President-elect Donald Trump's economic adviser reportedly shocked House GOP leaders at a recent closed-door meeting, telling the lawmakers they no longer belonged to the conservative party of Ronald Reagan.
Stephen Moore was invited to the Majority Whip meeting last week and advised them they were now all part of Trump's populist working-class party, The Hill reported.
"For God's sake, it's Stephen Moore!" one unnamed source told The Hill about lawmakers' reactions. "He's the guy who started Club for Growth. He's Mr. Supply Side economics."
"I think it's going to take them a little time to process what does this all mean," the source added. "The vast majority of them were on the wrong side. They didn't think this was going to happen."
But Moore told The Hill he was only giving the lawmakers a reality check.
"Just as Reagan converted the GOP into a conservative party, Trump has converted the GOP into a populist working-class party," Moore told The Hill on Wednesday.
"In some ways this will be good for conservatives and in other ways possibly frustrating."
He added traveling in the Rust Belt states that supported Trump changed his view, too.
"It turned me more into a populist," he said. "Having spent the last three or four months on the campaign trail, it opens your eyes to the everyday anxieties and financial stress people are facing."
"I used to be unilateral free trader," he added. "If somebody wants to sell something to us at less cost than we can produce here, then do it.
"But the political reality is there's a backlash against trade. Whether we like it or not, we better adapt the rules in ways that benefit American workers more, or free trade is not going to flourish.
"We can scream and whine all we want, but that's reality."
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