2. He is 34 years old. Do they share the same siblings? Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram. We send the Seventh Fleet to intimidate them, and its the summertime, and all of a sudden, the power goes out in Phoenix and people are baking to death in their house, and the Chinese say we can turn the power back on if you turn that fleet around. This would suddenly make cybersecurity the most resonant issue in America. Regardless of its effectiveness, the nature of the strategy remains grim. They were attempting to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Peter has created his Instagram account as votemeijer with 123 posts and 2,151 followers. At least rhetorically, they seem to be coming from a more reality-grounded place. But Ill tell you, it hasnt come up much since [February]. Democrats have used that tactic in several states, hoping the more extreme Republican candidates will be easier opponents in the fall. Meijer: Im not going to foreclose any possibility. Meijer is a political leader and multi-business owner with a political and personal reputation. She was the only statewide candidate who was actually elected in a primary. Were a large percentage of the House of Representatives, and we have no police presence with us. That wont necessarily require the overt delegitimization of American democracy. Yet you went to a unity rally with him. Six days earlier, Meijer had pulled a smoke hood over his face and fled the U.S. House of Representatives as insurgents broke into the lower chamber. When the Capitol was finally secured and members returned to the House chamber, Meijer expected an outraged, defiant House of Representatives to vote in overwhelming numbers to certify the election results, sending a message to the mob that Congress would not be scared away from fulfilling its constitutional obligations. Two weeks after we spoke, Kinzinger announced his retirement from Congress. MEIJER: You know, I don't want to overextrapolate from my one scenario. Wren: Would you support Donald Trump if he were the nominee in 2024 after voting to impeach him last year? (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA). In the middle of September, Anthony Gonzalez announced that he was retiring from Congress. He also pursued his bachelor's degree in cultural anthropology in 2012 at the very University as well as, he served as an advocate on campus for reinstating the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. Peter was enlisted in the Army Reserve. So everybody was just being forced to walk the tightrope, increasingly away from where the persuadable voters they needed were [ideologically]. Meijer was one of ten Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump during Trump's second impeachment. In January 2022, Alexander celebrated his brother's favorite day of the year alongside his father and mother. Disney+ released the first trailer for its upcoming live-action Peter Pan & Wendy, which puts a new spin on the classic story based on the J.M. Peter Meijer is an American politician and business analyst serving as the U.S. Representative for Michigan's 3rd congressional district since 2021. But they dont think his side can win. He tried to force a reckoning on his party; now the reckoning is coming for Republicans like him. As he left town, something hed said to Gonzalez earlier that day echoed through his mind. Does Peter Meijer have a brother? After Meijer hung up, he leafed through a copy of The Federalist Papers, hoping for an epiphany. The 34-year-old American politician is known to have just a sibling. Meijer, within days of being sworn into President Gerald Ford's old . It was widely criticized. Meijer: Yeah. His father is an American billionaire businessman, co-chairman, and CEO of the Meijer Supermarket chain in the US who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1973 with a degree in literature. The White House, the Pentagon and Speaker Nancy Pelosi said your presence there diverted from the withdrawal mission. Public domain. This election was a fraud and you know thats true. Hed ignored, or downplayed, much of his extreme rhetoric. A blind eye here, some radio silence there, will do the trick. Wren: You said your departure from Washington and Congress is bittersweet. I take that to mean there is part of you that is happy to be leaving here. It was a short list, and Meijer had already talked with most of them: Liz Cheney of Wyoming; Adam Kinzinger of Illinois; Fred Upton, who represented a neighboring district in Michigan. Whereas, Peters grandfather Fred Meijer, is the one who created a supermarket chain. And he knew that by voting to impeach he might be committing career suicide before my career ever began. In the days leading up to the vote, Meijer says, he barely slept. Early life [ edit] Hank Meijer is the son of Lena Rader and Frederik Meijer, and grandson of Hendrik Meijer, who founded the US supermarket chain Meijer in 1934. Meijer had just looked the partys future in the eye and acted as though all of that was normal. He accepted every invitationespecially those that seemed hostileto address local party chapters. In 2008, he was transferred to Columbia University from where he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in cultural anthropology in the year 2012. in 2017, he earned his Masters degree in Business administration from New York University. And this ended up being the incentive structure for Mr. Meijer: A public official did what people say they want (to take the tough vote) on a central existential problem (Mr. Trump denying the results of the 2020 election), and he was honest about it but didnt discuss it much (because, he said, voters werent that focused on it), and he lost in the end anyway. Now he laughs at his own navet. He voted with nine . It was crackling with messages from people in his districtsome checking on his well-being; others warning him not to blow the insurrection out of proportion, arguing that it was little more than a spontaneous tour of the Capitol. Trump-backed John Gibbs, a businessman, and missionary who served in the Trump administration under Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson defeated Meijer in a primary on Tuesday (August 2). Meijer had been on the job for all of three days. The majority of his fellow House Republicans refused to certify the results, launching an assault on the legitimacy of American democracy. But none of that compared to the onslaught from the ostensible leader of his own party, who backed Meijers primary challenger, John Gibbs, a Stanford-educated provocateur who pandered to Trump and peddled QAnon-style conspiracies. NPR's Scott Simon talks with U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan about his loss in the Republican primary this week. He was able to spend more time on the policy issues he cared about. Even she is dissatisfied with his actions in DC, so she is supporting his primary challenger Tom Norton. Representative Peter Meijer acknowledged on Sunday that "I may very well have" ended my career after joining nine other Republicans who voted last week to impeach President Trump.. Ms. Miller is a staff writer and editor in Opinion. In my mind, not going to something like that is a sore loser move. Michael Maize children: Does Michael Maize have children? His last service as Acting Deputy Director for Afghanistan was to deliver emergency assistance to aid workers after Kidnappings and targeted killings. His one similarly stormy term in Congress was coming to a close. But I do think some people have let it go.. Over time, the threats ebbed, the antagonistic encounters subsided, and Meijer got some semblance of his life back. Representative Peter Meijer (R., Mich.) counts himself among that last, unfortunate, group after being defeated by his Trump-endorsed challenger, John Gibbs, last week. Meijer: I think we substantively advanced the issue in the National Security Performance and Accountability Act of 2021 that we introduced in the spring of last year. This was the answer to a question that George was not asking. It ends up not being the most productive exercise. In our many hours of conversation, Meijer had declined to call out any of his colleagues by name. Peter Meijer, a Michigan Republican who serves in the US House, has a sister named Haley Meijer. He had just spoken to a group of soon-to-be voters whose notions of Republicanism were formed by red hats and angry chants and crazed tweets. A member of the Republican Party, his district, once represented by President Gerald Ford, covers Grand Rapids and Battle Creek. On Wednesday night, according to local media, he introduced Mr. Gibbs at a G.O.P. Meijer will face multiple primary challengers in 2022, including a Trump-administration official, John Gibbs, who already has the former presidents endorsement against RINO Congressman Peter Meijer. Because of the districts moderate makeup and his ample finances, Meijer is favored to win reelection. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. It doesnt help [Michigan held] very late primaries. Catharina was born on January 6 1741, in Hahlen, Minden-Lubbecke, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. This time, Capitol Police escorted them into the Longworth Building, to the Ways and Means Committee room, and set up a security perimeter outside. I think Jan. 6 should have been a warning sign, Mr. Meijer said. There's a tremendous incentive to be seen as fighting, you know, the traitors in your midst, the RINOs on the right, the DINOs, which admittedly is, I think, a little less catchy in Democratic circles. Type above and press Enter to search. This article appears in the January/February 2022 print edition with the headline The Freshman., The Great (Fake) Child-Sex-Trafficking Epidemic, When the Myth of Voter Fraud Comes for You. 5. The political incentives for elected officials and candidates to deal with existential problems are totally busted. A woman raised her hand, after Meijers luncheon talk at a Grand Rapids country club, and asked him about the insurrection on January 6. He graduated from Columbia University in 2006. You have God and you have Satan. [1] Career [ edit] But Meijer also wants a future in a party that is controlled by the president he voted to exile. The hypocrisy was so transcendent, just the cynicism. He's already drawn a primary challenge for 2022 from Tom Norton, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and strong supporter of Trump. announced that he would seek the Republican nomination, the state GOP chair joked with party activists. Meijer: Definitely not on the policy side. Though born with a silver spoon and silver platter, Peter has always had the desire to serve his nation and his countrys people. | Sarah Rice for The Washington Post via Getty Images. Later, over beers at a nearby pub, I reminded Meijer of his burden in the aftermath of the impeachment vote: He and the other nine dissenters were supposed to be the hope for their partys future. Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read. He saw himself as a sober-minded person, someone who wasnt heading to Congress for the culture wars or the tribal showdowns. They make folks like my sister think theyre on her team, Meijer says. But putting this scenario in perspective, he said, if you were to poll the public, cybersecurity wouldnt even register in the top 50 issues.. Meijer felt angry and betrayed, like Id seen something sacred get trampled on. He told himself that Trump needed to pay. If he was outlining a positive agenda and speaking of the things that were started and hoping to be completed, if his message was about pointing the country in a better direction, it would be very different than what we have right now, which is just like the pettiest of petty grievances. PETER MEIJER: Thank you for having me on. His side is letting go while the other side is digging in. In fact, Haley Meijer wants her brother out of DC so much she is a "top fan" of Norton's, according to Norton's campaign Facebook page. The differentiator between a Republican candidate winning or losing tended to be the level of Mr. Trumps support; the winners themselves ranged widely in terms of their own political brands, from hard-core MAGA to business-backed establishment. Wren: Where do you think the Trump fixation in the Republican Party is headed? Meijer cant blame them. Being a freshman in the minority, youre kind of fighting and running uphill. March 1, 2023, 4:39 PM. Therefore, Peter Meijer enrolled in US Army and was deployed to Iraq. Paul Gosar wasnt shot on January 6Ashli Babbitt was.. He won the Republican Primary in August 2020, earning 50% of the vote against 4 other opponents. Peter, dont sell us out!! Additionally, two Republicans from Washington state who supported impeachment and drew Trumps ire appeared before the electorate. What were wondering, George said sheepishly, is how do you define what it means to be a Republican right now?. The next week, when Democrats introduced an article of impeachment and promptly scheduled a vote, seeking to hold President Donald Trump accountable for inciting the mobs siege of the Capitol, Meijer steeled himself for some tough conversations within his party. The young man clearly wanted to understand how Meijers version of Republicanism differed from the Trumpist one, how the congressman might distinguish his vision for the party from the current MAGA model. But I think broadly, populist sentiment and a belief that our institutions are failing, our institutions are corrupt, our institutions are irredeemable is becoming a very common belief on both sides of the aisle, and there is good reason to believe it. He felt that impeachment was warrantedThe vice president and the next two in the line of succession were inside the Capitol as it was being assaulted, he says, and for three hours the president was nowhere to be foundbut he longed for a dialogue. Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan, who saw the Capitol uprising on January 6 shortly after taking office and then voted with nine other Republicans to remove Donald Trump from office, as a result, has failed in his bid for reelection. Inside, members were fielding panicked calls from staff and sharing reports of the complex being breached and of tear gas in the Rotunda. Its already rumored in Michigan Republican circles that Meijer will run for U.S. Senate in 2024. Katherine Miller is a staff writer and editor in Opinion. Its kind of like Flight 93: If only a few people fight back, that plane hits the Capitol. That was what Steve Bannon said - oh, enough of the Queensberry rules. Press Esc to cancel. In August, when I accompanied Meijer on a swing through his district during the congressional recess, something strange happened. This is the essence of Meijers struggle. Peter is a member of the Meijer family, the founders, and owners of the Meijer superstore chain, founded by his grandfather's father . The first-term congressman served in the Iraq war and cast one of his first House votes to impeach . But the people who never brought it up, I knew they would follow through. Meijer: Highly uncertain. "We set out to . SIMON: Congressman, it's hard not to reflect on the two years you've had in Congress. Gibbs ultimately lost to Democrat Hillary Scholten in the general election, just as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had hoped when it quietly promoted Gibbs extremist candidacy. The couple has been married for about seven years now. I asked if he understood why George and his friends might be scared right now. The Capitol Police herded members into elevators and sent them down to the sub-basement. That surprised me. According to Forbes, Peter's father, Hank, has a net worth of $ 7.8 billion alongside Hank's brother and Peter's uncle Doug Meijer. 3. Meijer remembers one man, a prominent business leader in Grand Rapids, arguing that the election had been stolen, that Trump was entitled to a second term, that Meijer was a pawn of the deep state. The man went full QAnon, spouting conspiracy theories and threatening him with vague but menacing consequences if he voted to impeach. He wanted more oversight and accountability for troop deployments. In the final days of Rep. Peter Meijer's close fight for his party's nomination, the Michigan Republican and his allies are slamming Democrats for meddling in Tuesday's GOP primary. Wren: As a veteran who served in the U.S. Army Reserves in Iraq, and as an NGO operative in Afghanistan, one of your key goals was to reform the War Powers Act. Meijer insists hes not numb to the enduring threathe can still picture the man at a fairgrounds screaming Motherfucking traitor! at himbut he does believe, at least in his district, that the worst has passed. Finally, George, a shy-sounding student in the back of the room, raised his hand and announced that he had a question on behalf of his friends. Later that day, he joined Gonzalez and eight other House Republicans in voting to impeach Trump. Hed touted Trumps economic record. Soon after, Haley, a singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, began commenting favorably on the Facebook posts of Tom Norton, who announced a campaign to defeat Meijer in the 2022 Republican primary. MEIJER: I heard the same thing going into Jan. 6 on the Republican side, right? The district, once represented by then President Gerald Ford is based in Grand Rapids. All registered. It might also be the worst-case scenario for America. How much net worth does Callie Hernandez have. But he worried that a rash impeachment of the president might unleash an even uglier convulsion than the one hed just survived. I havent gotten that question in a long time, he said. Meijer thought for a moment. And thats what pisses me off. Hillary Clinton was probably the worst Democratic nominee of my lifetime. Sure enough, in more than a dozen stops across his district over the summer and fall, this was the only one where I saw anyone ask Meijer about the madness of January. They did their tour in Vietnam; why would they want to go back? Kinzinger told me in mid-October. Four of his bills were signed into law,. Wren: Who? TOP FANS SUPPORT NORTON'S STAND ON THE CONSTITUTION And were still working on casework for those who are back here. I said to myself, Theres no safer place to be than inside the chamber, Meijer remembers. You want to be locked in, he asked Meijer, or locked out? That seemed like an easy call. But as soon as Capitol Police discovered them and noticed the windows facing out to the ground floor, they ordered another evacuation. Meijer says hes pretty much resigned to Trump winning his partys nomination in 2024, and worries that the odds of Trump returning to the White House are growing stronger as Bidens presidency loses steam. The 34-year-old American politician is known to have just a sibling. He hoped to prioritize economic competitiveness with China. I think he had a very negative impact on both candidate selection in terms of endorsements, but also just the amount of quality candidates in competitive seats. Meijer watched, from a hotel lounge, as the presidents lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell held a deranged press conference at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee. That was not Oh, our plan worked! That was Oh, good God., Meijer remembers straining to hear Nancy Pelosi giving a speech through a thick mask. Obviously, we werent able to get that signed into law. A senior writer who is dedicated to writing content that is useful and timely to readers. Haley is described by her LinkedIn profile as a strong web promotion person and a social networker. What's happening in this country, do you think, in its political institutions? So much of the energy is ultimately expended down avenues that are just hamster wheels. Incumbent Congressman Peter Meijer (L) and GOP primary challenger John Gibbs (R) West Michigan's 3rd District Republican Congressional primary pits the incumbent, Rep. Peter Meijer against John Gibbs. With the terms of the deal such as they are in Republican primaries, theres an ever-elevated risk of replacing this or that official with someone whose next move you truly cant predict. He announced that smoke hoods were under the chairs and told members to put them on. People are afraid for their safety. On the House floor, moments before the vote, Meijer approached a member who appeared on the verge of a breakdown. The responsibility for fixing the party isnt on the 10 of us; its on the 180 who didnt do anything. Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts. The country needed a come-to-Jesus conversation about political extremism. It was his final moment of political innocence. Wren: Your office, by virtue of your NGO and veteran experience, became a command center in helping to get people out. Rep. Peter Meijer. Peter Meijer didnt run for Congress to fight for the sanity of the country or the soul of the Republican Party. But in an . Growing up, hed heard the legend of how a family friend, President Gerald Ford, had pardoned Richard Nixon in an act of mercy after Nixon had resigned to avoid the humiliation of being impeached and removed. If you leave a problem alone and let it fester, you can - you're essentially held harmless under our current environment and under the current kind of media communicative mechanisms. There were other freshmen who talked a big game, but the pressure got to them. Every candidate, every opponent, every race is going to be different. Its good versus evil. So he backed off. He might lose his next election, he thought, but at least his group of 10 could offer hope for some who wanted to [see] the Republican Party get past the darkness and the violence and that sense of foreboding and doom.. Late at night on the second Tuesday of January, Peter Meijer, a 33-year-old freshman congressman from West Michigan, paced the half-unpacked rooms of his new rental apartment in Washington, D.C., dreading the decision he would soon have to make. And if youre not on the side of God, then what side are you on?, This has been perhaps the most trying aspect of Meijers job. The following is a transcript of an interview with GOP Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan that aired Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022, on "Face the Nation." The following is a transcript of an interview with GOP .
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