Kamala Harris says a lot of dumb things, but one of her go-to catch phrases is particularly memorable: “We’re not going back.”
Going back? Going back to where? No one knows. Not even the “White Dudes for Harris.”
But give her credit: it’s provocative. It gets the people going. Her “crowds” love it.
So, Republicans should take a cue from Kamala, at least with regard to our own internecine fight over the future of the Republican Party. President Trump saved the party in 2016. He launched a political realignment that gave us real hope for the future. No more establishment flunkies. No more Neocons. No more social liberal losers. This is the party of working families now – and we’re not going back.
As we approach November, GOP leaders who struggle with the concept of “winning” will undoubtedly start running scared, backing away from conservative priorities and trying to convince President Trump to do the same. That’s a ridiculous idea. We should stand by our America First principles, not just because they are righteous principles, but also because they are winning principles.
The mainstream media is doing its best to inundate us with polls showing the Harris campaign gaining momentum in vital swing states. Those working on GOP campaigns are surely thinking about this constantly. This, combined with the hundreds of millions of dollars being raised by Democrats, has the potential to create a bunker mentality in the consultant class. But playing it safe is no way to win an election. American voters want bright colors and broad strokes. They want to vote for politicians who are talking about what they will actually do for them. Now is the time to go big.
The last four years have revealed exactly why our movement is so vital. Our children are being taught disgusting lies, millions of illegal immigrants are pouring over the border, and China continues to grow its economy and influence virtually unchecked. Despite this, we will start hearing that talking about the Left’s radical cultural agenda is “divisive,” that addressing the border hurts us with Latinos, and that tariffs could “raise prices” or “risk a trade war.” All these claims are, of course, nonsense.
We know how this works. Democrats are currently (in perfect unison) calling us weirdos for merely acknowledging how creepy and bizarre their social agenda is. Some campaign staffers will tell us to lay off this line of attack, purely convinced that social media is real life, and that regular people actually think Republicans are the weird ones. That is not a strategy to win the argument; it’s merely one to not lose.
But if we want to win, we need to stay on offense. The guy who coined the “weird” line, Governor Tim Walz, just became Kamala Harris’ vice presidential nominee. You know what’s “weird” about him? He signed laws that legalize abortion on demand for all nine months of pregnancy and declared Minnesota a “sanctuary state” for child sex-change surgeries. Pretty weird! If we back off, we lose the opportunity to make a case that will be compelling to everyday Americans and continue to remind pro-family conservatives what they’re voting for.
But it’s not just social issues that the consultant class will be looking to sell us out on. The loudest clamoring will be to return to the globalist, market-fundamentalist economic agenda of the old GOP. President Trump won in 2016 in part because Americans are tired of seeing their jobs sent overseas while cheap labor continues to be imported over the southern border. Voters want our politicians to fight China’s exploitation of the American worker, not partner with them. GOP consultants should be reminded of that.
However, the establishment still persists in its efforts to kneecap the Make America Great Again agenda. Look no further than the pages of the Wall Street Journal to see the most absurd fear-mongering about tariffs the English language has to offer. Their goal is to discourage Republicans from taking on Big Business and combating Chinese hegemony.
Politically, this would be disastrous: everyday Americans believe China is our single greatest adversary and that global corporations are allowing the CCP to undermine the American worker.
Economically, it would be even worse. We have made so much progress in convincing Republicans to call out how China’s labor and environmental standards allow them to undercut us and flood markets with cheap garbage. We finally have an opportunity to win on this issue and implement policies that actually hold China accountable.
Democrats are plowing forward with a radical agenda that has the potential to destroy America as we know it. We need to make that clear to voters by attacking the left rather than just defending ourselves. The GOP must continue to fight alongside the America First movement, as it is the only way to victory over our adversaries at home and abroad.
We will protect American workers, bring jobs back to the heartland, and finally level the playing field with China. Conservatives must stand strong and state clearly and powerfully to Republican elites: no matter how bad you want it, we’re not going back.
Terry Schilling is the president of American Principles Project. Follow him on X @Schilling1776.