Which Party Wants to Preserve the Status Quo?
When it comes to the economy, Democrats are now the party of the status quo, while Donald Trump’s GOP is making a misleading but radical-sounding pitch to upend the existing order in workers’ favor. It’s a fundamental role reversal in US politics.
Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the University of Las Vegas on August 10, 2024, in Nevada. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
For decades, the Democrats were the party that promised to deliver a new, more progressive social order, with a reputation as the party of the angry “forgotten man” and of all those who hoped for a new deal. The GOP, on the other hand, was the party of order, stability, and conservatism — the party of the “silent majority.”
This year, those roles are more clearly reversed than ever before. Democrats — acting as the party of order — warn of the destabilizing and chaotic effects of Republican rule. Republicans — acting as the party of radical change — demand a scrambling of the rules of the game. This big shift has accompanied two others: Democrats gaining the upper hand in popular support as well as in the rat race for donors. It’s the great role reversal of 2024.
Republicans as Economic Radicals
If Donald Trump’s Republican Party is now the party of “radical” economic change, as the Financial Times recently warned, it is not radical in anything resembling the left-wing sense.
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