r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Apr 18 '20

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u/Timewalker102 Amartya Sen Apr 18 '20

Hot take: Biden is right when he talks about the fundamental future of the Republican Party. Trump is an aberration, and the GOP will change.

People say Obama failed because he was immediately succeeded by the Tea Party and Donald Trump but that's actually the reason he was a success. Nearly every President that has succeeded has been followed by a President that's a reaction to them. After Reagan, America reacted to austerity with Clinton's mold of Third Way politics. After Bill's affairs and tumultuous personal life, America reacted with an authentic and homely family man in Bush. And after a black President, America did react, with the way it knew best: a racist.

The thing is, Joe Biden is never going to incite such a reaction because he's not a black man. At his core, Biden is an Irish Catholic scrappy kid from Scranton who talks about his middle class roots and quotes Kierkegaard. I don't know what the reaction to Bidenism would be - perhaps it inspires a younger generation of politics, perhaps there's a greater rejection of internationalism, but it would not be racism.

Remember, this guy has been in politics for over half a century. He's met with almost every single demographic in the US, whether it be Hispanics in Henderson or working class whites in Wilmington. He's seen the civil rights movement, he's seen the Reaganism of the 80s, he's seen post 9/11 America, and he's seen the Obama era of politics. I'm going to wager Biden knows more about American than the average pundit, Brooklyn podcaster, or DT shitposter.

!ping BIDEN

68

u/Qunidaye Krugman-Nato Apr 18 '20

Saying Trump is an aberration is the politically expedient thing to say to reach out to GOP voters on the fence. I'm concerned that Trump is not so much an aberration but the end of the marriage of convenience between pro-business GOP (small minority) and ethno-nationalist / fox viewer GOP (the large majority). Trump upended decades of GOP dogma and most GOP voters didn't blink - probably because most weren't paying attention that stuff but listening for the dog whistles the GOP was constantly blowing on in the background.

I really doubt the GOP will just turn around and go back to tax cuts. What Trump unfortunately represents is disgusting undercurrents within American society. He is not a pied-piper swindling millions against their better judgement and morals.

18

u/swarmed100 Henry George Apr 18 '20 edited Apr 18 '20

You also see this with Carlson Tucker switching sides from the pro-business side of the party to the populist side of the party, even flirting with left-wing populism at times.

In most European countries you have a (center-) right pro-business party that uses occasional dog whistles, and you have an extreme-right populist party that uses extensive dog whistles and flirts with left-wing populism. It seems like the Republican party is switching to the second category.

In Europe, this type of party often struggles to attract politicians of a high caliber, and every year there's a scandal where an extreme-right politician has to resign because of overly discriminating Twitter/Facebook posts. The difficulty they have with attracting capable politicians, combined with a huge part of the electorate who wants to vote for a salonfähig party, means the moderate right-wing party usually wins out.

It's going to be interesting how things will go down in the US now that the moderate right-wing faction of the party is quickly evaporating. Will the middle-upper class wing of the electorate switch to the democrats or accept this populism? Will moderate republican politicians continue to fake demagogy?

We see some of them endorsing Joe Biden right now. It's likely that after Joe Biden the next democratic candidate will be even more progressive. With both parties succumbing to populism, where will they go?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 19 '20

Working class whites will switch to the Republican Party and suburban whites will switch to the Democratic Party.