Former Rep. Bob Good, who previously chaired the House Freedom Caucus, stated that the Republican Party is no longer a conservative party by any standard of measurement.
"Republicans have kind of been Democrat-lite in their policies" for approximately the last 19 months, Good told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. He contended that during this period, Republicans have "massively squandered the opportunity that was given to them by the voters."
Good pointed to the national debt increasing to $40 trillion, the addition of new entitlement programs like "Trump accounts," and the government taking ownership stakes in private companies as examples of the party's shift away from conservative principles. He also questioned the rationale for ongoing military engagements, stating that "the real emergency, the real crisis, is the debt crisis."
He suggested that former President Donald Trump does not seriously discuss the debt issue, possibly due to a desire to remain popular. "I think he suspects that spending cuts and spending reforms aren't particularly popular," Good said.
Responding to Good's remarks, Republican National Committee spokeswoman Emma Hall stated, "President Trump and Republicans are delivering America First results every day—and it’s why we’ll defy history and win in November. No one is interested in advice from certified loser Bob Good."
White House spokesman Kush Desai added, "President Trump was given a resounding mandate by the American people to smash Washington, D.C.’s obsession with consensus orthodoxy that has let Americans down. The Trump administration is turning the page on Joe Biden’s economic disaster by implementing traditional free market policies that do work—like deregulation and tax cuts—while rectifying longtime America Last policies that have left Americans behind."
Good believes that the GOP's primary challenge in upcoming elections will be voter turnout. He argued that running on the platform of "not being as bad as Democrats" is insufficient as a motivating factor for voters.
He suggested that the party should have implemented significant spending cuts and government reductions in its first year after gaining power. "What they should have done in year one, in 2025, was to massively cut spending, massively shrink government, massively implement spending reforms, go for broke while they had the power before it was an election year, and then the American people I think would've rewarded them... with midterm victory," Good stated.
Despite his criticisms, Good acknowledged that Democrats are "certainly worse" than Republicans. He cited former President Trump's actions on border security, deregulation, tax cuts, and efforts to target diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideology as positive achievements that Democrats would not pursue. "Democrats would do none of those things," Good asserted, adding that in areas where Republicans have been "failed or been benign or weak or tepid or not followed through, Democrats would be even worse."