vote against it. They just make sure enough of their buddies vote against it to kill it. It’s all done behind closed doors. They got to go.” . . .

“We really don’t have a majority in the Senate, and I don’t think in the House. Paul Ryan is in a lot of ways just as bad as a lot of the Senators. He hides it. But it’s a sort of a vicious acquiescence.” . . .

“Don’t look at a candidate on whether he has the same religious background as you do. Don’t look at whether he or she fit to be the pastor of your church. Look at who’s going to vote right on the issues. Look at who’s actually succeeded in real life outside of the political world. That’s who they need to vote for. It may not be the most conservative candidate. But it’s got to be somebody who’s not part of the establishment and has succeeded in real life. Look for somebody with common sense. Find that candidate and support them, and I think they can change the Congress. Then in the last few years of Trump’s presidency we can turn this country around.”

Falwell continued by explaining what he means by “common sense candidates,” and that it does not always mean the most conservative candidates.

“When I say common sense candidates, when I say not always the most conservative, I’m saying don’t just vote on ideology,” Falwell said. “When you listen to these politicians, they know what to say to assure you what their ideology is. But that’s not what matters. What matters is do they have common sense? Have they succeeded in the real world? Then, all the rest will follow because if you have common sense and you start trying to fix things then you’re going to become a conservative like Trump did, because you see that’s the only way to fix things.”