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.
Recommended Reading
Liz Truss, Supply-Side Crush
American Compass executive director Oren Cass discusses Liz Truss’s disastrous time as prime minister and the irrational response from supply-siders.
In Preparation for Power, America’s New Right Builds New Institutions
In a profile of the new institutions springing up to influence the new right’s policy agenda, American Compass is described as “among the more sophisticated,” with proposals that have been “influential among lawmakers.”
Oren Cass Discusses the Future of the GOP
American Compass executive director Oren Cass discusses whether DC’s conservative institutions will shift after the 2022 primaries to become more responsive to the GOP base.