TRUMPISM: ALIVE AND WELL

73 million. That's how many folk voted to give Donald Trump another go a it. Sure, he grabbed 5 million fewer votes than Biden's 78,000,000. Sure, the Donald broke the 28 year run of the incumbent getting another shot. But 73 million? Really? There's actually tens of millions of people who want more of what they got during the last ten years? More people catching a case of Covid? More efforts to deprive people of health care that they--along with their neighbors and loved ones-- stand sorely in need of? More tax cuts that stuff yet another round of cash into the bulging pockets of billionaires? They really want more denial of climate change? More efforts to roll back regulations designed to protect the environment, consumers, and workplace safety?

Why would anyone, much less than 73 million people, want to get down with more of this? How can a figure like Trump persuade that many people to cast their lot with him? Have people lost their minds? Are there that many people out here clamoring for more tax cuts to benefit the wealthy? Is there really an army of millions out here pinning for a society in which they lack lack health care?

Are there that many lovers of lethality out here in these political streets?

I don't think so. I don't think there's 73 million people out here who are hankering to line up and get mowed down. I think it's more complex than that. I think part of the answer is buried in what two political scientists, Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, dub "plutocratic populism."

PLUTOCRATIC POPULISM

To get at the meaning and importance of plutocratic populism, consider this little thought experiment: You conduct poll people's attitudes about tax cuts in general and, in particular, you query them about Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA, P. L. 115-97). Trump's TCJA was the largest tax overhaul since 1986. Most people, if asked about taxes, are hardly likely to say something, like:

I want taxes on the rich to be reduced

Or:

I want to see a much lower tax on capital gains

Or:

I can't wait for the day when the estate tax is reduced further

Or:

It sure will be a glorious day when the Alternative Minimum Tax (ATM) is repealed

Or:

I'm so down with lower taxes on the 1%, I don't care if it increases the federal debt.

More than likely you're likely to get a plurality, if not majority, of people complaining that they don't think the rich is paying their fair share.

In fact, even members of Trump's own base would complain that the rich are not paying their share.

Think the majority of voters are gassed up about tax cuts? Well, consider the fact that a poll conducted shortly before the passage found that only about 1/3 of voters expressed support for Trump's TCJA. In contrast, a plurality --46%-- said "nope, not interested." All of which leads 538, a website focused on economics, politics, and sports, to make the following observation that "Americans are opposed to the Bill because they think it disproportionately benefits the rich."

Importantly, other studies have found that voters believe we have too little, not too much, regulation of financial markets.

But while a plurality of voters can't stand tax cuts and are not exactly down with deregulation, it's also true that these types of policies are pet projects of the plutocratic class. The problem, then, is this: What kind of juju is Trump working that enables him to attract the support of 73 million people, despite the fact that he proposes and pursues policies that wide swaths of folk oppose?

Enter plutocratic populism. As noted by Hacker and Pierson, plutocratic populism is a "bitter brew of reactionary economic priorities and right-wing cultural and racial appeals." It's a brew that has been fermenting for the last several decades within the Republican party and Trump, rather than representing creation ex nihilo, is the apotheosis of this decades long drift to the far right. And, most importantly, it is an toxic elixir that has made it possible to expand and solidify a base behind a presidency that is hell bent on the pursuit of plutocratic priorities. The base rallies because they get something out of the alliance with Trumpism.

GIVING THEM AN IDENTITY TO PROTECT

What they get, in short, is an identity to protect. An identity as discriminated against Whites. An identity as religious folks whose values are under siege. An identity as good, hard working White folk who are having their economic dreams stomped on by "aliens" crossing the border and invading the heartland. An identity as Second Amendment Lovers (SAL) trying to prevent elites from snatching their guns out of their hands. An identity as White workers being victimized by cosmopolitan and transnational elites. Trump resonates with them because, despite his plutocratic priorities, he taps into their despair and racism and, in the process is still able to pursue such plutocratic priorities are tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the 1%.

Seen from a somewhat different vantage point, it is extraordinarily hard, if not impossible, for servants of the plutocratic class to gain and maintain power in democratic societies, in societies where adults have the right to vote. It's hard to for plutocrats to win an election in a robust democracy because, amongst other things, their policies only appeal to tiny sliver of the population. They only can pull it off when they combine their pursuit of plutocratic policies with ginning up their base with the politics of resentment and racism and, for extra insurance, suppressing the vote, particularly the ballots of those who are likely to vote against plutocratic priorities. Plutocracy and Democracy can never peacefully coexist. If they are to thrive, plutocrats must do all within their powers--by hook or by crook-- to dismantle democracy.

This is why the defeat of Trump is a win for democracy. This is why it was so important to beat back by the winds of fascism and racist terror represented by Trump. Ain't nobody in their right mind believe that Biden is some sort of savior. Ain't nobody in their right mind believe that there will not be future battles to fight. At least nobody that I know of. This victory was about carving out and preserving the space within which lovers of justice could breath and to continue the fight. This victory was about bringing sanity and science to bear on an pandemic that is slapping nonwhite and poor communities particularly hard.

TRUMPISM IS ALIVE AND WELL

But still, 73 million? What does that mean for post-Trump? I think it means that post-Trump does not mean post-Trumpism. With 73 million people still refusing to concede defeat, still spinning wild conspiracy theories, still thinking that they got jacked out of something-- Trumpism is alive and well. The forces that coalesced around him, and whom he represents, remain present in the body politic. We do ourselves--and those whom we love-- a disservice to not recognize this reality. The bellicosity, the xenophobia, the racism, the misogyny, the hatred toward the LQBTQiA community--all of this, sadly, remains with us. This is a reality that can not be vanquished through platitudinous statements. It's a thing. And we need to strategize about how we can resist these these forces and fight to protect and preserve human rights.

The stakes is high.

Catch you on the flip side.

Doc Greene