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He definitely hastened it. Even the Make America Great Again slogan was playing to that. It’s a class and populist shift. It alienated former Republicans, examples like Rick Wilson and Steve Schmidt. In the initial analysis the media thought this was the doom of the party. They didn’t foresee those people being replaced by folks who had voted Democratic at least some in the past. I don’t know that these voters are necessarily Republicans, but more America first type voters.
Yeah but hear me out on this. If Republicans play their hand right, some of the changes Trump made could help them for years and years. I'm a Republican, and one of the things that always bothered me about the party was that it was elitist and the party of big business. I come from a lower middle class background and one of the things I liked about Trump was that he understood the working class. I'm sure I'll get skewered for that comment, but it's true, and it's the reason he was elected. The Liberal media completely missed this, and they've never really appreciated it. How could a billionaire appeal to the working class? After all, Democrats have always been the party of Unions and the disenfranchised. But all that changed in 2015 and 2016. I watched all those Trump rallies, even went to a few of them. He really did speak to those people, and on a very personal level. That's why I knew he would win. Hillary and Democrats had completely taken these people for granted, and even insulted them on occasion. I said it at the time and I believe it to this day - the "basket of deplorable" comment cost Hillary the Presidency. It validated what many middle class whites had been suspecting - that the Democrat Party had become the party of big business and minorities, and the white middle class was not only being neglected, it was being scorned. And yes, Trump did resonate with these people. And not because they were all racists. He talked about how offshoring our manufacturing base had decimated an entire class of people, and that not only was it bad for the middle class, it was bad for America. And he was right. It was proven by the Chinese having us over a barrel with pharmaceuticals. It was proven by today's inflation, which is due in large part to an over-reliance on Russian oil and Chinese supply chains. And by all appearances it was the Democrats who were in bed with China.
There's a lot in here that's right (the bolded in particular) and lots that's wrong (or ignored). It's easy to say "we should manufacture here", but it's not easy to make it happen. What policies will make that happen and are those policies good for the working class? Trump absolutely resonated with the working class, but he most certainly doesn't understand their struggles or how to make their lives better. Nothing he did helped them. Tariffs don't help. Pissing on trade agreements doesn't help. Screaming "foreign manufacturing bad!" doesn't help.
not a bad point and also one of the reasons why Bernie had so much traction in the primary vs HC. Bernie’s rhetoric was very similar to Trumps in terms of the working class but with a different solution to the issue than what Trump was selling.
This is also true. Sorry, @ekbeats, but I liken "basket of deplorables is what cost her the election" to a team that just made 17 errors in a game saying "well, that strikeout in the fourth inning was what killed us." The list of unforced errors by HRC's campaign is longer than my monthly Costco shopping list.
Good post, but I don't agree that his admin enacted policies for the middle class. He's a grifter. He said what that market wanted to here, but didn't do anything to tangibly impact them long term.
I strongly agree with most of this. We're experiencing a very rapid political realignment, with Republicans becoming, essentially, a working-class party with conservative social values, and Democrats becoming the white-collar managerial class party with progressive social values. If the GOP can dial back some of the rhetoric on Mexico and illegal immigration -- not converting to "open borders" but just not dehumanizing illegal immigrants like Trump did -- they can have a lot of success with that formula. It's a winning coalition.
Ivan, do you really think that? Or are you saying the voters in those party of from those “buckets”. None of the Republican policies outside of abortion are “working class” policies. They may talk a good game, but Elizabeth Warren, Bernie, AOC, and Porter seem to be the most “pro-working class” policy makers out there but bc they are “liberals” they are painted as something else. They seem to shine a light on where the game is really rigged and try to do something about it. Trump used the “game is rigged” line but never put any policies in motion to level the playing field.
Yes to both.
Elizabeth Warren is a buffoon who thinks that food prices went up because grocery stores are greedy. She can be safely dismissed at this point. She's the kind of person that sounds like the Voice of the Common Man if you're an HR director.
Yes, that's the point. Ranting about "we need more manufacturing" may sound nice to former manufacturing workers in the heartland, but it doesn't actually create more domestic manufacturing. Policies that do incentivize more domestic manufacturing are generally harmful to the overall economy.
Axios Poll - 61% of Democrats see Republicans as "racist/bigoted/sexist
I like the way trump framed it - not free trade - fair trade. I've always thought it was a bad idea having so much of our manufacturing base halfway across the world, in a country that has as its stated goal to be the world's sole superpower. We've seen several examples int he last 4 years where China has had us over a barrel - pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, 5G equipment... Importing t-shirts and sneakers from China doesn’t threaten our national security. I'm fine letting that kind of trade continue unmolested. But we need to be more strategic in our relationship with China. Stop giving away our trade secrets, and protect our advantages in quantum computing, artificial intelligence, autonomous drones... China is cleaning our clock right now. Their plan to overtake us by 2049 may actually happen by 2029. In 1980 China’s total GDP was under $90 billion in current dollars. Today, it is over $12 trillion. The world has never seen such enormous economic growth in such a short time.
I agree with much of this, but my point wasn't "we should manufacture certain things here". The point was that it's one thing to say "China bad, make stuff here", and it's another thing to actually implement policies that help. Trump did the first incessantly but never did anything that would help fix those issues. Not that Democrats have done anything to solve those problems either, but Trump supporters need to stop pretending that shaking our fists and ranting is actually fixing anything.
With all due respect, that Axios poll is a push poll designed to create exactly the type of response it did. For one, it asked what "the other party" is, not whether individuals of the other party are largely X. It also provided negative words and asked participants to choose one. Ditto the PRRI poll; it asked about the party (i.e. politicians), not people.
I agree with this. Until 6 years ago I didn't really associate Republicans and racists. Were racist groups much more likely to be Republican than Democrat - Yes. But every time a David Duke type tried to endorse the Republican president, they would say no-thanks. That is until Trump. He welcomed them with open arms, and even emboldened them.
What are the practical consequences of China overtaking us?
That's a very good thought, and I don't know the answer. My concern with China is not so much that they become #1, but that they obtain a technological advantage that can be used to enforce their will on the rest of the world. But then again, China has never been an empire-seeking culture like Japan or Russia, so I'm not sure they'd use their power for dominion. They are such an interesting culture, so unique in the world.
