The Democratic Party’s future must be built around class-based issues in order to reach working people.
Donald Trump’s eviction from the White House, thanks to a Joe Biden victory, is cause for jubilation, however much Trump may fuss, drag his feet, and leave wreckage in his trail. But, as progressive historian and author Thomas Frank, argues in his 2020 book, The People, No, Trumpism will continue to cast a huge shadow over U.S. politics for years to come.
“The Republicans will never turn away from Trumpism,” Frank writes. “Either Trump himself, a family member, Ted Cruz, or Marco Rubio will be running in 2024 on Trumpism.”
Frank’s latest book covers the United States’ unsung legacy of progressive populist resistance to economic elites. More than any other Republican leader in the past, Trump used amped-up, phony “populism” to attract voters—and, in many cases, followers. For Republicans, Trumpism represents a chance to expand their base outside of the upper-middle class, and will therefore have a long life in the Republican Party.