They just got better at hiding it! But tax and spending issues will come roaring back if they win the election and set about dismantling the safety net.
I agree that Republicans never abandoned their hatred of the New Deal. The writer of this article imagines that if Trump were re-elected that there would be a legitimate election in 2028. The “dictator on day one” will not leave even if his cheating doesn’t work. He will have all the power at his disposal with his loyalists and friends like Putin, etc. He must not be allowed back in the White House.
Ever since Romney and Ryan’s run at it 12 years ago, I’ve thought about the seeming contradiction between culturally appealing to white rural voters on the one hand and decimating the social safety net for everyone on the other. Like Matt Yglesias, I assumed Trump had won by “moderating” on the latter even while getting more extreme on the former, and assumed that required squaring a circle at some point.
But lately, I’ve decided that way of thinking misses the big picture entirely. More to the point, it lacks imagination.
There is actually NO contradiction between seeming to “moderate” on the social welfare state for some, AND slashing it brutally for others. That is, in fact, exactly what authoritarian right wing parties are campaigning on in countries all over the world. Bigotry is, in fact, the glue that holds that position together.
What Trump is doing is a much more crudely direct, more openly ruthless version of what Romney and Paul implied in 2012–Preserve standards of living and the social safety net for loyal supporters of the Republican Party, and savagely curtail them for those not loyal and not supporting.
That nakedly corrupt, nakedly tribal position, basically a declaration of aggression against— treating as enemy, really—half of the country, allows Trump to play the role of “moderate” to those who benefit from it, laissez-faire capitalist to those who want others to suffer from it, and bigot to both of those categories, and benefit politically in all three ways.
It’s the kind of thing we lack the imagination to grasp in the American context, because we are not used to thinking of a president as leader of one tribe of Americans pillaging another tribe of Americans.
Vavreck clearly lacks the language to grasp what’s happening here, and assumes because Trump emphasizes culture war and denigrates slashing the New Deal, that battle must be “over”.
On the contrary. He’s found a way to potentially gain victory in that very material battle. Or thinks he has. (His billionaire, anti-New Deal donors, certainly think he has.)
That situation seems pretty darn clear to those who look at politics abroad and see the picture shaping up in America. It’s hard to comprehend, in part because it’s so seemingly unprecedented here, albeit depressingly generic and routine in a global sense.
Trump is trying to immiserate millions, and get away with that by placing other millions under his contingent, “loyalist” protection. Romney and Ryan tried to do the same thing; they were just far too polite to state it out loud, even to themselves. And it’s long been a brutal mainstay of politics in too many countries to count, democratic and not so democratic. We’re just not used to being confronted directly with it in the flesh.
" If there’s a free and fair election in 2028, after Trump winds down his second term...."
If Trump does win this fall, what odds do you place on the 2028 election being free & fair? I worry it's close to 85%-95% likely to be a rigged Hungarian/Putin-style "election" in that scenario.
The Republicans, at the time, hated the New Deal so much they attempted another coup. The Civil War being their first coup attempt. Jan. 6 was their third attempt. The fourth coup attempt is ongoing right now.
Perhaps Democrats need to make 2024 a referendum on Reaganomics, now not only completely debunked but proven to be toxic to democracy. Reagan managed to appear tough on the Soviet Union while gutting one of the most important defense expenditures of post WWII policy - direct subsidies of higher education - while pushing it off onto students. The result was a lifetime mortgage of their future without the high paying jobs they were promised by slight of hand “trickle down” economics. Meanwhile the tax tables were up ended to effectively cripple much of the middle class from building generational wealth. And did I mention the double tax on Social Security? Maybe the anger is justified, just not directed at the real villains in the piece.
I think Brian, and David Dickson in the comments here, have it more accurately when compared to Prof. Vavreck. Politics do not change with the flip of a switch. There is still a contingent in favor of oligarchy and indifferent to broad based democracy.
Democrats can pick up 50-60 house seats and 10-15 senate if they hammer ion Dobbs all day every day. Prevaricate and lose. 100 million women are ready to vote and they ain’t voting gop.
“If there’s a free and fair election in 2028”? There won’t be if #TraitorTrump wins. He will declare himself dictator for life and this country will never recover.
The anti-New Deal propaganda project was and continues to be one of the most successful in American history, aided by Milton Friedman in the 1970s and John Stossel in the 1990s. Bill Clinton famously disavowed the New Deal with his anti “big government” rhetoric, and Obama’s collection of dipshit, cowardly advisors and chiefs of staff also disavowed it.
Criticism of the New Deal often manifests as animosity towards the federal government. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has replaced Rush Limbaugh in leading federal government hatred. Both have been puppets of the would be upper class as Ronald Reagan was before them.
You’re totally right about the GOP attitude towards the New Deal. IMHO you’re equally wrong to say that Trump will spend time in prison if he loses. The establishment will be desperate to usher him quietly off the stage, since he’ll have become an embarrassment (to media elites as well as political ones), and a prison sentence would undermine that goal. He might well be convicted of crimes, but the pressure on the judges to settle for house arrest at most will be overwhelming. The same thinking process that lead to the Nixon pardon.
I agree that Republicans never abandoned their hatred of the New Deal. The writer of this article imagines that if Trump were re-elected that there would be a legitimate election in 2028. The “dictator on day one” will not leave even if his cheating doesn’t work. He will have all the power at his disposal with his loyalists and friends like Putin, etc. He must not be allowed back in the White House.
Ever since Romney and Ryan’s run at it 12 years ago, I’ve thought about the seeming contradiction between culturally appealing to white rural voters on the one hand and decimating the social safety net for everyone on the other. Like Matt Yglesias, I assumed Trump had won by “moderating” on the latter even while getting more extreme on the former, and assumed that required squaring a circle at some point.
But lately, I’ve decided that way of thinking misses the big picture entirely. More to the point, it lacks imagination.
There is actually NO contradiction between seeming to “moderate” on the social welfare state for some, AND slashing it brutally for others. That is, in fact, exactly what authoritarian right wing parties are campaigning on in countries all over the world. Bigotry is, in fact, the glue that holds that position together.
What Trump is doing is a much more crudely direct, more openly ruthless version of what Romney and Paul implied in 2012–Preserve standards of living and the social safety net for loyal supporters of the Republican Party, and savagely curtail them for those not loyal and not supporting.
That nakedly corrupt, nakedly tribal position, basically a declaration of aggression against— treating as enemy, really—half of the country, allows Trump to play the role of “moderate” to those who benefit from it, laissez-faire capitalist to those who want others to suffer from it, and bigot to both of those categories, and benefit politically in all three ways.
It’s the kind of thing we lack the imagination to grasp in the American context, because we are not used to thinking of a president as leader of one tribe of Americans pillaging another tribe of Americans.
Vavreck clearly lacks the language to grasp what’s happening here, and assumes because Trump emphasizes culture war and denigrates slashing the New Deal, that battle must be “over”.
On the contrary. He’s found a way to potentially gain victory in that very material battle. Or thinks he has. (His billionaire, anti-New Deal donors, certainly think he has.)
That situation seems pretty darn clear to those who look at politics abroad and see the picture shaping up in America. It’s hard to comprehend, in part because it’s so seemingly unprecedented here, albeit depressingly generic and routine in a global sense.
Trump is trying to immiserate millions, and get away with that by placing other millions under his contingent, “loyalist” protection. Romney and Ryan tried to do the same thing; they were just far too polite to state it out loud, even to themselves. And it’s long been a brutal mainstay of politics in too many countries to count, democratic and not so democratic. We’re just not used to being confronted directly with it in the flesh.
" If there’s a free and fair election in 2028, after Trump winds down his second term...."
If Trump does win this fall, what odds do you place on the 2028 election being free & fair? I worry it's close to 85%-95% likely to be a rigged Hungarian/Putin-style "election" in that scenario.
The Republicans, at the time, hated the New Deal so much they attempted another coup. The Civil War being their first coup attempt. Jan. 6 was their third attempt. The fourth coup attempt is ongoing right now.
Perhaps Democrats need to make 2024 a referendum on Reaganomics, now not only completely debunked but proven to be toxic to democracy. Reagan managed to appear tough on the Soviet Union while gutting one of the most important defense expenditures of post WWII policy - direct subsidies of higher education - while pushing it off onto students. The result was a lifetime mortgage of their future without the high paying jobs they were promised by slight of hand “trickle down” economics. Meanwhile the tax tables were up ended to effectively cripple much of the middle class from building generational wealth. And did I mention the double tax on Social Security? Maybe the anger is justified, just not directed at the real villains in the piece.
I think Brian, and David Dickson in the comments here, have it more accurately when compared to Prof. Vavreck. Politics do not change with the flip of a switch. There is still a contingent in favor of oligarchy and indifferent to broad based democracy.
Democrats can pick up 50-60 house seats and 10-15 senate if they hammer ion Dobbs all day every day. Prevaricate and lose. 100 million women are ready to vote and they ain’t voting gop.
“If there’s a free and fair election in 2028”? There won’t be if #TraitorTrump wins. He will declare himself dictator for life and this country will never recover.
The anti-New Deal propaganda project was and continues to be one of the most successful in American history, aided by Milton Friedman in the 1970s and John Stossel in the 1990s. Bill Clinton famously disavowed the New Deal with his anti “big government” rhetoric, and Obama’s collection of dipshit, cowardly advisors and chiefs of staff also disavowed it.
Now Biden is tepidly warming back up to it.
Criticism of the New Deal often manifests as animosity towards the federal government. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has replaced Rush Limbaugh in leading federal government hatred. Both have been puppets of the would be upper class as Ronald Reagan was before them.
You’re totally right about the GOP attitude towards the New Deal. IMHO you’re equally wrong to say that Trump will spend time in prison if he loses. The establishment will be desperate to usher him quietly off the stage, since he’ll have become an embarrassment (to media elites as well as political ones), and a prison sentence would undermine that goal. He might well be convicted of crimes, but the pressure on the judges to settle for house arrest at most will be overwhelming. The same thinking process that lead to the Nixon pardon.