Chameleon12

Revenge of the radical middle: Why Trump isn’t going away

Trump's main v**ers don’t give a whit about corporate tax reform or TPP or the capital gains rate or the fate of Uber, they make a distinction between deserved benefits like Social Security and Medicare and undeserved ones like welfare and food stamps, their patriotism is real and nationalistic and skeptical of foreign entanglement, they wept on 9/11, they want America to be strong, dominant, confident, the America of their youth, their young adulthood, the America of 40 or 30 or even 20 years ago. They do not speak in the cadences or dialect of New York or Washington, their thoughts can be garbled, easily dismissed, or impugned, they are not members of a designated victim group and thus lack moral standing in the eyes of the media, but still they deserve as much attention and sympathy as any of our fellow citizens, still they v**e.

What the radical middle has seen in recent years has not given them reason to be confident in our government, our political system, our legion of politicians clambering up the professional ladder office to office. Two inconclusive wars, a financial crisis, recession, and weak recovery, government failure from Katrina to the TSA to the launch of Obamacare to the federal background check system, an unelected and unaccountable managerial bureaucracy that targets grassroots organizations and makes law through diktat, race r**ts and Ebola and judicial overreach. And through it all, as constant as the northern star, a myopic drive on the part of leaders in both parties to enact a “comprehensive immigration reform” that would incentivize i*****l i*********n and increase legal immigration despite public opposition…

That Trump is not a conservative, nor by any means a mainstream Republican, is not a minus but a plus to the radical middle. These v**ers are culturally right but economically left; they depend on the New Deal and parts of the Great Society, are estranged from the fiscal and monetary agendas of The Economist and Wall Street Journal. What they lack in free market bona fides they make up for in their romantic fantasy of the patriotic tycoon or general, the fixer, the Can Do Man who will cut the baloney and Get Things Done. On social questions their views tend toward the moderate side—Perot was no social conservative, either. What unites them is opposition to elites in government, finance, culture, journalism; their search for a vehicle—whether it’s a political party or an outspoken publicity maven—that will displace the managers and up the professional ladder office to office. Two inconclusive wars, a financial crisis, recession, and weak recovery, government failure from Katrina to the TSA to the launch of Obamacare to the federal background check system, an unelected and unaccountable managerial bureaucracy that targets grassroots organizations and makes law through diktat, race r**ts and Ebola and judicial overreach. And through it all, as constant as the northern star, a myopic drive on the part of leaders in both parties to enact a “comprehensive immigration reform” that would incentivize i*****l i*********n and increase legal immigration despite public opposition…

That Trump is not a conservative, nor by any means a mainstream Republican, is not a minus but a plus to the radical middle. These v**ers are culturally right but economically left; they depend on the New Deal and parts of the Great Society, are estranged from the fiscal and monetary agendas of The Economist and Wall Street Journal. What they lack in free market bona fides they make up for in their romantic fantasy of the patriotic tycoon or general, the fixer, the Can Do Man who will cut the baloney and Get Things Done. On social questions their views tend toward the moderate side—Perot was no social conservative, either. What unites them is opposition to elites in government, finance, culture, journalism; their search for a vehicle—whether it’s a political party or an outspoken publicity maven—that will displace the managers and technocrats and restore the America of old.

Conservatives and some Trump v**ers may be upset by Trump's DACA move but, Trump is a populist: Socially conservative, economically liberal. His move falls directly in line with his own principles. Should Trump have spoken with Republicans before throwing such a bone to the Democrats? Probably. Was this move a good idea? Yes. Democrats were becoming increasingly bitter and hostile: to the point that a Democratic state Senator was openly supporting the assassination of Trump. Trump accomplished three things with this act: he held out an olive branch to Democrats thereby ensuring that Washington DC would finally start getting things accomplished, he showed Democrats that he's their President too and that working with him will get some of their goals accomplished as well, and he made a move that pulled him out of Obama's shadow. Democrats and the Media have compared every action he has made to Obama's actions. However, Obama failed to hold out an olive branch to Republicans until almost 7 years into his term(TPP). That refusal to hold out an olive branch or work with Congress did more to bring our government to a stand still than any other p**********l term in recent history. It also ended up costing more Democrats their congressional seats than any other president in decades. Trump held out an olive branch close to the beginning. This was a genius move and one America badly needed. It will be interesting to see how things turn out from here. The last four years of Obama's term until now has been pretty scary for both sides. From the left, we saw SJWs and Progressives snuffing out and silencing any opposing or diverse opinion, ideal, or belief. That intolerance was becoming increasingly dangerous for our freedoms, and was actually a type of ignorant bigotry and hypocrisy on a grand scale. From the right, since Trump's e******n, we've seen some extremist r****t groups coming out of the woodwork, not because of Trump specifically but, because, they believe they have a president who supports their right to free speech. (Note to Kekistanis: I'm not referring to any of you nor am I referring to the non-r****t "Heritage not H**e" groups who protested against the removal of the Confederate statues.) The way to actually end the r****m isn't to tear down a statue that most have never given a second thought to until some i***t made a comment that statues create r****m somehow. The real way to end r****m is to talk to the r****ts and end their ignorance.

tommymore

No one has a clue what Trump's DACA move meant.

Docadhoc Loc: Elsewhere

It meant that he sent a powerful message to both house's majorities.

Either work with him to accomplish his agenda or keep fighting him and he'll end run them and work with the left by giving them a lot.more than the right will lose by working with him.

Their choice. Work with him and lose a little, or oppose him and lose a lot.

Mr Bombastic

It certainly wasn't the wrong move. How can obeying the law be a bad idea? Assuming the law is Constitutional.

ACP45 Loc: Rhode Island

Good piece. Spot on.

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

It hasn't come to fruition yet.