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Trump Independent Expenditure and the Howard Phillips Legacy: Jim Pfaff on The John Fredericks Show | Sep 9, 2026

Published: September 9, 2026
Network: The John Fredericks Media Network
Analysis: Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff

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The Conservative Caucus took a suite upstairs at the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas, and on day one of the convention, September 9, 2026, Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff joined John Fredericks to explain why. The answer runs in two directions at once. Backward: the Caucus was founded in 1974 by Howard Phillips, who left the Nixon administration in disgust and went on to be one of the lead voices against the giveaway of the Panama Canal and against most favored nation status for China. Forward: Trump independent expenditure work totaling $8 million in 2024, a 2026 program on track to match it, and a target list that starts at 26 House races and 11 Senate races. In between sat the convention itself — 20,000 people, tickets averaging over $1,000, and a Senate majority leader who did not show up.

Topics Covered

• A Legacy Organization: 1974, Howard Phillips, and DOGE Before DOGE
• The Panama Canal Fight and What It Established
• $8 Million in 2024: The Trump Independent Expenditure Plan
• From the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas
• Who Skipped Dallas, and Why It Matters
• Candidates Have to Make Trump’s Message Their Own
• Key Takeaways

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A Legacy Organization: 1974, Howard Phillips, and DOGE Before DOGE

Fredericks opened by asking about the suite, and Pfaff answered with the organization behind it. The Conservative Caucus is a legacy organization, he said, founded in 1974 by Howard Phillips, and the oldest conservative grassroots organization in the country. Fredericks, who had just introduced Pfaff as an Indianan, asked whether M. Stanton Evans was in the mix. Pfaff said he knew Phillips knew Stan Evans, and could not resist adding that Stan Evans was a Hoosier too and that a lot of good folks come from Indiana. Then he moved on to the part of the history that matters in 2026.

“Reason Magazine wrote an article recently that said Howard Phillips was DOGE before Elon Musk was, which is true.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

The comparison is not decorative. Phillips went into the Nixon administration on a specific promise: Richard Nixon told him he could run a very similar effort to what DOGE later attempted. Nixon reneged on it. Phillips left in disgust, got together with Richard Viguerie, and the two of them talked it through and decided to start an organization. That is where the Caucus came from — not a think tank idea, but a broken promise about cutting government. We have written about that history before in Howard Phillips, DOGE before DOGE.

“To this day, we stand for limited government spending, reductions in government, constitutional government”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Phillips went further than advocacy. He founded the Constitution Party and ran on that ticket. Pfaff’s summary of the record was blunt: the Caucus has a big legacy of standing against really bad things.

The Panama Canal Fight and What It Established

The example Pfaff reached for first was the Panama Canal, which he noted has been a big issue for Trump. Howard Phillips was one of the lead voices against handing it over. The same fight produced the Caucus position against most favored nation status for China. Pfaff’s point was continuity: this is our legacy and we are going to continue it.

Fredericks filled in the period detail from memory. It was Howard and Reagan on one side of that debate. William F. Buckley, a conservative hero, was on the side of giving the canal to Panama, arguing that the students were rioting; Reagan’s response, as Fredericks recalled it, was that it does not matter what the students say, because it is ours. Fredericks also remembered S. I. Hayakawa, the one-term Republican senator from California, going on television and saying he was voting not to give it to the Panamanians because we stole it fair and square. Fredericks called it one of the best lines ever.

$8 Million in 2024: The Trump Independent Expenditure Plan

Fredericks asked what inspired the Caucus to take a suite and go all out at a midterm convention. Pfaff answered with a number.

“We did $8 million of Trump independent expenditure work in 2024.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

The Caucus is on track to do the same thing now. That is the reason for the emphasis in Dallas: Pfaff wanted the 2026 Trump independent expenditure program to be visible to the people who fund it and the people who benefit from it. The target list starts at 26 races in the House and 11 in the Senate. Pfaff expects that to whittle down eventually, but that is where the program starts.

The second reason was the donor base. The Caucus has hundreds and hundreds of donors at the five-figure-plus lifetime level, Pfaff said, and a number of them were going to be in Dallas anyway. The suite gave them somewhere to gather with the organization they fund.

“We’re trying to let people know that we’re a real organization, that we are going to be a player”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Pfaff tied the Trump independent expenditure effort to a horizon past November. The Caucus is determined to make America great again and to continue its Stand with Trump effort even two to four years from now, when Trump is not as involved, at least in the way he is today — though Pfaff added that he expects Trump to stay involved after the presidency. Fredericks agreed to a point, and then made the sharper observation: this is really his last campaign.

From the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas

Fredericks admitted he had been skeptical when the convention was conceived. His question at the time was what the actual purpose was, scheduled as it is after the holiday. The attendance answered him: it sold out, with 20,000 people in Dallas, and the tickets were not inexpensive — the average ticket ran over $1,000. Various party organizations have raised a ton of money off the event, which Fredericks said is really going to help them. This is the same convention we previewed in our coverage of the RNC midterm convention in Dallas.

The Caucus is broadcasting live from its suite through the convention, interviewing guests as they come in. Pfaff told listeners they can watch at theconservativecaucus.com, where the Caucus will be live most of the evening and will carry interesting speeches rather than shut them out.

Then Fredericks raised the money on the other side of the ledger: Trump has $500 million in MAGA Inc. and says he is going to drain the account. Asked whether he believed it, Pfaff said he did, and explained why the answer matters.

“In midterm elections in 2010, ’14, ’18, and ’22, the party that spent the most money won or kept the Congress.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

The only time Democrats were the bigger spender in that run was 2018, and Republicans took the Congress back in 2022. That is the arithmetic behind Pfaff’s judgment on the year: we can win this, it is still winnable. It is also why a Trump independent expenditure program on the 2024 scale is not a vanity exercise for the Caucus. In a cycle where spending has tracked control of Congress for four straight midterms, the money is the mechanism.

Who Skipped Dallas, and Why It Matters

Pfaff named the biggest problem directly: guys like Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who he said do not even get a sense of how important this is to Americans. Fredericks said Thune is destroying Republican chances to win. Pfaff went a step further: Thune is working hard to lose, and he does not want to win. Fredericks’ read is that they are trying to wait out Trump and wait out MAGA so they can go back to the Bush era.

Then Pfaff pointed at the convention itself. Thune is not here. If he is not here, why is that? Fredericks joked that Thune would get booed off that stage. Pfaff took the joke away and left the argument standing: even if Thune had done nothing to get himself booed, he still would not have come.

“He’s not about a Republican agenda. And there are so many members of Congress who are about advancing the Trump agenda. But leadership is shutting them down.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Pfaff gave credit where it was due. He credited Speaker Mike Johnson for getting the Save America Act into the Senate with a move that bypassed Mitch McConnell’s block of it. He counted the One Big Beautiful Bill as a light too — an overall bad bill, in his assessment, but great on taxes. Thune, he said, is not for that. What Thune is doing is the Mitch McConnell way: keep your head down, lose the majority every once in a while, we will be back, no big deal.

“That is like cowardly, useless.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Candidates Have to Make Trump’s Message Their Own

That brought Pfaff to the ask he came to Dallas to make. If the current Congress will not carry the agenda, the candidates who are not in Congress yet have to run on it.

“They need to be taking the message that Donald Trump has and make it their own. Say that if you elect me, then I’m going to advance Donald Trump’s agenda.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Pfaff was clear about the limits of what the president alone can do. Donald Trump cannot carry this over the finish line. He can certainly help a whole lot, and he will.

“What will carry it over the finish line is the belief in Republican candidates that they will go in and finish the job that this current Congress apparently doesn’t want to do.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Fredericks’ response was bingo — and then his own verdict on Thune, not Pfaff’s: he is playing to lose, they do not want to win. That is the frame the Caucus brought into the convention and the frame behind the Trump independent expenditure program — the money and the message both point at the same target, which is whether voters believe a new Republican member of Congress will actually do the thing the current one did not.

Key Takeaways

1. The Caucus is a 1974 organization with a founding grievance – Howard Phillips left the Nixon administration after Richard Nixon reneged on a promised government-cutting effort, then started The Conservative Caucus with Richard Viguerie. Reason Magazine recently wrote that Phillips was DOGE before Elon Musk, and Pfaff agrees.
2. The legacy is a record of specific fights – Phillips was one of the lead voices against giving away the Panama Canal and against most favored nation status for China. The Caucus still stands for limited government spending, reductions in government, and constitutional government.
3. $8 million in 2024, and on track to match it – The Trump independent expenditure program starts at 26 House races and 11 Senate races, funded by a base that includes hundreds of five-figure-plus lifetime donors.
4. Spending has tracked control of Congress – In the 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 midterms, the party that spent the most money won or kept the Congress. Democrats did it only in 2018. Pfaff believes Trump will drain the $500 million in MAGA Inc.
5. Thune did not come to Dallas – Pfaff says that is not about avoiding boos: Thune is not about a Republican agenda, and leadership is shutting down the members who are. He credits Mike Johnson for moving the Save America Act past Mitch McConnell’s block.
6. The candidates have to carry it – Trump cannot get this over the finish line alone. Republicans not currently in Congress have to take his message, make it their own, and tell voters they will finish the job this Congress will not.

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About The Conservative Caucus:
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 9, 2026 on The John Fredericks Show, John Fredericks Media Network, live from the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas.