This weekend, Rep. Jason Nemes — Kentucky Republican House Whip — posted the following on his Facebook page. He has been a state representative since 2017.
Some years ago, I asked a retired attorney who had spent much of their career in Frankfort about leaders in the legislature. As we went through the list, I recall this person being quite complimentary of Nemes, saying that while they did not agree with him politically, no matter; Nemes was bold but reasonable; smart and levelheaded; to be respected for his knowledge of and respect for both the state and U.S. Constitution.
I wonder what happened to that Jason Nemes.
On Sep. 26, 2023, Rep. Nemes tweeted, “Let’s talk about guns. We have too much gun violence in Kentucky. If you commit a crime while unlawfully possessing a gun, under the Safer Kentucky Act you won’t be getting out on probation or parole.”
He’s right, I remember thinking. We have too much gun violence in Kentucky. So why wasn’t he talking about preventing access to guns in the first place, to prevent crimes?
Where were the arguments from lawmakers like majority whip Nemes to stop the gun violence before someone is shot to death, before it is too late?
Six years ago, on Feb. 24, 2018, Nemes tweeted, “I’m for mandatory safe storage when loaded gun is accessible by kids; I’m for red-flag laws for domestic violence, hate crime convicts, relevant mental health issues; bump stocks should be regulated same as automatic since they are designed to artificially speed rate of fire.”
What happened to 2018 Jason Nemes?
I remember watching Nemes rant with rising anger during that 2024 session at Rep. Derrick Graham for daring to tell the truth on the House floor: that the Jefferson Davis statue was “taken out for a reason,” that being that Davis led the Confederacy and the “insurrection taking place when the Civil War started.”
Of all the fights a lawmaker chooses to have on the House floor, this one? Really?
60 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
A century and a half after the end of the Civil War?
During that same General Assembly, Nemes was pushing his marquee House Bill 5 alongside Rep. Jared Bauman, a pro-incarceration bill resurrected from the ashes of discrimination and bad ideas of the 1990s, a bill ostensibly about crime reduction and titled the “Safer Kentucky Act” even as the multi-point bill was about punishment after-the-fact and increasing punishment for the homeless.
House Bill 5 was signed into law.
During the 2024 Christmas holidays, a pregnant homeless woman in Louisville was cited by police while in labor. WAVE News reported, “When the Safer Kentucky Act was passed, a number of laws to improve safety went into effect, including increasing penalties and fines for a number of crimes and creating the three-strike rule for people who commit violent felonies. Sponsors [like Nemes] argued criminalizing street camping would also improve safety.”
“Under a motion filed Jan. 17, Attorney Ryan Dischinger representing the woman argues the language of the law is too vague, claiming words like “area” and “intent” are not specific to enforce the statute. WAVE reached out to Representatives Bauman and Nemes for comment on the motion, as well as the Deputy Chief for the House majority Party, but didn’t get any responses.”
Rep. Nemes’ bio on the KY Legislature website reads:
“Attorney. Catholic. WKU, BA. UofL, JD.”
In his Facebook post this past weekend, Nemes opened with, “What is going on nationally is a conservative’s dream. Yes, there will be excess. But the bigger sin in this moment is not in going too far, but in not going far enough.”
Going too far? Like with House Bill 5?
He writes that “Trump and his team are energetically doing what conservatives have wanted done — but have only talked about — for decades. Previous efforts have stalled for fear of media pushback and being attacked by the Left.”
That last sentence might have come straight from President Trump’s own mouth.
“Enter Trump,” Nemes writes, “the second, more focused and determined version, with a much more capable and loyal team of believers.”
Meanwhile …
WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - “Candidates for top U.S. national security and law enforcement jobs are being asked whether they believe President Donald Trump's false claims that he won the 2020 election and about its aftermath, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.”
“As imperfect as Trump is, conservatives at long last have their fearless warrior in the White House,” Nemes wrote.
Imperfect, as is in thumbing his nose at the law-imperfect?
One person who commented on the Nemes Facebook post wrote this:
“Jason Nemes, it is one thing to agree with trump in principle, but as the constitutional scholar I know you to be, I am surprised you are ok with his methods of execution, which lack respect for the rule of law and the other branches. And also surprised that you're undisturbed by the ethical implications of a billionaire with massive conflicts of interest having unfettered access to private information and government systems that heretofore have been so fiercely guarded. Still holding out hope for you though given the reasonable person I know to you be.”
And I am reminded of the attorney who told me years ago that, even though they disagreed with him politically, Rep. Nemes was reasonable and levelheaded; that he was to be respected for his knowledge of and respect for both the state and U.S. Constitution.
In the final sentence of the Nemes Facebook post, he writes that Trump “regularly makes many conservatives cringe, but he’s the David for our time’s Goliath.”
In the story of David and Goliath, a small, young shepherd named David is the underdog who fights the giant warrior Goliath.
Per Rep. Nemes to his followers this weekend, a powerful billionaire president, who has surrounded himself with other powerful billionaires, is now the underdog in the story.
The Trumpification of Jason Nemes is complete.
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