You know MAGA is the voice of the working class and the GOPe hates it.

The working class makes up their voting base and wants policies that represent them.

The GOPe’s refusal to do so is exactly why we got Trump in 2016.

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The working class makes up their voting base and wants policies that represent them.

The GOPe’s refusal to do so is exactly why we got Trump in 2016.

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Well exactly. And I made it easy for any politician to up their chances for an easy win. Just follow the first three issues I listed and you will get a populists vote. Might not get much corporate money but you will get votes and you don't even have to mention Trump's name.

These assholes would rather rule in Hell than serve in Heaven, to reference Milton.

Making the movement solely about an economic category is ultimately going to fail. I agree MAGA has the working class and it's a big advantage, but economic nationalism is going to be as rootless as libertarianism if you can't speak for traditionalists and conservatives long term. And Trump alone cannot.

Rah rah wave the flag and build factories is pretty thin unless you get below the surface to family-centric policy, promotion of faith-based ideals, etc. And there is a lot of crossover there, but it's inevitable that a rift will develop if we continue to talk about the country in economic terms.

And candidly, that's how "conservatism" got to this bleak spot to begin with. We're terrified to say what we want morally and ethically for our country, so we talk about markets and cost-benefit, etc.

McConnell most definitely needs to be primaried too.

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Recent subtle moves toward the GOPe.

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That's very, very, very soft

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Making the movement solely about an economic category is ultimately going to fail. I agree MAGA has the working class and it's a big advantage, but economic nationalism is going to be as rootless as libertarianism if you can't speak for traditionalists and conservatives long term. And Trump alone cannot.

Rah rah wave the flag and build factories is pretty thin unless you get below the surface to family-centric policy, promotion of faith-based ideals, etc. And there is a lot of crossover there, but it's inevitable that a rift will develop if we continue to talk about the country in economic terms.

And candidly, that's how "conservatism" got to this bleak spot to begin with. We're terrified to say what we want morally and ethically for our country, so we talk about markets and cost-benefit, etc.

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I can't disagree with any of this. Just because MAGA's primary focus is economic nationalism does not prelude initiatives focused on faith, family and freedom. In fact economic nationalism can and does lead to enhancing those three categories.

I saw a statistic last week that kinda surprised me. I’d either forgotten or never realized.
I’m 1990 45% of republican voters had college educations compared to about 20% of Dems.
It’s basically flipped now. 40% of Dems have college degrees compared to about 20% of Republicans.

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I can't disagree with any of this. Just because MAGA's primary focus is economic nationalism does not prelude initiatives focused on faith, family and freedom. In fact economic nationalism can and does lead to enhancing those three categories.

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I agree it doesn't preclude it, I think it's arguable it enhances it (I'm doubtful in the long term).

But, my point is that I don't think there is much of a credible voice within the MAGA movement right now on that subject. Make no mistake, many MAGA followers are Christian traditionalists, but most of the MAGA leaders trying to appeal to them are fakes, in my opinion. Even those who are striking the right tone and showing some understanding of what the discussions amongst my ilk sound like - like say Blake Masters and JD Vance - are probably fakes. They might do the job for a while and I don't oppose them, but I don't think they'll be sufficient in the long term to keep the alliance from fracturing.

At some point, the economic MAGA crowd will begin to view us as a liability. You started seeing some of that with the post-Dobbs stuff. Anyway, I think it's interesting fodder for discussion on the longer-term outlook of the conservative movement.

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I agree. It's very soft. I was a bit disappointed when DeSantis moved his firebrand press secretary Christina Pushaw out of the spotlight. It signaled a move to re-brand to me.

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I think this is probably reach, but we'll see. I mean if DeSantis keeps throwing press conferences to rally the troops against transgenderism campaigns, etc. I don't think moving Pushaw back into a campaign role signals very much at all. Say what you will about DeSantis, he's WAYYYY more front and center on the third rail issues than Trump is. More so than any major politician, and by a wide, wide margin.