Trey Gowdy: Republicans must figure out what they truly believe after brutal week for party

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Trey Gowdy: I don't know what the modern Republican Party believes

Fox News contributor and former GOP congressman Trey Gowdy discusses the future of the party as President Trump's term ends and Republicans reel from the Georgia Senate runoff defeats.

Republicans need to figure out exactly what they stand for following a brutal week for the party's image, Fox News contributor Trey Gowdy said Thursday.

Gowdy, a former South Carolina Republican congressman, implored the GOP on "The Daily Briefing" to underpromise and overdeliver to voters, who he said were rightfully angry over a litany of broken pledges over the years.

"That's my challenge for the party, is, if you wanted to stump me with a question, ask me what the modern Republican Party believes, with consistency, cycle after cycle, and then ask me who those defining voices are," Gowdy said. "You just heard one, [Sen.] Tommy Cotton, [a] really smart, young leader. So is [Sen.] Tim Scott, Nikki Haley. But most of the voices in the conservative movement have never held political office before."

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Republicans are reeling from a pair of embarrassing Georgia Senate runoff losses that handed control of the chamber to the Democrats Tuesday, as well as the fallout from pro-Trump rioters storming the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

TREY GOWDY: Part of politics is telling voters how bad the other side is, but that's about all I hear now. I think voters want to hear [about] what do you believe, why do we believe it, and then engage in that very difficult task of persuading people that our ideas are better ... But at a certain point, you may win ... You may be given the right to govern ...

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That's my challenge for the party, is, if you wanted to stump me with a question, ask me what the modern Republican Party believes, with consistency, cycle after cycle, and then ask me who those defining voices are. You just heard one, Tommy Cotton, really smart, young leader. So is Tim Scott, Nikki Haley. But most of the voices in the conservative movement have never held political office before ...

What you do in a courtroom is underpromise and overperform. This is what leads to the anger. You tell people ridiculous things like we're going to repeal Obamacare even though President Obama has to sign that bill. That was never going to happen. That was a fundraising gimmick, but everyone out in mainstream America didn't get the joke!