Donald Trump is known for shaping the Republican Party with his populist image, and his response to an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania was undoubtedly his defining moment in reaching out to the people. He stood up and pumped his fist, prompting the crowd to chant “USA! USA!” The moment was documented, including in the iconic photo by AP photographer Evan Watch, which captured blood as the Star-Spangled Banner flew overhead. The president had tears streaming down his face.
It’s powerful stuff that likely cemented the once and perhaps future president’s connection with voters who were often left out in the cold by the old, small-government Republican Party. The new version of the party was a very different organization, but it had been changing long before those bloody days in Pennsylvania.
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Republican Party’s Populist Platform
The 2024 Republican platform is dedicated “to the forgotten men and women of America.” Trump has used the term since his 2016 campaign and has been adopted by his party as a candidate tool. The phrase is borrowed from a 1932 speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, another wealthy man who moved his party (then the Democratic Party) in a populist direction. He supports a large, radical government and building the economy “from the bottom up” to appeal to the working class.
Roosevelt in turn repurposed the phrase from classical liberal William Graham Sumner, whose “forgotten men” were “simple, honest laborers prepared to earn a living by productive work,” and by “reformers, social speculators and philanthropists” to support those who “live at the expense of labor and producers”. Unlike Roosevelt, Sumner preferred an unrestricted state where people could be left alone.
Trump’s Republican Party split between FDR and Sumner, promising to “protect Social Security and Medicare without cuts” but also to “give big tax cuts to workers and no tax on tips!” Sumner argued. Protective tariffs “lead everyone to being preyed upon by their neighbors,” while Trump advocated “baseline tariffs on foreign-made goods” to “protect American workers and farmers from unfair trade.”
Beverly Gage, a professor of history at Yale University, writes in the book: “This ‘forgotten’ American can be used to defend liberalism or to destroy liberalism, which shows that the United States has Political identification has never been particularly fixed: Democratic or Republican, liberal or conservative, but above all populist.
In a 16-page document that mentions “workers” 15 times, the 2024 Republican platform promises to “restore prosperity, ensure economic security and build a brighter future for American workers and their families through favorable trade rules, taxes and immigration restrictions.” future” . The last Republican platform in 2016 also mentioned “workers.” But the document focuses more on Sumner criticism of licensing, forced union membership and binding regulations that stand in the way of a free economy that benefits workers. The Trump-era version explicitly puts workers at the forefront, as beneficiaries of policies that are sometimes liberating, sometimes invasive.
Changing parties and shifting voters
This shift has been noticed by voters, who have shifted their allegiances accordingly. Businessmen who had previously been aligned with Republicans became Democrats, while blue-collar workers voted Republican in defiance of union leaders.
“We do see white working-class voters continue to move away from the Democratic Party over time. In some ways, Obama’s 2008 election was the high point. They’ve been bleeding white working-class voters ever since. That’s That’s why Trump was elected,” political scientist Ruy Teixeira predicted emerging democratic majority, told NPR in 2022. “But I think what underscores the overall underlying class problem for the Democratic Party is the recent movement away from the Democratic Party among non-white working-class voters, and particularly among Hispanic working-class voters.”
This shift marks a major shift Both major political parties.
“The continued growth of the Democratic Party as a party not of labor but of the socioeconomic elites, and of the Republican Party as a party not of business but of working-class social conservatives, represents a major, perhaps central, development in American politics. .
Advocating for populism won Donald Trump control of the Republican Party and appears to have made him more competitive in his bid to retake the White House in 2024 – Democrats hiding from the public Joe Biden’s worsening Efforts to improve his physical and mental health were unsuccessful, which provided him with powerful help. But discovering that populism is a winning strategy for winning political office is not the same as saying that it is a recipe for freedom and prosperity. Bad policies may be popular still Bad, usually because instead of analyzing the problem and proposing solutions, it exploits desire and hostility.
Populism is a mess, not a plan
Gabor Schelling of Georgetown University clarified last month: “Populism is a political ideology that positions ‘the people’ as the morally just and good group of society, separate from other elitists and out of touch with society.” It’s a stark contrast to a person who is a bag of fear and resentment, not a program.
“Populism is not a right-wing or left-wing ideology. Populism is not an ideology at all… It is about feelings, not ideas,” PJ O’Rourke wrote for the Cato Institute in 2021. Liberal, Republican or Democratic. yes MAGA and BLM, QAnon and Antifa — AOC wearing a Boogaloo Boys Hawaiian shirt.
he pointed out the greenbacks Favored The inflation of the late 19th century, and later the overt racism and economic interventionism of populists, were crowd-pleasing follies that won support.
“Populism is a mess — a political, economic and moral dog’s breakfast,” O’Rourke added, criticizing modern populism in both major parties.
Promising benefits to favored factions and suppressing known enemies has proven to be a popular, populist tactic, but that doesn’t mean it’s well thought out, consistent, or fundamentally good . This is exemplified by the current Republican platform, which vows to maintain expensive benefits while cutting taxes. One or the other might be feasible, but not both — but, boy, are they a winner for the electorate.
Donald Trump has reshaped his party and won over new voters with a populist message. His tough and defiant response to assassin’s bullets likely reaffirmed his appeal to many Americans. But the test will come after an election he appears poised to win. Then we can see if he can turn a crowd-pleasing miracle cure into a plan that does more good than harm.
