- What we've seen since the 2008 election
is a constant evolution
and redefinition of the Republican Party.
- I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama
to congratulate him -- [crowd booing]
-They're misleading their followers.
I think they're pushing our members in places
where they don't want to be.
- One of the most powerful Republicans in Washington
has just lost his congressional bid to a Tea Party challenger.
- I am your voice!
[cheers and applause]
-Donald Trump's control over the Republican Party,
in many ways, traces back
to Barack Obama's historic win in 2008
and the conservative response that followed.
But now, with the party's central figure
out of the White House,
what is the state of the Republican Party,
and what does it mean for its future?
- It's a Republican Party that is, in many ways,
struggling to define itself.
Much of the party is very loyal to President Trump,
but there is also a recognition, in many ways,
that that is no longer the organizing principle.
- To understand the Make America Great Again agenda
and if it can carry the Republican Party
in future elections,
you have to examine how the seeds of Trumpism were planted.
- What's been called the worst financial crisis
in modern times.
- We could be in a deeper downturn
than we were just a few months ago.
- It could be only a matter of weeks
before this financial crisis moves from here
on Wall Street to Main Street.
- The economy was in a recession,
potentially a depression,
and many people were seeing their homes being foreclosed.
They didn't know what was gonna happen to their bank accounts,
were they gonna get laid off.
One of the first things that Obama did was passing a stimulus
that only adds to the deficit.
- The most sweeping economic recovery package in our history.
- Many of these voters are watching this and saying,
"Why are you helping these companies,
these banks that clearly should be punished?
Instead, you're giving them money?"
- The Republican Party at the time
of Barack Obama's election in 2008 was at a low point.
They did not have the presidency.
They were in significant minorities
in both the House and the Senate.
They were groping around trying to figure out
how they kind of regroup
and try to regain the majority, regain power.
- Our top political priority over the next two years
should be to deny President Obama a second term.
- The Democrats, 2010, they took a terrible beating.
- The Republicans will take control
of the House of Representatives.
- Just a huge loss of seats in the House.
- United in opposition,
the party moved forward with a new strategy
and new gains from the midterm elections in 2010.
- Part of what happened with the Tea Party movement was new,
in a sense, and part of it
was quite a long part of the Republican Party's history.
The Republicans gained power both in governorships
and in state legislatures.
- Now, I'm not recommending for every future president
that they take a shellacking like I did last night.
- Even with these congressional wins,
the 2012 presidential election demonstrated
that the Republican Party
did not have nationwide support to take back the White House.
- I have just called President Obama
to congratulate him on his victory.
His supporters and his campaign also deserve congratulations.
- For a lot of Republicans, the outcome of the 2012
presidential election was a shock.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan clearly believed on Election Day
that they were gonna win the election.
This was a moment in which they could look down the field
a long way and see demographic trends working against them.
- So, the Republican Party in 2013
had this autopsy to kind of look at what happened --
Where did we go wrong?
Who do we have to appeal to?
- A big part of the autopsy was focusing on the idea
that Republicans were losing out
on the fast-growing Hispanic population in the country.
There was a premium put on potentially
getting right on some kind of immigration reform,
which much of the party had resisted in the past.
- What's the most important thing you'll get done this year?
- I think immigration reform
is probably at the top of that list.
- Signed into law?
- I think by the end of the year, we could have a bill.
- And what we saw as we headed into 2016 was President Trump
effectively turned the whole thing on its head.
- They're bringing drugs.
They're bringing crime.
They're rapists.
And some, I assume, are good people.
- Donald Trump's candidacy is a cancer on conservatism.
- Sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment.
- Vote your conscience.
Vote for candidates up and down the ticket
who you trust to defend our freedom
and to be faithful to the Constitution.
- While the campaign is over,
our work on this movement is now really just beginning.
[cheers and applause]