
Are We Seeing a Political Realignment?

What was Trump? A fascist? A white nationalist? A malignant narcissist? A conservative with very bad manners? Once he became president, his only legislative achievement—a huge tax cut that heavily favored the rich and corporations—fit right in with Republican orthodoxy. His court appointments were friendly to business interests and also to religiou
... See moreGeorge Packer • Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal
2008 was the breaking point, where the impact of the subprime crisis hit the declining class more directly than the technocracy. As important, it appeared to the white industrial class that the federal government was committed to protecting the interest of all classes but theirs, while the ability of the federal government to function at all was de
... See moreGeorge Friedman • The Storm Before the Calm: America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond
Ever since Reagan, the Republican Party has been a coalition of business interests and downscale whites, many of them evangelical Christians. By 2010 it was like a figure in a hall of mirrors whose head and body have been severed but continue to move as if they’re still attached. The persistence of the coalition required an immense amount of self-d
... See moreGeorge Packer • Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal
It turned out to be a coalition of economic radicals, and this was the rise of Bernie Sanders, but the kids turned on capitalism in a... See more
The changes of the early seventies marked a long-term Democratic shift in power from the white working class to the college-educated and minorities. It took several decades, but the two parties just about traded places. By the turn of the millennium, the Democrats were becoming the home of affluent professionals, while the Republicans were starting
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