Vance warns GOP to not return to ‘party of 20 years ago,’ says Americans don’t want jobs going ‘overseas and wide-open borders’

The remarks came as the White House promoted a stronger-than-expected September jobs report and worked to reassure voters still struggling with high prices.

Speaking to the crowd, Vance said the administration views the latest numbers as evidence that its economic direction is gaining traction. Introducing the report, he told the crowd that “Trump economic policies are actually working.” He pointed to wage gains, adding that “wages continue to outpace inflation.” Vance also argued that take-home pay has risen during the administration’s first months, saying “in the first 10 months of the Trump economy, we’ve increased take home pay by about $1,200 adjusting for inflation.”

Vance also addressed the broader economic strain being reported in the US saying the administration understands voters’ frustrations. “We get it, and we hear you, and we know that there’s a lot of work to do,” he said.

During the event, Vance contrasted the current Republican coalition with the party’s past leadership. He suggested the GOP’s older policy framework no longer fits the voters who now form its backbone. “Some of our folks in Congress, they want to go back to the Republican Party of 20 years ago,” he said, describing that era as “a Republican party that lost and that couldn’t successfully govern the country.”

“I think the Donald Trump party is a fundamentally new phenomenon in American politics,” he told the audience, adding, “I think we can govern the country successfully for the next generation.”

He also criticized earlier Republican foreign-policy and economic approaches, arguing that they contributed to US manufacturing losses and prolonged foreign military engagements. “The American people don’t want stupid wars, America’s jobs going overseas and wide-open borders,” he said. Urging a different direction, he continued, “Let’s actually have a foreign policy where we focus on the interests of American citizens.”

“I don’t want to wake up in a country where I take my kid to the doctor and they can’t get antibiotics, because the antibiotics that were invented in the United States of America are manufactured in some foreign country,” he said.