Source: Quillette
by Dennis Saffran
“‘I was a conservative populist before Donald Trump came down the escalator.’ I wrote those words two years ago when I participated in a Quillette roundtable organised to debate whether or not the GOP should continue to embrace populism. I argued that it should, even though I had ‘become much more alert to the potential dangers of populism’ by watching ‘much of the Trumpian base go down rabbit holes of election denial, vaccine paranoia, and Putin apologia in fits of blind rage.’ But I still believe that a populist blend of ‘traditional social conservatism with old-fashioned New Deal liberalism,’ which rejects the identitarian obsessions and growing economic inequality that have flourished under the modern culturally liberal establishment, is the sweet-spot for both the Republican Party and the country.” (09/23/24)