To be effective in both elections and legislatively, Republicans need to start playing ball like Democrats, maintaining their war room, and campaigning 24/7, 365 days a year, author and political strategist John Tillman told Just The News.

"The problem on the right is that we are like cats. We don't like to be herded. We're very independent, and we don't actually see government as the be all and end all. Every issue that are those 80-20 issues, we need to go on offense. On those issues, President Trump is the first one in a long time that has been better at going on offense," Tillman said.

Tillman, whose latest book, "The Political Vise", examines how the radical left has taken control of the Democratic Party, discussed issues that are "80-20", meaning, 80% of the country supports it and only 20% opposes it.

"What we need to do is be willing to form a command and control to go on offense on key issues that will properly brand the Democrats as to who they are when it comes to protecting criminal aliens that are committing violence here in the United States, the whole men playing women's sports, gender transitioning of children, wanting to tax us into oblivion and preventing jobs growth and investments in small businesses..."

The term “Skunk Works” is a colloquialism referring to a small, sometimes secretive but highly innovative team or project within a larger organization that operates with unusual autonomy and agility. They are generally tasked with developing groundbreaking solutions or technologies, often inspired by the famous Lockheed Martin advanced development programs.

Tillman warned that most of the time, "our side is reactive, rather than proactive," which leads to another major issue within the conservative movement, according to Tillman. 

Importance of conservatives investing in popular culture, media

The second problem is, despite a steady flow of funding from certain billionaires, nearly all modes of communication and programming are dominated by the political left. 

"We have to continue to invest in popular culture, the media, entertainment. We've had a huge influx of investment in conservative media, but we have to do more to reach that untethered voter who's in the middle or the soft left, who's not going to see these [conservative] channels, and then we have to start to, one layer at a time, peel off capacity and popular entertainment as well.  

Another issue plaguing conservatives is that once they get elected, he says, they tend to shift towards the center, and further left. "Conservatives get into office, they move left. Liberals get into office, they just move further left. Why would nobody move to the right? It's because politics is about pressure and the media control, the popular culture control, and elite influential control applies the pressure we need to be applying, to put pressure on the system, to support people doing the right thing and put pressure on people doing the wrong thing," Tillman advised. 

When liberals get into office, they tend to push policies further left than their campaign promises suggested, expanding government programs and social initiatives. When conservatives win elections, they often govern more moderately toward the center, compromising on spending, entitlements, and cultural issues, rather than delivering the bold rightward shifts many supporters expected.

This “ratchet effect” or unidirectional drift happens because entrenched institutions, media pressure, bureaucratic inertia, and the need to appeal to swing voters or avoid backlash make it much easier for the political center of gravity to keep sliding left over time, no matter which party holds power.