Brick Suit on Grassroots Energy and 53 Days: Jim Pfaff with Blake Marnell at the RNC Midterm Convention | Sep 10, 2026
Published: September 10, 2026
Network: TCC Live — RNC Midterm Convention coverage, Dallas
Analysis: Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff
He is the man in the border-wall suit you see behind President Trump at rally after rally. On day two of the 2026 RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas, September 10, Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff brought Brick Suit — Blake Marnell — into the TCC booth to talk about what the grassroots actually sound like 53 days out from November. Marnell’s answer: the energy is still high, and the people who have it are not the people getting polled. In between, the two worked through Trump’s convention speech, no one paroled in at the southern border for 16 or 17 months, 20 million illegal aliens and the price of housing, and the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s death, which fell on the day of this interview.
Topics Covered
- Who Brick Suit Is and Why He Goes to Every Rally He Can Get To
- On the Ballot in Spirit: Why Both Chambers Decide the Agenda
- The Border Argument Is a Cost-of-Living Argument
- Deport Them All, and the Two Ways to Count It
- Grassroots Energy and the People Who Do Not Get Polled
- Remember Charlie Kirk on Election Day — and Vote in 53 Days
- Key Takeaways
Who Brick Suit Is and Why He Goes to Every Rally He Can Get To
Pfaff opened by introducing his friend as the guy you see in the crowd at what feels like every Trump rally — the man President Trump has called out from the stage and brought up on stage. Marnell corrected the record on the arithmetic.
“I don’t go to every rally. I mean, I go to every rally I can get to, so it’s a lot. It’s a lot, but it’s not every single one — sometimes there’s three rallies in a day, and unless they put me on the plane, I’m not going to make it.”
— Blake Marnell, “Brick Suit”
The two have spent a great deal of time together on X Spaces, helping people understand what is actually going on when passions run ahead of the facts. Marnell described his own role in plain terms: he spends a disproportionate amount of time online and researching issues because he has that time available in his life and other people do not, so he gives his perspective and lets people decide whether it is useful. Pfaff came at the same work from the other end — he went to Capitol Hill as an activist and decided to stay an activist, because, as he put it, he thinks he understood how to figure out what the game is but hates the game. The point was never the commentary itself: all of those people wanted to do something, and that, Pfaff said, is what he thinks ultimately made 2024 happen. Brick Suit is at the convention for the same reason TCC is, and readers can follow the whole week inour coverage of the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas.
On the Ballot in Spirit: Why Both Chambers Decide the Agenda
Asked what he made of the first night of the convention, Marnell went straight to the stakes.
“I think it’s a great message, because even though President Trump is not physically on the ballot by name, he is certainly on the ballot in spirit. He made that quite clear last night.”
— Blake Marnell, “Brick Suit”
His reason is mechanical, not sentimental: if Republicans do not retain control over both the House and the Senate, the president’s initiatives stall — significantly, and possibly completely. Pfaff put the first term alongside it. What Trump got done in the first administration was amazing, and it was entirely hampered by Democrat efforts to shut him down; 10x that this time around. Marnell added the part Republicans skip: Democrat and Republican efforts. Let’s not forget Paul Ryan.
The Obamacare Repeal That Was Watered Down First
Everyone remembers John McCain casting the final no vote on the Obamacare repeal. Marnell’s point is what happened before that vote: the bill itself had been watered down by Paul Ryan, when it should have been a simple legislative straight-out repeal. And Paul Ryan believed in Obamacare, Pfaff said. Pfaff’s verdict on him was blunt: Paul Ryan was an enemy of Donald Trump.
What stood out in the speech itself, Marnell said, was Trump talking about the necessity of getting out and voting, and the list of second-term successes behind that ask.
The Border Argument Is a Cost-of-Living Argument
Marnell’s number one concern surprises nobody: illegal immigration and the border. The line from the speech that landed for him was that nobody has been paroled into America from the southern border for the last 16 or 17 months. Then he made the case to voters who rank other issues first — and he made it about prices.
“If you’re concerned about the cost of housing, imagine that you didn’t have those 20 million people here.”
— Blake Marnell, “Brick Suit”
The same question runs through groceries and gasoline: take that demand element out while supply stays the same, and the price goes down. His challenge to voters is to name their number one domestic issue and then ask whether it would somehow be better with 20 million fewer illegal aliens in the United States — and his answer is that it is almost universally yes. That is the same mechanism TCC walked through in our analysis of illegal immigration and housing costs, and it is why Brick Suit treats the border as the affordability issue rather than a separate one.
Deport Them All, and the Two Ways to Count It
Pfaff laid out where The Conservative Caucus stands. TCC is part of the Mass Deportation Coalition built around Mike Howell’s organization, the Oversight Project, and he is pleased with the successes so far — and still not satisfied.
“Although I’m very pleased with a lot of the successes right now, I actually do think we need to deport them all.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus
He believes the American people want that in numbers well above 50%, which makes it a campaign issue for this election, because it was the expectation coming in. His criticism is aimed at his own side’s reflexes: after what happened in Minnesota, any politician, good or bad, retrenches for a minute and asks whether they are messing it up somehow. Pfaff’s judgment is that Republicans retrenched a bit too much, that they can go aggressively, and that the support was always there.
Marnell agreed on the destination and split the method in two. Deportation is not only the number of people captured and forcibly removed; it is also the number who can be enticed to leave voluntarily, which is much more cost effective than capturing people. In the ocean of people out there, he said, there are probably some who legitimately do need some form of asylum and protection — there is a legal process for that, and they should go through it. For all the rest, you should go home, and going on your own terms is the better deal.
“When you get that knock on the door, or you get that taillight and they run your license, you’re out. And you don’t have the chance then to sell your house, to make an orderly retreat. You’re just done. You’re in custody. You’re deported.”
— Blake Marnell, “Brick Suit”
Pfaff added a caveat of his own, framed as his opinion: there are probably a whole lot of people in there we would tell we are getting rid of them and then invite to apply, glad to have them back — but they still have to go. And on the perennial demand for new legislation, both men said the laws already exist. Pfaff’s version: every law on the books right now that was passed in 1986 and added to since would literally have left no one here — maybe a couple hundred thousand people here illegally to deal with. People ask how come no new laws have been passed. They do not need to be. Enforce the ones that are there.
Grassroots Energy and the People Who Do Not Get Polled
Pfaff asked the question he had brought Brick Suit in to answer. Marnell is at the events physically, week after week, and people run up to him because he is the Brick Suit guy. So where is the grassroots energy right now?
“Oh, it’s still high. It really is. Those are not the people who are getting polled.”
— Blake Marnell, “Brick Suit”
His complaint is not with the other party. There is a segment within our own political camp, he said, that wants to hitch its sail to the bad polls and black-pill — hedging bets, sitting on the fence, or genuinely convinced the bad result is coming. He is not convinced, and he does not understand the posture, because the grassroots is strong. Sometimes, he said, the phone call is coming from inside our own house.
The counter-example he reached for was from the convention stage the night before: John Fetterman, by video, introducing the other senator from Pennsylvania, Dave McCormick. Neither man mistook Fetterman for a conservative — on his voting record he is not, Marnell said, and he says some good stuff and votes the other way. What mattered was the act itself: when the chips come down, he is pro-American in his own way. Pfaff took it back through history. John F. Kennedy could never get the nomination in today’s Democrat Party; he was a patriot, and Pfaff is critical of many of his policies, but you knew he loved the country. That mutual love of country across both parties existed until roughly George McGovern. It also fits what Marnell says he learned from Charlie Kirk — bad things happen when people stop talking, which is why you keep talking to people on the other side of the fence.
Remember Charlie Kirk on Election Day — and Vote in 53 Days
This interview fell on the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s death. Marnell, who noted he was wearing the hat at the booth, called him arguably the movement’s best grassroots champion and then asked for a different kind of remembrance.
“The day you should really honor and remember Charlie Kirk is Election Day every year, whenever that may fall for you. And that would be a much more fitting remembrance of Charlie than just observing the day in which he passed.”
— Blake Marnell, “Brick Suit”
Pfaff named what he thinks is worth carrying forward: a foundation of Americanism, a belief in our Constitution and in what we are as a republic, which Kirk epitomized and communicated so well that every one of us needs to pick it up and communicate it every day, wherever we can. He set that against the reaction leftist Democrats had to Kirk’s death — applauding it — and against support for abortion all the way up to term, which is why he calls the Democrat Party almost a death cult.
With 53 days left, Pfaff asked for closing words. Marnell’s were aimed at conservatives who are disappointed that a result did not come, or did not come fast enough.
“There are people out there telling you not to vote because of that. Think about what not voting would actually do to help the situation that you’re concerned about. Probably nothing. And in some cases, it might make it actually worse.”
— Blake Marnell, “Brick Suit”
He is not telling anyone how to vote, only to vote — to look at the situation and decide which candidate and which party has the best chance of putting forth the progress and results they want. If in-person early voting or mail-in early voting works for you, get your vote in the bank, then spend the remaining days helping others cast their ballot. Pfaff said he and Marnell are on the same page that the country should go back to same-day voting and get rid of mail voting — and that until that changes, you use the tools that are on the field. Marnell put it in football terms: bring a professional team from 1908 into the modern game, leave them running the wing offense, and they get crushed.
Pfaff closed by telling Marnell what 30 years of doing this, mostly professionally, had taught him to recognize — that what Brick Suit has done has been fantastic and has made a huge difference in this country. Marnell handed the credit back.
“I just look at myself as a proxy for President Trump supporters. President Trump is at a rally, he talks about the Front Row Joes, or he gives me a shout out. It’s really a shout out to all of you who have supported him for so long.”
— Blake Marnell, “Brick Suit”
Pfaff’s addition was that the president means it that way too — he actually sees the man in the brick suit as a proxy for all of them. For all the faults anyone might find, or the policy fight that makes them mad, Pfaff said the reality is that the guy is about America and Americans, and that is worthy of support.
Key Takeaways
- Trump is on the ballot in spirit – He is not on it by name, but if Republicans do not hold both the House and the Senate, Marnell says the president’s initiatives stall significantly and possibly completely.
- The border is a price argument – Marnell’s highlight from the speech was Trump saying nobody has been paroled into America from the southern border for the last 16 or 17 months, and 20 million fewer illegal aliens means less demand on housing, groceries and gasoline with supply unchanged.
- Deport them all, two ways – TCC is part of the Mass Deportation Coalition with Mike Howell’s Oversight Project; Marnell counts both forced removals and the far cheaper voluntary departures, with asylum claims going through the legal process.
- No new laws are needed – Pfaff says the laws on the books passed in 1986 and added to since would literally have left no one here, maybe a couple hundred thousand people here illegally to deal with; Marnell’s line is that they are already there.
- Grassroots energy is still high – The people with it are not the people being polled, and the black-pilling Brick Suit hears most often is coming from inside the Republican house.
- Honor Charlie Kirk on Election Day – With 53 days to November, Marnell’s ask is to vote, to use early or mail voting where it works, and to bank the vote and then help others cast theirs.
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The Conservative Caucus is a grassroots public policy action organization, formed in 1974. Headed by President Jim Pfaff, the Caucus is committed to advancing free enterprise, limited government, and traditional values.
Originally broadcast Sep 10, 2026 live from The Conservative Caucus media suite at the 2026 RNC Midterm Convention, Dallas.
Peter J. Thomas is a veteran conservative political strategist and seasoned policy expert dedicated to upholding the principles of the Constitution and democracy. As a founder and the chairman of the Conservative Caucus, he has played a pivotal role in promoting and shaping the conservative agenda across the nation for over half a century.