President Trump helped Republicans attract the highest share of working-class voters in our history, even attracting Black and Latino working-class voters. Nationally, our numbers improved 4% with African Americans and 3% with Latino Americans over a four-year period, and we brought in 70 million total votes — the second-most of all time. If the Republican Party wants to put together a winning coalition over the next four years, we must do it by continuing to build on Trump’s success and reconcile the novel Trump platform with Ronald Reagan’s Republican platform.
To accomplish that feat, conservatives will need a forum to grapple with our transmutation, and I plan to make the Republican Study Committee that forum.
As the largest conservative caucus on Capitol Hill, the Republican Study Committee is perfectly poised to be the conservative fight club in which we reconcile our differences and maintain the unity we enjoyed the last two years under President Trump. To be successful, we must learn two lessons Trump taught us. No. 1: Integrate Trump’s policy agenda into the existing Republican platform. No. 2: Emulate Trump’s posture as a man of action who is not afraid to fight.
On point No. 1, the Republican Party must be the champion of the working class. Conservatives must embrace trade deals and immigration laws that put workers first. We need to prioritize policies that improve the lives of U.S. citizens over members of other nations. We need to recognize that China presents an economic and military threat to our national security. But in the pursuit of these policies, we must not forget traditional conservative beliefs in fiscal responsibility, law and order, and a strong national defense. Nor should we forget what makes America great is our family values that are under assault from “woke” corporations. Let’s gather the new and join it with the old. We must marry the party of Reagan with the party of Trump.
But having the right ideas is just half the battle. The other half is implementing it.
Conservatives demand action and the fulfillment of promises. “Let’s do what we said we’d do” was the rally cry of the Tea Party. It’s a simple slogan, but Republicans failed and failed again to fulfill its mandate. That is, until Trump, who fought harder than any other candidate in modern political history to fulfill the promises he made on the campaign trail. The 45th president will go down in history as a man of action, and Republicans should feel emboldened to follow his lead.
The Left has become increasingly radical. They’re embracing socialism and abandoning America’s institutions. If their agenda succeeds, the country will be poor, repressive, and unsafe. A looming Biden administration seeks to waste and abuse taxpayer dollars and silence conservative opposition. The Republican Study Committee will be the force that stands in the gap. We will wage a two-year campaign with the intensity that Trump showed for the conservative cause for four years, and we will win.
The future of the conservative movement depends on our success. If we fail, America can fail. After all, we are never that far away from America’s demise.
Rep. Jim Banks, a Republican, represents Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District. He is the incoming chairman of the Republican Study Committee.
