On Saturday, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), said at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that the Republican Party is destined to lose future elections if they strike out former President Donald Trump and the connection he made with working-class voters.
Banks said at a panel with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and American Conservative Union (ACU) chairman Matt Schlapp that a recent poll found McCarthy to be the most popular Republican in the House.
The Hoosier conservative noted that the least popular Republicans want to remove Trump and his connection with the GOP’s working class.
“There are very few Republicans; the least popular are those that want to erase Donald Trump and Donald Trump supporters from our party. Let me tell you, if that happens, we will not win back the majority in 2022; we definitely won’t win back the White House in 2024 if you erase Donald Trump,” Banks said to the CPAC crowd.
Banks said that McCarthy is also the right conservative to lead the GOP to take back the House in 2022. McCarthy noted that Democrats currently hold a five-member majority in the House.
Banks said, “Kevin McCarthy is the right leader for the right time to win back the majority; he’s going to be the best Speaker of the House in a generation.”
Banks said that the Republican Party’s strength lies in its appeal to working-class voters.
“If you identify as an American, you belong in the Republican Party,” he said.
“Donald Trump taught us many things; more than anything else, he taught us to be the party of the working class since Reagan,” he added.
