Neil Hare is the President and CEO of GVC Strategies, a former VP of Communications at the US Chamber of Commerce and a long-standing member of the Chamber’s Small Business Council. The views expressed here are his own.
The recent GOP attacks on the business community, including its leading advocacy group the US Chamber of Commerce, arguably contributed to a poor showing in the 2022 midterms and is not the answer for success in the presidential and congressional elections in 2024.
The main policy targets for these attacks include business endorsements of Democratic candidates in the midterms, “wokeness” in corporate strategy and support for free trade and immigration reform. Fear mongering on these topics has yielded positive results in rallying some of the GOP base, but most Americans take as much pride in our free enterprise system as they do in democracy and our military, so overall trashing it is a losing message.
One key area for the GOP to flip the script is on meaningful immigration reform. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex), is attempting to introduce a bill that would empower the Homeland Security Secretary to unilaterally bar all undocumented migrants from entering the United States if he deems it necessary to reestablish “operational control.” The so-called Border Safety and Security Act of 2023 is opposed by some Republicans who believe it would prevent legitimate asylum seekers, including children whose lives are in danger, from entering the country. In addition to Republicans opposed to the bill, it would be dead upon arrival in the Democrat controlled Senate.
So why should the GOP embrace meaningful immigration reform that would garner bipartisan support and more votes? Perhaps, a bit of history may prove illustrative regarding the last Republican president to win reelection, President George W. Bush. Due in part to the controversy surrounding his election, Bush understood how important the support of the business community was for him to overcome doubts about his legitimacy. And, one of the first issues he wanted to tackle of key importance to American business – immigration reform.
In the summer of 2001, Bush was considering a proposal to grant permanent legal residence status to approximately 3 million Mexicans living illegally in the United States. To highlight the importance of this issue, Bush’s first state visit was with Mexican President Vincente Fox, where immigration reform was on top of the agenda. On September 7, 2001, Bush hosted Fox at the White House for his first formal state dinner. The dinner concluded with an, unannounced, fireworks display from the Ellipse that startled many DC residents, wondering ironically if the capital was under attack. And, four days later it was.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, derailed Bush’s plan for an immigration overhaul, as he led the country into war to avenge the death and destruction heaped upon our country. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan created heightened security and border controls, but did not completely quash Bush’s desire for immigration reform. After winning reelection in 2004 (the only Republican to do so since Reagan), Bush again supported a measure to grant 12 million illegal immigrants legal status and to allocate $4.4 billion for more border enforcement. In June of 2007, the Senate failed to pass the bill, as Bush could not rally fellow Republicans who considered “amnesty” a reward for illegal immigration and unacceptable. The following year Democrat Barack Obama was elected President.
Today, immigration reform remains a top priority for the business community. The December 13, 2022 National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index showed that while 32% of businesses reported that inflation was their biggest problem, 44% also stated that they were unable to fill open positions. The unemployment rate in December was an historic low of 3.5%. While there are many reasons for the current worker shortage, an outdated and ineffective immigration policy is certainly one of them. From small business to the Fortune 500, and sectors from agriculture, construction, health care, retail and restaurants, business supports comprehensive immigration reform.
Republicans can and should still argue for enhanced border security and even earmark funds for building a wall, something the Democrats should accept as long as American companies get the contracts. But maybe instead of a wall we need security checkpoints like we have at airports. Due to the war on terror, we have the technology to document and track all people coming into our country whether by land, air or sea. It is time to figure out how to make those seeking to come and work in our country legal immigrants and not “illegals.” Congress can increase visa caps, create new visa categories and establish a path to legality and citizenship for out of status immigrants. Without the demagoguery, the answers are well within bipartisan reach.
The numerous Republican candidates running for president in 2024 should go back to the successful messaging of being the party of lower taxes, less regulation, free trade and the rule of law. Further, go back to the party that supports American businesses by listening to them and pursuing the policies they need to succeed – like immigration reform that brings more workers into the country. Whether it is large public companies fulfilling a fiduciary duty to shareholders or small businesses supporting their communities, the American business community is about creating jobs, bolstering our economy, and solving problems, and it will support candidates that bring answers and not fear. That message is a recipe for success for either party to embrace.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.