From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Free Expression with Jerry Baker.

Hello and welcome to Free Expression with me, Jerry Baker from the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

Thanks for joining us. If you're not already, please make sure to subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify and elsewhere, and be kind enough to leave us a nice review.

This week, we're taking

a deeper look at the Republican Party. Donald Trump is back in the news, was he ever really out of it,

with the declaration of his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

This as, following the disappointing results of the midterm elections, the GOP is poised to take

control of the House of Representatives by just

about the narrowest of margins. And of course, it failed to take control of the Senate. So is the

future of the Republican Party really a return to the recent past? Well, should it be looking

forward to fresh leadership and direction? What kind of conservatism should the party now embrace?

And what should Republicans do with their

tenuous control of one half of the Congress? But with me to discuss all this is Republican Congressman

Kevin Brady of Texas. Brady's been a member of the House of Representatives for a quarter of a century.

It's currently the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee, having been chairman of the

committee before that. He's been a strong advocate for tax reform and reducing the tax burden on families. He's also a keen supporter of

expanding free trade, though he was an early politician warning about the economic and strategic

threat from China. He backed Donald Trump and his efforts to challenge the results of the 2020

election. But Brady recently announced his retirement and is stepping down from Congress when

the new house assembles in the new year. And Congressman Kevin Brady joins me now. Congressman, thanks very much for being here. No, Jerry, thanks for having me. So I thought to take the opportunity with you and thanks for doing this as you come to the end of your congressional career to consider where we are, whether the Republican Party is, what the challenges are ahead for the Republican Party, in indeed, obviously, for the nation as a whole. And I want to get into that. I know you've got some strong thoughts about the right approach now for the country in the next few years. But inevitably, I want to start off talking about the news and talking about what's gone on. Obviously, we had the midterm elections last week, which turned out to be very disappointing for Republicans, given where the expectations were. It does look like it managed to take control of the House, perhaps just by the thinnest of margins, but failed in the Senate. So I want to talk a little bit about that. First of all, if I may come to you, obviously we're recording this on Wednesday, on Tuesday night, Donald Trump declared another bid for the third consecutive bid for the presidency, despite the fact that many of his candidates in last week's elections didn't do so well. I'm wondering what you make of Trump. You sported him in the past. You were supportive of him when he was president. Now I wonder what you make as he now embarks on a third campaign. Do you think this is the right way for the Republican Party to go? You know, we're focused right now on getting the majority in the House, obviously. I think we are there, but we haven't seen those final numbers as well, setting up our

leaders, and I'm confident Kevin McCarthy will be the Speaker of the House, and then setting up

our committee and other leaders. So that's really been my focus here. I do think it was a disappointing

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