RECOMMENDED READING

America’s Republican party is on a winning streak. Its congressional candidates recently claimed the largest lead recorded in 40 years of polling by ABC News and the Washington Post. In Virginia, a state that has trended steadily leftward, a slate of conservative candidates triumphed in November. Internally, though, the GOP has just begun grappling with the revisions its agenda will require, if and when its momentum yields governing power.

For some on the right, recent successes prove that the GOP has found its post-Trump footing. Glenn Youngkin led the Carlyle Group before campaigning in a McKinsey-style fleece vest. Now he is Virginia’s governor-elect. From this perspective, there may be no need to address party weaknesses exposed by Donald Trump, or develop a conservative agenda to help today’s working families. Perhaps the standard issue anti-tax, tough-on-crime, country-club Republican of the past can win the future by incorporating a more aggressive tone on cultural issues and exploiting Democratic incompetence.

Continue Reading at Financial Times
Oren Cass
Oren Cass is chief economist at American Compass.
@oren_cass
Recommended Reading
Tariffs’ Long-Term Benefits Are Worth Short-Term Costs

President Trump’s America First trade agenda is worth it.

A New Trade Paradigm

The case for eliminating the U.S. trade deficit, supporting high-quality jobs, and expanding domestic manufacturing through fair and reciprocal trade policies

Beware America’s fake fiscal conservatives

Republicans are indulging in budgetary chicanery in order to preserve Trump’s tax cuts.