Republican intellectuals are having a tough time in the Trump era. Many of them believe that Trump is an anomaly and that their party will recover from Trumpism. This Republican disagrees for good reasons. His argument makes sense to me. Many of my Republican friends are old fashioned Republicans who believe in free markets and individualism. Most of them still vote Republican because they have high incomes and Republican politicians promise to cut their taxes. They are also well educated and they do not identify with Trump's populist base. The problem, according to the author of this article, is that the Republican Party has become the party of white nationalism. Donald Trump proved that by trouncing the cream of the Republican crop in the GOP primaries. Ted Cruz thought that he could win the nomination with support from his evangelical base. Trump crushed him by feeding evangelicals a strong dose of white nationalism that blended well with their belief system. Trump is a skillful demagogue who was smart enough to understand the values and concerns held by majority of Republicans.
The Republican Party and Trumpism are identical. The party will collapse because a party based upon white nationalism cannot survive. The majority of Americans do not identify with white nationalism. Old white nationalists are dying off and they are being replaced by folks who look a bit different. Our major corporations can't compete in world of white nationalist consumers or employees. Globalism needs to be tamed down and work for more of our citizens but it cannot be reversed. Nationalism is inconsistent with global market system. Our large corporations get half of their revenue from more rapidly growing developing markets.
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