THE FUTURE OF THE GOP
Many Fortune 500 companies have adopted Left-wing slogans and anti-Trump postures at the highest levels. Instead of winning the culture war, Trump seems to have rallied all the forces of the institutional Left against him and whatever’s left of the GOP in his absence. He kicked the beehive of the progressive Left for four years, and now the rest of the Republican Party is left behind to get stung. There’s always the possibility that Trump’s brand recovers from this downturn. If anyone’s capable of an improbable comeback story, it’s the man who went into election night in 2016 with the New York Times predicting a 97% chance of a Hillary Clinton win. We all know how that turned out... Trump is more a political phenomenon than a politician, he’s almost a movement unto himself. With that kind of sway over the base, anything is possible. Many observers with close ties to Trump expect that he will, at a minimum, become a GOP kingmaker. From his Palm Beach perch, he could play a large role in raising up the next round of Republican candidates, all with his “America First” stamp of approval. He certainly has the donor network, connections, and name recognition to push anyone he wants onto center stage. But even that role would come with complications. For one thing, it’s not clear at all that Trump will care much about the Republican Party (or politics at all) when he’s not the center of it all. Trump has a genius for self-promotion, and was willing to lend the support of his fervent base to GOP politicians in the past. But that was all a part of his patronage network. To borrow from mafia
There’s always the possibility that Trump’s brand recovers from this downturn. anytime soon. Its aftermath, however, is already quite clear... Republicans are grappling with their weakest political position in more than a decade. After four years in office, Trump departed the White House for Mar-a-Lago with the House, Senate, and presidency all in Democratic hands. There’s no check on Biden’s agenda beyond the Senate filibuster, and it may be only a matter of time before the Democrats steamroll that too. Beyond the losses in elected office, Republicans are out of power in major American institutions as well. While liberal bias in the media, Hollywood, and academia is nothing new, it has taken on a frenzied zealotry in response to Trumpism. Social media companies are now actively, openly suppressing ideas and figures on the Right, including Trump himself. What may be a bigger issue is the change in perception that will set in over time: Trump didn’t “get tired of winning.” He lost by millions of votes... And it was to Joe Biden, who is himself a two-time presidential candidate loser. That’s a far cry from the invincible Trump who voters came to know in 2016. The legacy of the MAGA agenda is a fiercely debated topic, and that’s unlikely to change
24
February 2021
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online