There are plenty of politicians I like. There are some I admire from time to time. And I support quite a few.
But I don’t trust many – or really any, although that could change if the voters of Maryland’s 6th district do the right thing, the smart thing, and elect my friend Dan Bongino to Congress.
You’ve probably seen Bongino on cable news or heard him on various radio shows around the country; he’s the media’s go-to expert on security issues. And I can assure you he is the real deal on this.
Bongino was a New York City police officer before he joined the Secret Service and went on to serve in the personal protection details of Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama. He had a comfortable life as one of those built dudes in dark suits and sunglasses, blurry in the background of pictures of the president at events around the world. He had a good life. He had job security, a government pension, resources to support his family and a front-row seat to witness history being made.
It was the front-row seat that changed everything for Dan Bongino. Although he’s never violated the code of the Secret Service, he saw what the current White House occupant was doing to the country he loves and felt compelled to step from the blur into focus. The man entrusted to protect the life of the president did not like the direction he saw that man taking the nation.
Rather than sit silent and keep comfortable, Bongino walked away from the job he loved, the pension and the security to run for office. In 2012, he ran for the Senate. Running as an “independent” third-party candidate in deep-blue Maryland made that race near-impossible. He didn’t nurse his wounds, and he didn’t run out of the ring.
Martin O’Malley, Maryland’s corrupt Democratic governor, and his goon squad in the state legislature gerrymandered Maryland to the point of national embarrassment. The party of “celebrating diversity” brought Republican representation to near-extinction, leaving Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland’s 1st District as the only voice of sanity in the state’s delegation.
But despite Democrats’ best efforts, one district remained possibly winnable district for Republicans – the 6th.
Bongino could have returned to the private sector – former members of the president’s personal protection detail do quite well in the security business – but he didn’t. The difference he wanted to make two years earlier had not been made, so he re-entered the ring to run for that 6th district seat, currently held by Rep. John Delaney.
I got to know Dan through the 2012 campaign. I’d have him on when I’d fill in on various radio shows. He was the Republican candidate for Senate, seemingly fighting the whole race by himself. He’d come in studio for an hour, we’d chat during the commercials, and we became friends.
After the election I kept having him on, eventually asking him to co-host from time to time. When I had to stop hosting on one station in the market because I was offered a job at another, I suggested Dan fill the occasional Saturday slot I’d been doing. He was good because he’s not a politician. That quality, coupled with his pro-American, solid conservative ideals, are exactly why he’s needed in Washington. Why Maryland needs him in Washington.
The Republican National Congressional Committee has limited resources and looks at Maryland as a lost cause, so it won’t sink any money into Dan’s race. Outside groups view Maryland the same way. Plus, they view Dan as a problem.
The thing about Dan Bongino isn’t that he has a burning desire to be in Congress, because he doesn’t. He also doesn’t want to be in Congress forever, having promised voters and his wife and kids to support legislation on term limits and impose them on himself. It’s that he’s the type of guy who, when he sees a problem, he sets out to solve it.
The job of a Secret Service agent, in spite of recent news reports, is to spot a problem and deal with it immediately. That’s why Bongino is running. He won’t be the most-liked congressman. He won’t be a “go along to get along” backbencher. He’ll be a principled voice for the ideals that made the country the envy of the world; a boat-rocker leadership will hate.
So I was wrong in the first paragraph, Dan won’t be a politician I trust, he IS a man I trust. A congressman such as Dan Bongino is exactly what each state needs. How beautiful would it be to start by electing him from one of the bluest of the blue states?
Learn about Dan Bongino from his book “Life Inside The Bubble” and about his campaign by clicking here.