Donald Trump's populism is deep, rational and durable but it is also attached to a shallow and unreliable political party.
Not all the Democrat candidates cast their campaigns in the populist terms that we hear from Pocahontas but, no matter which Democrat candidate emerges, the election will be a referendum, whether explicit or not, on two competing populisms:
The Trump/Banning flavor of populism is attached to the Constitution, to capitalism, to limited government, to national defense, to nationalism, to rational immigration policies and to an ideal of patriotism. The Democrats' version is attached to socialism, open borders, appeasement and the idea that America is unworthy. Trump's political party, although not Trump himself, is attached to K St. and Wall Street no less than the attachment you have identified there to Elizabeth Warren.
The article seems to make the essential gulf between the Elizabeth Warren version and Trump's version to be social issues. No one can doubt that the lurch toward extremism of the Democrat party in which it has stupidly identified itself as the party of transgenderism, infanticide, and deicide will clearly demarcate these ideologies but, typically, elections are decided on pocketbook issues.
If the economy continues to boom as it is perhaps the voters will turn to social issues and on these, clearly, the right has all the better arguments. All the better arguments that is if they can be cogently presented to white suburban women, especially white, educated, single, suburban women. All of the attributes which white men admire in Donald Trump do not necessarily appeal to this group of suburban women who are likely to decide this election. This cycle, Trump will have difficulty elevating his approval numbers to the degree that Obama or George W. Bush managed to do despite his booming economy. He has a genius for decapitating his antagonists with a single phrase and perhaps that will carry the day in 2024 and enable president Trump to bring his opponents down to compensate for his relative inability to elevate his own likability quotient among this important group.
But it would be much better if the populist campaign of Donald Trump can simply identify in the public mind, especially in the suburban mind, the Democrats as the phony, hypocritical elitists they are with all the attributes you point out in your excellent reply.
As an aside, we have been anticipating for some time a realignment of the parties in which the better version of populism will attach to the Republicans, combined with some social issues, and a wholesome conservative reform of chronic crony capitalism to reinvigorate the country in time to contend with China. The Democrats lurch toward socialism tells us what their side of the populist divide will look like and tells us much about the durability of the nation if entrusted to their hands.
Donald Trump’s populism is deep, rational and durable but it is also attached to a shallow and unreliable political party.
You nailed that. Id like to say I cant understand the lack of support for President Trump from so many Republicans. But I do understand it and its maddening. Theyre far more loyal to the corporate donor base than they are to the actual voters who put them in office.
Its easy to blame corporations for the destruction of American manufacturing but one must look deeper to find the root cause of it. Theyre simply reacting to a Byzantine tax code and the vast regulatory State that very nearly mandates they act that way. After all they have a legal fiduciary duty to maximize profits any legal way that can.
And theyre powerless to pick and choose their shareholders. Foreigners want solid earnings, too after all.
What needs to be done is a wholesale re-writing of the tax laws to actually encourage corporate America to actually BE corporate America. President Trump is doing yoemans work on the regulatory side of things but the tax issue will require a solid majority of Trump Republicans in both the House and the Senate.
Corporate America doesnt think beyond the next quarterly earnings report and truth be told they cant really be blamed for it. Thats they way the system has been built. Changing that will require the changes in tax policy I mentioned above.
We simply must see President Trump re-elected or our Republic is finished.
L