The epoch of the pro-worker GOP is secured.
The Republican Party platform, released last week, was dedicated “To the Forgotten Men and Women of America,” foreshadowing the former President Donald Trump’s choice of running mate. Ohio’s Senator J.D. Vance, of Hillbilly Elegy fame, built his public profile on refusing to forget: the people he grew up with, and more broadly, the workers, families, and communities globalization left behind. By choosing a young, capable, and forward-thinking running mate, Trump has paved the way for the next generation of conservative leaders—one defined by concern for workers, families, communities, and industry, and a willingness to act.
Ever since Trump was elected in 2016, the GOP has struggled, in fits and starts, to deliver on the promise of a truly multi-ethnic, working-class conservative majority. The choice of old-guard Mike Pence as vice president was perhaps necessary for electoral victory, but it was indicative of a deeper confusion. While Amb. Robert Lighthizer was pursuing America’s interests in trade negotiations, the administration’s marquee legislative achievement was a Paul Ryan–led tax cut.
The selection of Vance suggests that, should their ticket win in November, round two will be different. Rather than picking a vice president based on the polls or some overpaid consultant’s suggestion, Trump chose a running mate who has quickly established himself as one of a new generation of leaders in the Senate, alongside Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Todd Young (R-IN). This group takes seriously the importance of worker power, strong families, and domestic manufacturing. They have proposed generous family benefits, supported industrial policy, and worked to earn the support of labor unions.
Vance stands out as one of only a few leaders in conservative politics today who are capable of speaking clearly about the importance of labor to a healthy economy. Rather than celebrating “worker freedom,” conservatives are waking up to the fact that this is merely code for undermining worker power. Led by Vance, alongside Hawley, Rubio, and others, conservative leaders are now speaking directly to workers as workers—not future entrepreneurs or the beneficiaries of far-off “job creators.” We need a healthy and growing corporate sector—“the business of America is business,” of course—but we also need a thriving labor movement. The two exist symbiotically, meeting as equals and negotiating in their mutual best interest.
This is both good economics and good politics. Big Labor has been a consistent supporter of Democrats for years, even as their members drift toward the Republican Party. This disconnect is an opportunity. As Vance argued at an American Compass forum last year, “These are our guys, ladies and gentlemen. These are increasingly our voters.… They’re fundamentally aligned with us on both issues of economics and of culture, and we just have to find some way to get them more on our side.” Over at the Teamsters, the message is getting through. The Teamsters’ President Sean O’Brien, who rose through the ranks of his union to defeat James Hoffa Jr.’s chosen successor, this week praised Vance as someone who is “great on Teamster issues” like keeping jobs in America and guaranteeing sick leave for workers. This year, the Teamsters PAC donated $45,000 to the RNC—its first major donation to the GOP in years.
As O’Brien is quick to point out, what workers need most fundamentally is to bring jobs back to America. Reindustrializing our nation—rebuilding what we so foolishly sold off to other countries for the promise of cheaper stuff—is the challenge of the next four years and beyond. Domestic manufacturing productivity has not only stalled; it has declined. Our leaders are beginning to relearn the importance of making things—something they forgot in the heady days of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization—and using industrial policy to kickstart our manufacturing sector with legislation like the CHIPS and Science Act. Vance has said he would have voted for the CHIPS Act (it passed before he was elected to the Senate), arguing that rebuilding our capacity to make things is one of the most critical things we can do.
Reindustrialization will require vision, and a willingness to ignore the free-market fundamentalists who still—still!—insist that offshoring American jobs and importing cheap labor is the key to prosperity. Long-term, widely shared prosperity requires prioritizing American workers by protecting their ability to demand higher wages and better working conditions, which means ensuring that illegal immigration doesn’t undercut their bargaining power. In a market hemmed in by national borders, interests are aligned: workers are just as pro-growth as industrialists when they know they will share in the prosperity.
Trump is a singular figure in American politics. He is, as they say, simply built different. The question has long been, who and what comes next? Is there a durable policy agenda and governing majority? As Vance said last year, “even if you don’t like Donald Trump, the answer is not to go back to what came before him. That is a dead end.” As it turns out, Vance himself is what’s next.
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