re: There are a lot of "conservatives" who want to end the MAGA/America First Populism.

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If the GOP lets that happen and loses the Neocons, they will never win another election, because they simply cannot lose any member of the tenuous coalition.

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Eh the neocons don’t represent that many people who don’t already live in the DC area. A bigger worry is that too much culture war populism scares off suburban normies (especially women) who are just trying to keep their taxes down.

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Trump initially said he would put tariffs on all Chinese imports. Eventually he put tariffs on 70-80%. He wound up doing a nice "carve out" for the Chinese companies that make the Apple iPhone etc. He didn't want the iPhone to go up by $250 right before Christmas. That is picking winners and losers.

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I already said he picked winners and losers in his first term. I said he didn’t do it for “fairness”.

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I already said he picked winners and losers in his first term. I said he didn’t do it for “fairness”.

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You also said first term tariffs were to "reward his base".

Nothing about not putting tariffs on Apple was to "reward his base". It was a pure political move.

Just making a point.

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Look at healthcare. A conservative wants the current system but doesn’t want insurance companies to have to cover pre-existing conditions because it drives up costs for everyone else. A liberal Democrat wants to cover pre-existing condition and also mandate that healthy young people have health insurance. A leftwing populists wants to do away with our healthcare system entirely and replace it with a single-payer (government) system, and a populist republicans wants also to do away with our current healthcare system but replace it with a completely free market system where insurance is decoupled from employment and we are all competing with each other for insurance, which would push down the cost and make the insurance companies more responsive.

Or trade? Conservatives are happy with the trade agreements we have because they have grown the economy and made a lot of people very rich. Clinton liberals like the trade agreements for the same reason but make a show of wanting to fund career training for people who have had their jobs offshored. The populist left wants to keep trade open but wants to greatly expand the social safety net so that people who lose their jobs aren’t thrown into chaos (why workers would work at all never seems to occur to them). The populist right feels that free trade is just as disruptive as the populist left (although we are more likely to emphasize the way it’s led to the breakdown in family and community) and want to end free trade and put protective tariffs on imports and rebuild American manufacturing.

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Yet again, you guys arguing for populiusm do not understand conservatism. You think the average Republican is an example of conservative thought, when in fact the average Republican has—to some greater or lesser degree—abandoned conservative principles.

Your two examples.

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A conservative wants the current system

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. (Of health care).

This is completely incorrect. An actual conservative doesn't want anywhere near the degree of government regulation of healthcare that we currently have.

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populist republicans wants also to do away with our current healthcare system but replace it with a completely free market system

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Also completely incorrect. You're ascribing a conservative viewpoint to a populist and a populist viewpoint to a conservative.

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Conservatives are happy with the trade agreements we have

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Again, incorrect. An actual conservative believes in free trade. "Trade agreements" are by definition not free trade (unless the agreement is to trade freely, which doesn't require an agreement...you just do it.)

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The populist right feels that free trade is just as disruptive as the populist left

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This, for once, is correct.

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It doesn’t matter if two people see the same problem if they have radically different incompatible solutions to that problem

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Yet again, THAT'S THE WHOLE PROBLEM WITH POPULISM. There are no guiding principles to dictate how situations should be handled.

You guys think you understand this, but you clearly don't. What you just typed above is EXACTLY the reason why populism is ultimately nothing more than anarchy if taken to its logical conclusion.

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More accurate to say that "Populism is a danger to coherent governance."

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Considering what most idiots consider "coherent governance", then this is actually a good thing.

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I mean Trump’s current plan is for a protective ring of tariffs,

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He doesn't have a plan. He pulled 10% out of his arse during an interview and literally considered it as he spoke; from memory it was something like "Yeah, I think I like 10%".

But that will never happen because it would crush the economy and someone will have to sit him down and explain it. People buy with their wallet, not the government's and they have the option right now to buy US made products and they don't because they cost more.

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Yet again, THAT'S THE WHOLE PROBLEM WITH POPULISM. There are no guiding principles to dictate how situations should be handled.

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Why does populism get singled out?

The only guiding principles adhered to by our Govt. is "how much can i steal from the taxpayer"....

To pretend that "Trumpism" is some sort of threat is an ignorance on a scale that I can't comprehend.

The system is BROKEN and Trump isn't going to do anything worse than we see happening already.

He is a convenient boogeyman for those who are afraid to challenge the status quo.

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Trump’s current plan is for a protective ring of tariffs, so it’s not exactly picking and choosing

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That is literally picking and choosing

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Why does populism get singled out?

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There are two ways to destroy your nation. Elitism and populism.

You need an entanglement of both. Putting one vs the other is literally left wing politics.