On Tuesday, a host at Fox News asserted that the latest move by Republican lawmakers in the House makes it clear that they’re “not interested” in moving on from the MAGA agenda that proved to be historically unpopular in the midterms. According to Fox anchor Gillian Turner, the breaking news that House Republicans had just elected MAGA-oriented Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) minority leader for the upcoming term suggests that President Donald Trump and his allies are preparing to aggressively double down on the policies that dealt the party a historic electoral disaster — an assessment co-host Tomi Lahren enthusiastically seconded.
“He's a great messenger,” asserted Lahren, who herself is a longtime defender of MAGA policies. “And if the GOP, Republicans, MAGA, whatever you want to call them, learned anything from last Tuesday, it should be that they need great messengers out there that are able to articulate a viewpoint, a direction, an agenda.” Lahren’s claim comes despite the fact that voters just overwhelmingly rejected MAGA governance, with Trump-endorsed candidates frequently defeated by wide margins as polls show Americans are sick of his administration’s tariffs, deportation campaign, attacks on democracy, and corruption. Jordan — an avid Trump ally — defeated current House Speaker Steve Scalise (R-LA) by a vote of 106 to 73.
“He is certainly a fighter,” noted Turner, saying Jordan was the “more pugilistic choice” compared to Scalise, who himself is pro-MAGA, but prone to less antagonistic methods of pushing its policies. According to Turner, “This certainly signals, at least on the part of the Republicans who voted for him, that they are not interested in modifying their platform in response to the midterms.” While Turner had a note of skepticism in her voice, Lahren was more eager with her assertion that Republicans should “stick to their guns.”
As many commentators have noted, House Republicans’ decision to go with Jordan won’t likely thrill anyone outside Trump’s more fundamentalist supporters. “This will excite the (quickly dwindling) MAGA base,” noted Zeteo political columnist Justin Baragona. “But it is unclear how this helps the GOP House minority over the next two years.” As Democratic strategist Matt McDermott pointed out, this follows a questionable trend in post-midterm GOP appointments: “Seriously not sure Democrats could have scripted a better Republican response to last week’s historic midterm defeat than Stephen Miller becoming White House chief of staff and Jim Jordan taking over House Republican leadership.” According to National Review senior writer Dan McLaughlin, “Electing Jim Jordan as caucus leader is a pretty clear sign that House Republicans intend to do nothing the next two years but fight investigations of the executive branch.” And in the estimation of former presidential appointee Andrew Weinstein, “Electing Jim Jordan as minority leader suggests the House GOP has learned exactly the wrong lesson from its defeats.”
Regardless, predicted Lahren, over the next two years, Republicans will be “drilling down on their America First agenda.” It was that agenda, she claimed, that won Trump the presidency in 2024 and created the “new” Republican Party, which she refers to as the “America First” Republican Party. “Even though President Trump will not be in office at the end of this term,” concluded Lahren, “I think that the MAGA agenda will move forward.”
