The Trump Party vs. the Republican Party

[applegrove]

The Trump Party vs. the Republican Party

By Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/01/trump-party-vs-the-republican-party.html

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So if movement conservatives have so little objection to Trump’s racial appeals, what explains the intensity of their rage? The disagreement lies in his commitment. For Republicans, white identity politics is a political style. A Republican presidential candidate might run on Willie Horton and opposing same-sex marriage, but after being elected, he was expected to turn to reducing the top tax rate and deregulating business. Cultural appeal was the means, and economics the ends. What conservatives fear is that Trump might upend that delicate, unstated system by turning the means into the ends.

Their fear is by no means unfounded. Trump may currently line up with Republican doctrine, but he has not always. He has in the past praised single-payer health care, proposed higher taxes on the wealthy, and supported Democrats, casting justifiable suspicions on his true intentions. Those fears are compounded by worrisome gestures he makes toward economic populism. Trump has promised to save Social Security, to raise taxes on the rich, to let Medicare negotiate down the price of the prescription drugs it finances, and to replace Obamacare with “something terrific.” What’s more, Trump’s economic populism has reached a constituency within the party. The most economically liberal Republicans gravitate toward him:

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Relatedly, those Republicans most in favor of raising taxes on the rich also support Trump:

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This constituency has always existed within the party. The traditional structure of Republican politics has marginalized its priorities, harvesting their votes at election time, and then implementing an agenda crafted by its business wing. Conservatives justifiably fear that Trump could upend this configuration — that he might use populism not just as an electoral strategy but as a governing blueprint.



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