We are fighting right now in Congress over whether we’re going to maintain our status as a constitutional republic OR trade that in, dismantle the foundations and GO DOWN THIS DARK ROAD OF DEATH TO COMMUNISM.
THAT is the question.
I brought a little fire to our House Republican conference meeting this morning, because I feel like Carlos* does.
I believe everything is at stake right now. This isn’t campaign rhetoric. It’s not hyperbole. You see these ideas in the writings of the founders, the warnings of the people who put together the the principles that made us the greatest nation in the history of the world.
They warned us against times like this. In more recent times when we were kids, you know, in the ‘ 80s, Ronald Reagan used to remind us all the time. You hear me repeat it. You have to understand that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not passed along in the bloodstream.
Reagan said it must be fought for, must be protected. It has to be taught and passed along to the next generation so that they, too, will understand these principles that hold us together. I’m somewhat of a historian. I’m a constitutional law attorney. I know many of you also are. We’re all amateur historians here. You must be if you work on Capitol Hill. You watch and follow these developments.
There’s a small number of times in the history of America where the actual experiment in self-governance was on the ballot. The idea that we would preserve a constitutional republic: One Nation Under God, a Government of, by and for The People. All of that is in question right now, for the first time, really, in in my lifetime.
This is a real question the American people have to decide in November in a midterm election for Congress and Senate. It’s not something that we would have projected. I hoped and prayed it would never come to this, but here we are. The barbarians are in the gate.
Last night, I had a big group of VIPs that I took on a little tour. I don’t get to do that very often anymore, but we took a tour of the capital, a quick one. We wound up on the House floor, and I pointed out to them (as you may have heard me reference often, and I think of it a lot): Why did Congress put “In God We Trust” above the rostrum of the speaker’s podium there in the center of the house?
It’s inscribed in the marble, as you know. You can’t miss it when you walk in the chamber. It’s the first people thing people notice when they walk in and see it there at eye level. And I pointed out that in the Visitor’s Guide to the House (published for many years), it explains that it was put there in 1962.
It said congress voted to place that there as a rebuke to the Soviets because of their philosophy during the cold war. What was the philosophy of the Soviets? It’s what Carlos just outlined. Same philosophy as Cuba: the brutal dictatorship there that robbed him of his childhood, and that of so many countless others. They’ve lost their lives trying to flee from that brutal dictatorship.
The philosophy of the Soviets during the Cold War was Marxism, Communism, Socialism. That’s the thing. And when Congress voted in 1962 to put In God We Trust there, it was right after your childhood in late 50s when Castro took over and destroyed Cuba. It was a completely foreseeable result.
We were fighting it during the Cold War on distant shores in the USSR, and Congress was resolute on that. They were all united, and they understood that that’s not who we are as Americans. It’s the reason we are the greatest nation in the history of the world, the most free, most successful, most powerful, most benevolent. You hear me say it all the time.
The reason that we are the greatest nation is because we were built on an entirely different and opposing set of values. Congress put In God We Trust above the rostrum because they wanted to remind everybody who would ever serve in this body in Congress that there’s a huge distinction between us and the Soviet’s philosophy.
Communism, Marxism, Socialism: all of this begins with the premise that there is no God. It’s a totally different philosophy. And our declaration, that we just celebrated 250 years on July 4th, the nation’s creed, as you hear me talk about all the time, the second paragraph, We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
Our rights come from our creator God. They do not come from the government. The communists believe the opposite. They believe that the government, the state, is God. The state is the one that gives you all your rights. And you know what? The state can also take those rights away. And that’s exactly what happens. It’s inevitable.
Communism and this philosophy has led to the murder of tens of millions of innocent people in the 20th century alone. It is a nightmare. It is a trail to certain death. And that’s why we’re speaking in such stark terms, because we need America to wake up.
35 years ago, Republicans and Democrats in Congress, when I was coming up and, you know, the Reagan years, they were fighting communism on a distant shore. Now it’s here. But in Congress, they all agreed on that. They obviously knew that we had to fight communism. And so, what they were doing here for domestic policy, they were arguing over marginal tax rates and the shades of regulation and how large the government should be.
You know, there wasn’t a huge difference, a chasm between the two parties. Those days are gone. Right now, domestically, we are arguing, we are debating, we are fighting. The election will be over whether we’re going to maintain our freedom in a constitutional republic, the greatest experiment in self-governance in the history of the world, the longest surviving constitution on the planet, and the nation that everybody wants to emulate…or we aren’t.
And everybody wants to come here. We have to seal our borders so they won’t flood over them. We’re the only nation in the world that has that distinction. We’re the last great superpower. We are the greatest nation in the history of the world. We are fighting right now in Congress over whether we’re going to maintain our status as a constitutional republic, or we’re going to trade that in, dismantle the foundations, and go down this dark road of death to Communism.
That is the question on the ballot this fall. Now, the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) published their platform. I hope you’re all covering and writing in-depth about their platform. I read it out loud at an an event a few weeks ago, and they made an ad mocking me reading their platform. Now, they didn’t include the clips with the worst parts of it.
Representative Jimenez just told you, Carlos told you that of course, they want to pack the Supreme Court, and they want a unicameral legislature. They want the House to run everything, and to abolish the Senate, because they believe the House would be run by Marxist Communists. They’ll be able to run the table on everything. They want to remove the president. What they also want to do is abolish all borders.
They don’t want any borders. They want mass amnesty granted to anyone who can come onto our shores, without exception, even for terrorists and hard and dangerous criminals. They don’t want prisons. It’s in their platform. They want to remove the carceral state. They said no prisons. They don’t want to fund the police. This is not a game.
Everybody needs to understand these crazy little mini Mamdanis who are popping up all around the country. They are a danger to you and your family. This is not a game. If they promise you free stuff, there is far more beneath those promises that even some of these people do not understand themselves.
And so we are here as the Republican party, to stand on the founding principles of the greatest nation in the history of the world. It is our duty to do that. And we’re doing it on behalf of all of you, even the journalists who don’t agree with our our our policies all the time. You better agree on these principles, because it’s what keeps you free.
By the way, it’s what keeps the press free. Okay? This is essential for your well-being and your family. This is not a game. This is not our father’s Democrat party. This is not arguing over marginal tax rates anymore. We’re arguing over whether or not freedom is going to survive. And and that’s why we’re so serious about this.
Look, I’m a happy warrior, man. I like to get up and have fun, but this is not a fun time. We’re in a war. We’re in a philosophical war to save the greatest nation in the history of the world. And we take it very seriously. So, we recruited extraordinary candidates. We are raising record amounts of money that’s necessary to win these elections, and we understand everything is at stake.
Ronald Reagan used to quote Abraham Lincoln, and he reminded us that America is the last best hope of man on the Earth, as was asked here very well and articulately this morning. If not here, where? There is no answer to that question.
This is the best, although not a perfect nation. We’re still in a process of making a more perfect union, but we are working every day to ensure the principles of:
- Individual freedom;
- Limited government;
- The rule of law;
- Peace through strength and fiscal responsibility;
- Free markets; and
- Human dignity.
These are maintained because that is the formula that makes a successful, free, happy people, and a successful nation.
*Carlos refers to Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), a Cuban-American Congressman who joined Speaker Johnson at the July 14, 2026 House Republican leadership press conference. Gimenez’s family fled communism in Cuba, and Johnson agrees with his remarks, and highlights his personal experience as a survivor of the regime to underscore the dangers of socialist/communist policies.
![]()

