Miller’s chief-of-staff elevation signals White House continuity, Gidley says
Hogan Gidley, a longtime Republican consultant and former White House deputy press secretary during President Donald Trump’s first administration, spoke with NPR host Ayesha Rascoe about the GOP’s post-midterm strategy in an interview published November 8, 2026. Rascoe asked what had happened to the expanded MAGA coalition, while Gidley pointed to anger at the war and prices and described a Republican agenda that he thought was being formulated.
Polling and the administration’s record
Rascoe opened on January 20, 2025, describing a blustery, bitterly cold day in Washington when Trump’s inaugural address heralded “a tide of change sweeping the country” and thanked Black and Hispanic voters in particular. Less than two years later, she said, another tide had swept in the opposite direction, electing Democrats in Republican strongholds from South Carolina to Kansas. She asked what went wrong for the GOP, why Hispanics and young people, even young white men, had turned away from the party, and what the party would do next.
Gidley said polling suggests that voters’ anger at the war and prices had a lot to do with how they voted. He said the Trump administration’s policies included “no tax on tips,” “no tax on overtime,” “no tax on Social Security” and “doubling the child tax credit.” Gidley also cited what he called “the lowest number in crime we’ve seen over a century, the highest wages we’ve seen, the lowest number of unemployment we’ve ever seen.” He said, “Those things the American people like. What they didn’t like were the war and prices.”
Rascoe said people were unhappy with the country’s direction and did not feel Trump cared about their individual problems, then asked whether Trump needed to change his behavior. Gidley pointed to Trump’s election and 10 years as the driving force in politics. He said Trump was viewed by Americans as finally listening after decades of government officials, candidates and officeholders had not listened, and had been known as the voice of the American people. Gidley said the shift in voters’ opinion and perception would have to be addressed.
Post-midterm Republican strategy remains unresolved
Looking ahead, Gidley said he thought there would be a “massive overreach by Democrats and a misread of what the American people truly want from this last election,” which he called his silver lining from the election. Rascoe said that sounded like Republicans would have to depend on Democratic missteps and asked for the Republican plan and agenda. Gidley replied, “No.” He then said, “I think that’s what’s being formulated,” before describing the work as “Reestablishing an understanding.”
Rascoe asked whether the party was “a bit in the wilderness.” Gidley rejected that description and said Republicans were instead “on the edge of the forest, wondering, what do we need to do before we step out into the field?” Because they had the White House and were in control, Gidley said it was obvious Americans still wanted Republicans to have some say. He framed the unresolved question as what Republicans were saying and how they were saying it. Gidley said Democrats “didn’t run on anything other than being against Donald Trump” and added, “What’s their agenda? I don’t know what their agenda is either.”
Immigration dispute and the Latino vote
Rascoe noted a backlash to some of Trump’s immigration enforcement policies and said Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s immigration push, had been elevated to White House chief of staff. Gidley said the promotion showed the administration wanted continuity to be key heading into “one of the most tumultuous times, most likely in our nation’s history.” He said the administration faced “an onslaught of a weaponized Congress the likes of which we have never seen in this country against Donald Trump,” with “hoax after hoax” and “impeachment attempt after impeachment attempt.” Gidley said the onslaught would continue. He said “Stephen Miller was part and parcel with defending Donald Trump in the first term, as was I,” and added, “Stephen’s ready for that type of fight.”
Rascoe asked what the promotion said to Latinos, whom she said had swung 21 points toward Democratic House candidates. She said that, when looking at polls, part of the shift was because of unmet promises to lower prices and deportation tactics. Gidley said he had seen no indication that deportation tactics were the driving cause of the backlash. Rascoe interrupted to say, “It’s a part of it,” and then, “It’s definitely a part of it.”
Gidley acknowledged that people may not like the images that come out of the enforcement. He then said, “The problem is - or, I guess, the success is - we now have net-zero or net-negative migration into this country.” He said Americans had seen “a reduction in crime the likes of which no one thought possible,” called Miller “an architect of that and a driver of that,” and expected more of that enforcement to continue moving into the next two years.
Before the election, MSI reported on rising Republican pessimism about the economy and working-class white voters cooling on Republicans. Gidley’s post-election discussion of anger over the war and prices offered a Republican consultant’s explanation of the coalition shifts those earlier reports had tracked.