- Former Colorado Rep. Ken Buck said many conservatives have compromised their values in favor of populism.
- “The Constitution is a thing of the past to the very people who were Tea Party patriots,” he told WaPo.
- Buck retired from the House in March, leaving months before his term ended.
During his nearly decade-long tenure in the United States House of Representatives, Ken Buck was well known for his conservatism.
But the former Colorado congressman recently told the Washington Post that over the years, some of his conservative colleagues shifted their focus from cutting government spending to shielding former President Donald Trump from criticism — while becoming more partisan in the process.
“I think the populist wave has eroded the conservative values that I had when I arrived here,” the former MP told the newspaper. “Now we’re impeaching people like it’s some kind of carnival and the Constitution is just a thing of the past to the same people who were Tea Party patriots 10 or 12 years ago.”
In February, Buck was one of only three House Republicans to reject the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, with whom GOP leaders have clashed over the Biden administration’s immigration policies .
Last month, shortly before he left Congress, the House Freedom Caucus voted to remove Buck from the group for “non-participation,” according to Axios.
During his interview with the Post, Buck also noted that the desire for ideologically pure laws has been detrimental to the Republican Party’s ability to win conservative victories, adding that “you have to have consensus” to succeed on Capitol Hill .
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