My Take: Who are Joe Moss' heroes?

Faith, family, freedom. This is a frequent message from Joe Moss. Joe became the chairperson of the Ottawa County Commission in January. Who can argue with that message? Nevertheless, Joe’s message had a certain familiarity for me — another alliteration, from an earlier period, in a different language: Kinder, Kuche, Kirche. The translation from German is: Children, Kitchen, Church. Not the same message as Joe’s, but significant overlap. Yet “Kinder Kuche Kirche” was a central part of Nazi propaganda in the 1930s. History tells us the messenger is as important as the message.

I decided I wanted to learn more about the messenger, Joe Moss. I looked for interviews with Joe in the local media and found little. Apparently, Joe decided from the outset to not answer questions from the “mainstream” local news media. This is an enemy for Joe. WOOD-TV has said: “Joe Moss didn’t respond to texts or emails and the last time Target8 investigators tried to talk with him in person, he just quietly walked away.” Joe’s communications strategy is be hostile to the “mainstream” local news media, to send out boilerplate announcements and to allow no follow-up questions. He will occasionally talk with friendly talk show hosts. On the national GOP stage, this is more of a DeSantis than a Trump style. Up until recently, DeSantis would only interact with the most fawning press, while Trump, who has labeled the press the “fake news media” will talk with nearly anyone in the press.

I did look at joemoss.com and saw the groups listed that Joe belongs to and he checks a lot of libertarian-conservative boxes: the Heritage Foundation, Mackinac Center, Great Lakes Gun Rights, etc. He also lists himself as a graduate of courses offered by the Koch Brothers’ “Americans for Prosperity” and the “Foundation for Applied Conservative Leadership.” I had never heard of this later group, so I googled it. They offer a lot of classes all over the country every month. Their teaching is described as “practical, no-nonsense.” Their main message is “unless you are politically feared, you will not be politically respected.” Joe learned from a group that teaches how to be feared. Joe is no amateur. He is steeped in libertarian-conservative ideas with his version of a muscular Christian message added on.

My last line of inquiry to learn about Joe was to see if he was on Twitter (now X) and I was happy to find him there. Joe is far more free-wheeling on Twitter than any other public forum. While Joe refuses to talk to the mainstream press, he posted 75-plus tweets, retweets and comments on Twitter in August.

So who are Joe Moss’ heroes? Who does he admire the most? I looked at Joe’s Twitter feed going back to January when he entered office. The “America is a hellhole”/anti-woke warriors are Joe’s heroes — primarily Tucker Carlson and Chris Rufo. Joe promotes these two in his Twitter feed far more than anyone else.

Carlson is well known. He was the star of FOX News until he was taken off the air in April six days after FOX News paid $787 million to settle a Dominion voting machine lawsuit seeking damages for lies aired on the network claiming that Dominion’s machines aided fraudulent voting. Tucker is now trying to use Twitter to get his message out and Joe is promoting Tucker’s tweets.

Tucker’s primary message today is twofold:

1. The Dems and RINO Republicans, Big Tech execs, the media, academia, Hollywood, sports stars, etc., are all out to get you. This message on who is out to get you is meant to instill fear — something we see Joe has been trained in.

2. Tucker’s second message is that Putin and Russia are the good guys: “We should probably take the side of Russia.” They were forced to invade Ukraine by NATO and Zelensky and the Ukrainians are evil. Claiming that Putin is the “good guy” after invading Ukraine is reminiscent of Hitler describing himself as the “good guy” after he invaded Poland, the Netherlands and France.

Joe was recently on Twitter and gleeful with Tucker as Tucker blasted Mike Pence for criticizing Putin and defending Ukraine. Joe referred to the past Republican vice president as a “clown.” Joe has no time to talk with the mainstream local press, but he has time to opine to his Twitter audience on global affairs and sympathize with the country that has been the primary enemy of the United States for all my life.

Rufo is less well-known, but he is Joe’s greatest hero. Rufo has been the leading critic of what is called Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the efforts to promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). I’m not here to defend CRT. I’m not sure I can even define it, nor do I think can 99% of the people who criticize it. I do think our Civil War was a critical turning point for this country and that the fight over slavery was the fundamental cause of it. Critics of that view will say the Civil War was a fight over “states’ rights,” but it is clear that that fight over “states’ rights” was all about the conflicting views of slavery. Slavery and the struggle for civil rights for minorities are a critical part of our history and those in high school need to understand it.

Gov. DeSantis carried out a “takeover” of the public and very small New College in Sarasota in January by appointing six new trustees, including Rufo. Their first act was to fire the president. Sound familiar? This parallels Moss and Ottawa Impact starting also in January by firing the county administrator and hiring John Gibbs. Since then, both Rufo and Moss have gotten rid of DEI activity in their respective institutions. Rufo has supported scaling back fields of study (e.g. neurosciences) while Moss is dramatically cutting the health department — after just experiencing the worst health crisis in 100 years.

The new leaders of New College are dramatically remaking it. Over a third of the faculty have quit. Enrollment is up, test scores are down. Rufo has described initiatives to recruit a larger student body that is more male — and more conservative. Rufo has said an excess of female students leads to a “social justice ghetto.” A radical change for a once-respected institution. It is no surprise why Moss admires Rufo so much — they are using the same playbook. If you think the status quo is terrible and you want revolutionary change, Rufo and Moss are right for you. They are the ones to attempt to burn things down with the promise of building something radically new and purportedly better.

I have lived in Ottawa County nearly my whole life. I always thought it was a great place to work and raise a family. I never thought revolutionary change was needed in Ottawa County.

Here is why Joe Moss is not my hero. I don’t respect politicians who seek to be feared.

Or who send out hundreds of political message tweets, but refuse to meet local reporters.

Or who dabble in national security issues and don’t understand even who our enemies are.

Or who turn a heath crisis into a culture war issue.

Or who wrap themselves in the American flag, but show little knowledge about American history.

Joe Moss is on a mission to remake Ottawa County. Joe will not be dissuaded by those who speak out at meetings or write letters to the local newspaper. These people are “radical leftist enemies” for Joe. He declares that we are in a “civilizational battle” and one of his most frequent messages is: Defend Your Piece of America. It’s "Us vs. Them" for Joe and, for Joe, large swathes of Ottawa County are his enemy.

The only way to stop Joe and his coalition as they try to remake Ottawa County is to defeat them at the polls in November 2024. For Joe Moss and Ottawa Impact to lose their grip on this county, they must be defeated next year in the Holland suburbs: Park, Holland and Port Sheldon townships. Ottawa Impact won those suburbs in 2022. Moderates from the right and left need to work together to defeat the Ottawa Impact commissioners Gretchen Cosby and Lucy Ebel in the suburbs of Holland. I look forward to helping make this happen.

— John Donnelly is a resident of Holland.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: My Take: Who are Joe Moss' heroes?