Free Republic

Mr. Trump accelerated the movement of working-class voters into the Republican Party, creating a GOP that now represents more middle- and lower-income Americans … He has reframed much of the Republican agenda to appeal to these voters, particularly on trade, immigration and foreign affairs, in many cases upending 40 years of GOP policy. In turn, the Democrats are increasingly the party of America’s wealthiest cities, post-industrial business leaders, and the “woke” professional class. This political transformation, however, means that U.S. college graduates have few friends in Washington, D.C., to protect their economic interests in a shifting economy. The WSJ provides...

RUSH: There’s another thing here that I need to… Not get off my chest. It hasn’t been that big a deal. This whole idea that Trump and Bannon are some sort of massive populist movement, and therefore that is bad and it’s nationalistic? That’s not what has been going on here. Populism is not been what’s going on. This is sour grapes losers using this term to describe it. Now, maybe Bannon, some of his people picked it up and ran with it because, “If that’s what people thought it was, then fine. We’ll give ’em what they think we’re...

Populists and autocrats were victorious around the world in 2017. For answers we turned to the American political economist Francis Fukuyama, who once thought it was all over. It’s all too easy to throw around terms like “historic” or “radical break.” Such rhetoric often only serves to camouflage a lack of real analysis. But for once, the year 2017 genuinely felt like a historic moment, as the world began to change faster than it has in several decades. When Donald Trump bellowed “America First!” in his inauguration speech, it all started to seem real. Previously, many observers had convinced themselves...