A scathing new analysis from Advancing American Freedom, the conservative group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, pins the GOP’s dismal 2026 midterm performance on what it calls the party’s abandonment of core principles under former President Donald Trump.
The group’s president, Tim Chapman, writes that Republicans suffered historic losses — including Senate seats in deep-red South Carolina and Kansas, along with a near-upset in Mississippi — because conservative voters felt ‘demoralized’ by Trump’s policy reversals. The piece, published by The Daily Wire, serves as both a postmortem and a rallying cry for the movement’s future.
The Populist Pivot
Chapman traces the rupture to Trump’s second term, when the administration ‘walked away from the deal’ that had long defined the GOP-conservative alliance. He highlights several key departures from traditional conservative orthodoxy:
– Tariffs Backfire: The controversial ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs in 2025 ultimately cost households nearly $1,000 annually, Chapman claims, despite a Supreme Court ruling that blocked their initial implementation. The economic uncertainty, he argues, lingered in voters’ minds.
– Pro-Life Retreat: For the first time in 40 years, the Republican Party platform softened its anti-abortion language ahead of the 2024 election — a move Chapman attributes to Trump’s team sidelining social conservatives.
– Corporate Stakeouts: Billions in CHIPS Act funding resulted in unprecedented federal ownership stakes in private companies like Intel, a policy Chapman calls ‘anathema to decades of conservative leadership.’
Midterm Fallout
The article suggests these policies created an enthusiasm gap. ‘Time after time, the president walked away from conservative principles without fear of correction,’ Chapman writes. ‘Whether they would publicly say it or not, many conservative voters felt demoralized, and some stayed home.’
He dismisses conventional explanations for the GOP’s poor showing — like midterm trends or candidate quality — as insufficient to explain losses in traditionally safe Republican territory.
Roadmap for Revival
Chapman prescribes a return to ‘battle-tested’ conservative tenets: limited government, free markets, strong national defense, and unwavering support for anti-abortion policies. ‘Those principles won elections long before 2016,’ he insists, ‘and they can win again.’
The warning comes as Democrats, now controlling both Congress and the White House, pursue an ambitious progressive agenda. Chapman frames the stakes in existential terms: ‘If we fail, America will look more and more like Europe and less like our home.’
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-is-the-cost-when-political-cheerleading-replaces-core-values