A group of newly elected Republicans, including Florida’s Maria Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez and Byron Donalds, have banded together to fight the far-left wing of the Democratic Party known as “The Squad.”
The Republican group called itself the “Freedom Force” in some interviews and the “Freedom Squad” in others. Regardless of what they call themselves, they agree their mission is opposing socialism and the other far-left ideas pushed by The Squad, led by Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.
Giménez said on Fox Business News’ Varney & Co. “The Freedom Squad will be fighting against socialism.”
“We’re going to be a force to reckoned with,” Salazar said in an interview with the Miami Herald.
The Freedom Squad consists of Republicans who managed to flip seats held by Democratic incumbents or held on to their own competitive seats in the general election. According to Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, in addition to the three Florida representatives, the group includes Representative-elects Nicole Malliotakis of New York; Michelle Steele of California; Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma; Victoria Spartz of Indiana; and, Burgess Owens of Utah.
On the Democrat side, The Squad first got its nickname when then-Reps.-elect Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib tweeted a group photo with the hashtag #SquadGoals, according to CBS News.
Giménez told the Miami Herald that unlike The Squad, which “wants to fundamentally change this country … we’re not here to fundamentally change the country. We want to make the country better.”
He said, “One of the things that ginned me up to run was doing battle with [Ocasio-Cortez]. I want to do battle with them. I want to fight them in the arena of ideas. I think their ideas and where they want to take this country is completely wrong. I’m not here to battle every Democrat. I am here to battle [The Squad]. I will do that with my last breath.”
The incoming Republican class may be the most diverse in history. Salazar and Giménez are talking with their fellow newbies to find ways to influence policy, such as opposing all Democrat efforts to push the country left and by demonstrating that conservative ideals universally appeal to all different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Giménez told Varney & Co. that socialism “does not sell” in America and many Hispanic voters “have first-hand experience with socialism and they are not buying it here.”
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