Former President Donald Trump is aiming to triumphantly return to the White House, and Republicans are seeking to take the Senate and expand their House majority, but what should Republicans’ top priorities be next year if they manage to gain more power?
Blaze News reached out to conservative figures including GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, former Rep. Allen West, and Blaze Media’s own Daniel Horowitz and Steve Deace to get their thoughts.
‘Before we even delve into the deep state, there’s the shallow state that’ must ‘be tackled.’
“Republicans always make excuses for the power they currently have by tantalizing voters with promises of having greater power later on,” Horowitz told Blaze News. “If you believe in judicial supremacism to strike down every single policy, and if you believe you can never have a government shutdown, then really nothing will ever change.”
Horowitz said that Republicans must be willing to leverage appropriations bills as well as “critical program reauthorization bills” in order to “force through reforms on popular issues.”
He mentioned seizing upon issues where a “supermajority of voters agree with you,” like “shutting down the border,” and then applying leverage to stand steadfastly on the matter.
He called for tackling “inflation, invasion, and indoctrination,” saying that Trump should wield his power “to immediately suspend almost all forms of immigration” so that “nobody is allowed in” and people are “sent back if they come to the border without a visa.” He also mentioned suspending “all new categories of green cards” as well as visas.
The conservative commentator said that Trump should fire all civil service members in roles that have an impact on policy and should head into office with a battery of people who can fill those roles.
“Before we even delve into the deep state, there’s the shallow state that” must “be tackled,” he noted, saying that just a “small percentage of Trump’s top department and agency picks reflected the values of his supporters during the first term. That needs to change.”
“We need to see more Russ Voughts and fewer Steven Mnuchins,” Horowitz said.
Vought served as director of the Office of Management and Budget during a portion of Trump’s White House tenure, while Mnuchin served as treasury secretary under the 45th president.
Horowitz, who said that there must be a “reckoning on COVID,” called for the “full suspension” of COVID-19 vaccines.
Roy told Blaze News that he believes Republicans will secure a “trifecta,” winning control of the White House and both congressional chambers.
‘Dismantling the regulatory state’
The congressman pointed to tackling the border crisis and the “regulatory state” as the “two most important” areas for Trump to address.
Roy said that Trump would have the power to “massively clamp down” on the border flow simply by “enforcing current law,” though he added that fully addressing it would also require action by Congress.
The conservative lawmaker called for “massively checking spending … while dismantling the regulatory state.”
Other objectives he mentioned included achieving “health care freedom” and a tax policy that is pro-growth.
Retired Army Lt. Col. Allen West told Blaze News, “The first and pre-eminent mission for President Trump as the 47th president is to restore constitutional governance to our republic.”
“That means we must restore the principles of the U.S. Constitution, which is a restraining document on the powers of the federal government. That means we must rein in out-of-control spending, establish zero based budgeting processes. He must reverse the abject lawlessness and disdain for the rule of law that has been the raison d’etre of the Biden administration,” West explained.
‘And we have to end the scourge of 21st-century human and sex trafficking of children.’
West has previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives as a lawmaker from Florida and has also previously served as the chair of the Republican Party of Texas. He is the executive director of the American Constitutional Rights Union. Earlier this year he won a race for Dallas County Republican Party chair.
“Our borders must again be secured and the millions of illegal single military-age males and females must be deported. And we have to end the scourge of 21st-century human and sex trafficking of children. We must regain our energy independence and withdraw from the foolishness of the so-called Green New Deal, which has brought us the insidious rates of inflation. Lastly, we have to regain our stance of a global leader, re-emphasize our military strength, ending this lurch towards leftist ideological engineering,” he continued.
In the event of another Trump term, Deace told Blaze News that he is concerned about the issue of “vision.”
“My biggest concern for a second Trump presidency would be the vision, more so than the issues. The vision should be that which restores the most autonomy back to the American people, while also de-weaponizing as much of government as absolutely possible,” he noted in a written statement.
‘A second Trump presidency should seek to return power and control to the people.’
“To that end, any GOP controlled-chamber of Congress should look to realize that vision at the statute level, unlike what it couldn’t do in Trump’s first term. Thus, virtually all the good things Trump did, aside from the tax cuts, were unilateral actions that Biden was able to roll back in about 15 minutes,” he wrote.
“Autonomy is in the Constitution: ‘No person should be denied life, liberty, or property without due process of law.’ We have to defend life starting with the unborn, which Trump did a fine job of as president but has disappointed in his rhetoric as a candidate. That should extend to persecuted, non-violent January 6 prisoners, as well as other believers currently being targeted by DOJ for daring to pray at baby-killing clinics. The American citizens should see their autonomy defended with a secure border. Energy independence also confirms our collective autonomy. The Democrats seek power and control. A second Trump presidency should seek to return power and control to the people,” Deace wrote.
On the question of how Trump could unilaterally use his authority as president to secure major conservative wins and cut down on the out-of-control size of the federal government, West told Blaze News, “I am not a fan of massive executive orders. I prefer regular-order legislative process. However, the issue of illegal immigration adversely affects our economy, our national and domestic security, our education system, our health care system, and advances drug trafficking. If there are two areas where Trump must act unilaterally, it is as Joe Biden did, on the issue of our energy security and illegal immigation.”
“If Republicans find themselves in control of both Houses, then develop a Newt Gingrich-style ‘Contract with America’, not some 150-page document as Kevin McCarthy created, but 10 simple policy solutions that they will enact in the first 100 days … and freaking do it!” West said.
“If Republicans find themselves in control of only one of the bicameral legislative bodies, hopefully it is the House of Representatives, then restore regular order. Stop the circular firing squad antics, and pass the legislation that relates to the president’s restoration of constitutional governance agenda. It is time to do as Ronald Reagan admonished, paint in bold colors, no more pretty pastels. The time for excuses has ended,” he declared.
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