Republicans and Industrial Policy After Trump
Some right-wing populists are making a bid to outflank the Democrats on industrial policy as part of their attempt to make the Republicans into a “workers’ party.” The best way to defeat them is to make the Green New Deal the centerpiece of progressive twenty-first-century industrial policy.
Right-wing populism has proven itself adaptive, repeatedly showing its ability to play on the insecurity and resentments that neoliberal globalization has created. (Andrew Neel / Unsplash)
A major theme in liberal media is that the Trump era proves right-wing populism is nothing but standard conservatism, unvarnished. In this reading, the libertarian worldview of the Republican Party remains intact — Trump has only electrified the vulgar, racist, and authoritarian sentiments behind it.
When Trump first campaigned for president, he promised to break with free-market ideology in a bid to appear “pro-worker.” But aside from the CARES Act in response to the pandemic and haphazard attempts to increase manufacturing jobs through renegotiated trade deals, his administration has not wavered in its commitment to shrink the welfare state, cut taxes for the rich, and deregulate business.
Trump’s swift abandonment of substantive economic populism may have been a factor in his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, given that Joe Biden’s victory pivoted on recapturing Rust Belt states that Trump had won in 2016 like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
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