The Republican rump prepares for political war against the very electorate that repudiated it.
Stephen Miller / Jim Jordan
The Republican Party has been handed a historic electoral defeat, but its surviving hardliners seem incapable of recognizing the verdict. With Jim Jordan in the House and Stephen Miller in the White House, the remnants of Trumpism are preparing to fight on, not to recover the confidence of the American people but to defy their judgment. It is a peculiar kind of political suicide, made more dangerous by the damage these men can still inflict on the republic.
There is a distinction between the Republican Party’s electoral defeat and its continuing institutional power. A minority in the House is not powerless, particularly when its allies still control the executive branch
House Republicans have issued the first draft of their strategy for addressing the historic midterm elections of 2026. We don’t have a sense, yet, of what the attitude will be in the Senate, led by John Thune. In the House, however, they’re strapping in, armoring themselves up for battle, and brushing up on how to strike a frightening, bellicose posture. Following the House GOP election of a new minority leader, Jim Jordan, a Robespierre-like firebrand who is never happy about anything or sated by his endless, mean-spirited arguments, House Republican Whip Tom Emmer on Tuesday flashed white-angry. What was supposed to be taken as determined warfare, though, had the look of something created for the moment, a performance for the media, a hurriedly scripted backstage that smacked a bit of the kind of empty threat one hears from a boastful weaker of two foes.
The elevation of Stephen Miller to Chief of Staff in the White House sent an unmistakably aggressive message, not only to the American people but to Secretary of Defense Hegseth, Jordan, and the roughly 180 Republicans who will take their seats in the 120th Congress in January, among others. The Republicans are not circling the wagons in defense but readying a fierce counterassault. They are telling us that they have made an early decision to resist and that they angrily forswear any cooperation with those on the other side of the aisle whom they consider mortal arch-nemeses rather than political adversaries. Jim Jordan is aligned spiritually with Stephen Miller. They are natural brothers, of one mind, devoted to nasty, hard-driving politics, global condemnation of anything issuing from the Democratic Party that seeks to improve on the human condition, and both delight in giving-no-quarter public tongue-lashing. Both are living light-years from the notion of compromise.
Moreover, Miller and Jordan reject the premise that the American people have indisputably rebuked the policies both have either authored, defended, or advanced under Trump. Their eyes are closed, ears plugged, minds locked in sympathy with a president intent on eroding democracy and subverting the rule of law. While shunting the nation off in a time warp, Trump’s despicable racial policies bent in the direction of an ignoble chapter of American history. Neither of these men or their political cohorts have any appreciation that much of America would rather embrace contrition for the past and win progress in race relations.
And for at least the next two months, US foreign policy will stay mired in the mulish, current policy toward Russia and betrayal of Ukraine. The policy is nothing short of sinful. Rather than seize an opportunity to recover lost honor and fully support a democratic Ukraine, rather than repair the institutional damage done by their odious silence on the issue over the past two years, the defeated Republicans in the next Congress can be expected to remain linked with Trump, Hegseth, and Stephen Miller.
The American people have spoken with unmistakable clarity. They have rejected the policies, the cruelty, the arrogance, and the contempt for constitutional government that have marked these past two years. Yet the men who presided over this debacle seem determined to carry on as though nothing has happened.
The Republican Party has lost the confidence of the country, but its surviving leadership has lost something even more important: the capacity to recognize defeat, acknowledge responsibility, and change course.
The danger now is not that these men did not hear the voters. It is that they heard hem perfectly well and have decided to fight them anyway.
Bill Piekney served 4 years in the US Navy, 30 years with the CIA retiring as a Senior Operations Executive, and 5 years as a Senior Consultant at ODNI, International Consultant in Intelligence and National Security. He is a member of The Steady State.
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.
