“No more money to secure Ukraine’s border until we secure our own,” Rep. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, said in a keynote speech at the Indiana Republican Party’s recent 2023 State Dinner, prompting a standing ovation.

In an apparently unprecedented move, Indiana GOP Chairman Kyle Hupfer announced at the party’s Aug. 10 dinner that Banks is the presumptive nominee for U.S. Senate.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal, Banks elaborated on why he framed border security as more important to address than additional support toward arming Ukraine in its war with Russia.

“The crisis at the border is the number one issue that every group of Republicans who I speak to across the state of Indiana asks about,” Banks said. “Hoosier voters want to know that they’re electing leaders to Congress who are more focused on solving our problems.”

Banks said he believes this is one of the reasons his candidacy for Senate resonates so strongly with Republicans in Indiana and across the United States.

“With me, they know they’re going to get someone who’s focused on solving our own open-border fentanyl epidemic that’s killing a record number of Hoosiers—and is the leading cause of death [in Indiana],” he told The Daily Signal.

The state GOP officially asked the Republican National Committee to support Banks financially in the open Senate primary to replace incumbent Republican Mike Braun, who is running for Indiana governor.

Banks has no major GOP primary opponents, although Eric Benson, John Rust, and Anthony Tibby are also declared candidates. On the Democratic side, Senate candidates in Indiana so far include little-known hopefuls Marc Carmichael, Valerie Lyn McCray, Keith Potts, Marshall Travis, and Aleem Young.

Banks said that placing America’s southern border before Ukraine isn’t just about the dire crisis of illegal immigration, but providing accountability for spending taxpayer dollars.

“At the moment, there is no inspector general” to oversee U.S. aid to Ukraine, the Indiana Republican said.

”There’s no accountability for the flow of money sent to Ukraine,” he said. “With the current administration asking for another supplemental spending bill, we’re talking about well over $100 billion spent on what’s going on in Ukraine.”

Banks voted against a $1.7 trillion spending package in December that included a $40 billion supplemental aid package for Ukraine.

Many Americans have soured on the billions of dollars in financial aid and equipment going to the Ukraine-Russia war. According to a recent CNN poll, a majority of Americans no longer support the massive financial aid packages that have become common in Congress.

GOP leadership in the Senate has remained stalwart in promising aid to Ukraine “for a good deal longer.” But Banks said he thinks Republican voters aren’t going to put up with it for much longer and will “demand” better Senate leadership to solve the border crisis.

“Either you’re more focused on what’s going on over there, or you’re more focused on what’s going on at home,” he said. “As [voters] watch our country crumble from within, they’re demanding leaders at all levels that focus on that instead of focusing on what’s going on in Ukraine or around the world.”

Banks said he doesn’t think that only Republicans are increasingly fed up with a lack of attention to domestic issues.

“I think voters at large, not just Republican voters but all voters, are recognizing that America is weaker than it’s ever been in our lifetime,” he told The Daily Signal.

What’s the solution? Banks said it’s an inward focus on “solving the energy crisis, solving the border crisis, solving the onset of the drug crisis, solving the economic issues that we have here at home,” and turning Congress’ attention toward threats posed by China.

Banks made it clear that putting America’s needs first “is an important test for Republicans.”

“We have to be on the side of America first—in restoring and rebuilding America—[and] then we can be the leaders around the globe that America has traditionally been,” he said. “America can’t lead abroad when we’re so weak at home, and Reagan understood that. Trump understood that. There are too many Republicans today who don’t understand that.”

Rebutting a common argument that to not give Ukraine a blank check is to support Russia, Banks pointed out that he favored “lethal aid to Ukraine” when Donald Trump was president and accountability measures were in place. And, he noted, he has been sanctioned by Russia.

“I’ve been sanctioned by them for my ‘tough on Russia’ record,” Banks said. “I stood with President Trump when he reversed the weak policies of the Obama administration to give lethal aid to Ukraine instead of Obama’s only sending humanitarian aid in blankets.”

The call to put Americans first might be Republicans’ most effective campaign strategy, Banks said.

“It’s clear if we keep our focus on putting their interests first, then the Republican Party is going to have a bigger election in 2024 than I think what most people are predicting today,” he said.

Ken McIntyre contributed to this report. Article cross-posted from Daily Signal.

GOP Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana pressed Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to clarify comments that the Pentagon does not “support” drag shows in a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana questioned Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for saying the Department of Defense (DOD) does not support drag shows in a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation after the Navy brought on a drag performer to expand the Navy’s social media reach.

Austin said DOD does not “support or fund” drag shows at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on March 29, around the time the Digital Ambassador Program trial run was wrapping up, according to a Navy spokesperson. As part of the initiative aimed at expanding the Navy’s use of digital platforms, Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley said he was “hand selected” as the first ambassador, raising questions from Banks in the letter regarding Austin’s seemingly “contradictory” message.

“If [Austin] was testifying honestly then he has an obligation to discipline the officials who decided that sexually explicit content should be featured in the Navy’s Digital Ambassador program,” Banks told the DCNF.

Kelley, who goes by Harpy Daniels as his stage name, said in a Nov. 29, 2022 social media post the Navy had chosen him to become the first digital ambassador. A Navy spokesperson confirmed to the DCNF that the ambassador program began in October 2022 and ran until March 2023.

Five active duty personnel participated in the program on a volunteer basis, and no promotional or recruiting materials exist, the Navy spokesperson previously told the DCNF.

Kelley’s TikTok biography notes that his opinions “are not endorsed by USN (U.S. Navy) or DOD.”

“Drag shows are not something that the Department of Defense supports or funds,” Austin told Congress during a line of questioning from Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz regarding reports of DOD-sponsored drag queen story hours at military bases.

Kelley was performing on board ships at least since 2017, when he brought his gear on board the USS Ronald Reagan stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, and competed in one of the Navy’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) official lip-syncing events, according to NBC News. It’s unclear how many times Kelley has performed on board since, or whether he always did so in a personal capacity.

“My biggest performances here are the lip sync competitions we hold to build up morale,” Kelley told NBC News in August 2018.

Responding to a December 2022 question from a TikTok user whether Kelley’s command was aware of his performances, Kelley posted a video of himself dressed in drag at “what appears to be an official Navy holiday party,” Banks said in the letter.

Kelley, who identifies as non-binary, has also expressed appreciation for his leaders’ support in social media posts amid online and in-person bullying from “haters” for “doing drag and serving.”

Banks asked Austin, given his allegedly “contradictory testimony,” to affirm whether he knew of the Navy’s Digital Ambassador program when he testified about DOD endorsement of drag shows, if the Navy could name the highest ranking officers in charge of appointing ambassadors and why Kelley was selected.

“Do you believe that TikTok videos of sailors dressed in and performing in drag is the best use of the Navy’s recruitment efforts?” Banks asked in the letter. “Do you believe that TikTok videos of sailors dressed in and performing in drag ultimately increases or decreases the Navy’s overall recruitment?”

Navy leaders predict the service could fall about 6,000 recruits short of its goal for 2023 after draining its pool of delayed-entry applicants to meet recruiting targets the year before, Military Times reported.

“There’s no doubt that Biden appointees are behind the Pentagon’s hard-left turn and Republicans on the Armed Services Committee will continue to question Sec. Austin about the divisive and woke insanity that’s helped drive recruitment to a historic low,” Banks told the DCNF.

In a separate letter to Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, dated May 3, Republican senators demanded transparency on the Digital Ambassador program and asked the Navy whether it approves of sexually explicit performances.

“Would the Navy enlist burlesque or exotic dancers to reach possible recruits? Such activity is not appropriate for promotion in a professional workplace or the United States military,” Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and 11 others said in the letter.

Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, who commanded the USS Ronald Reagan when Kelley served on board, is up for promotion this year. However, Tuberville is holding up Senate confirmation of Donnelly and other flag officers in protestto Austin’s recent policy allowing the military to fund travel for abortions.

The Pentagon did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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Tucker seems to think so and lashed out at Emmer in leaked conversations. According to Axios:

An irate Tucker Carlson phoned Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), chairman of the House Republican campaign committee, with an ultimatum on Friday: Either reveal which staff member took a swipe at Carlson’s son, a Capitol Hill aide, in an article about internal House GOP politicking — or the Fox host would assume Emmer himself was to blame for the quote.

Just two weeks before the midterms, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee — who is headed into a high-stakes leadership race if House Republicans win the majority — finds himself on the wrong side of the nation’s most powerful right-wing TV host.

The inside drama illuminates the high stakes, divisions and power jockeying already under way as the GOP seeks to retake power. Emmer also now finds himself under attack from two MAGA celebrities: Donald Trump Jr. and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).

Here are the Tweets from Donald Trump Jr. and Marjorie Taylor Greene:

It was bad enough that RINO Tom Emmer had his henchmen attack Tucker Carlson's 25 year old son to the Daily Beast, but now Emmer is trying to throw the staff of another member of Congress under the bus to cover his own ass???

What a pathetic coward. pic.twitter.com/mD0O2WFNr0

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 24, 2022

I stand with Buckley Carlson.

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) October 23, 2022

This all seems to be based around Emmer’s ambition to be Majority Whip and trying to stop his main competitor, Jim Banks, who employs Buckley Carlson. As Axios noted:

The source of the Fox News host’s anger was a Daily Beast article, published early Friday, detailing the already vicious backroom jousting over leadership slots in a potential House Republican majority.

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) — who employs Carlson’s son, Buckley Carlson, 25, as communications director — is expected to face off against Emmer for House Republican whip, which would be the majority party’s No. 3 leadership position.

The Daily Beast quoted an anonymous “GOP strategist” as saying of Banks: “Deep down, he dies to be liked by the Establishment. He hires Tucker Carlson’s son, a 24-year-old kid, to be his communications director.”

Though neither Emmer nor members of his staff have been confirmed as the originators of the attack against Buckley Carlson, it’s hard to imagine Tucker Carlson and other respected conservatives going after Emmer if they weren’t certain. This would be on par with Emmer’s track record as a RINO; his ACU Conservative Rating is 80%, on par with Liz Cheney, while Banks has a rating of 97%.

The only thing uglier than the politicking we see from a public perspective is the politicking that happens behind closed doors in Washington DC. Whatever happens after the midterms, we stand with Buckley Carlson.