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Blame the Elites for the Trump Phenomenon

The BriefGet Up To Speed
The elites of both parties have expressed contempt for Donald Trump, and Trump has succeeded in part by channeling his voters’ contempt for the elites.  Does support for Trump reflect an uninformed populism and misplaced anger by a large swath of the American electorate?   Or have the elites failed to empathize with their struggles, and failed to craft effective policies to help them cope? 
 
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How the G.O.P. Elite Lost Its Voters to Donald Trump

The story is also one of a party elite that abandoned its most faithful voters, blue-collar white Americans, who faced economic pain and uncertainty over the past decade as the party’s donors, lawmakers and lobbyists prospered.

Monday, March 28, 2016
New York Times
Nicholas Confessore
Why Trump and Sanders Were Inevitable
It was only a matter of time before we had a populist backlash to 30 years of flawed globalization policies that both parties embraced.
 
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Politico
Michael Hirsch
The Great Republican Revolt

The GOP planned a dynastic restoration in 2016. Instead, it triggered an internal class war. Can the party reconcile the demands of its donors with the interests of its rank and file?

Saturday, January 30, 2016
The Atlantic
David Frum
Folks Before Kochs

To save itself, the Republican Party must finally put the working class ahead of the donor class.

Monday, February 29, 2016
Slate
Reihan Salam
How the Republican Party Created Donald Trump
At the core of Donald Trump’s political success this year are the grievances of a sizable and now vocal block of disaffected voters, many of them white and working-class, and a Republican Party that has sought and benefited from their support while giving them almost nothing tangible in return.
 
Saturday, March 5, 2016
The Washington Post
Dan Balz
Against
Republicans Have Only Themselves to Blame for Trump

Republicans thought sending a message was more important than beating Hillary Clinton and taking back the White House.

Friday, July 8, 2016
Cook Political Report
Charlie Cook
It’s Time for the Elites to Rise Up Against the Ignorant Masses
The Brexit has laid bare the political schism of our time.  It’s not about the left vs. the right; it’s about the sane vs. the mindlessly angry.
 
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Foreign Policy
James Traub
Dear Trump Apologists, Stop Whining About Elites When You’re Worse

In other words, millions of GOP voters chose to respond to failed elitism with something worse — aggressive, arrogant idiocy. 

Thursday, August 4, 2016
National Review
David French
Cruz Helped Create the Monster That Devoured Him
Ted Cruz helped create an environment where populist demagoguery would flourish on the right. 
 
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Roll Call
Matt Lewis
Did the Media Create Trump?

Had the public not responded to the Trump phenomenon, he would have quickly been relegated to the undercard debates and dispatched to the potter’s field of failed presidential candidates.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Politico
Jack Shafer
Spreading the Blame
Who Caused Trump?

There’s blame enough to go around.

Sunday, May 15, 2016
National Review
Ramesh Ponnuru
Don’t Blame the Republican Party for the Rise of Trump

Consider the five major planks of the “Everything is the fault of the Republican Party” argument.

Monday, May 23, 2016
BloombergView
Megan McArdle
The Eight Causes of Trumpism

However the Republican presidential primary turns out, the conditions that fostered the mogul’s rise have left their mark on the party—and America.

Monday, January 4, 2016
The Atlantic
Norm Ornstein
Why Economics Has Become Political Once Again

The central task of the political class of every major Western economy now is to sustain support for the outward-facing, market-based economic policies that have been the foundation of recent decades of prosperity. Are our politicians up to the job?

Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Brookings Institution
Richard Reeves
Trump Supporters
5 Myths About Trump Supporters

What Trump’s critics have been getting wrong about his coalition—and why it is costing them big at the polls.

Thursday, March 3, 2016
Politico
Scott Bland
Sanders, Trump, and the Rise of the Non-Voters

If you were targeting non-voters on the right, you would design a campaign that looked very much like Donald Trump’s. If you were targeting non-voters on the left, you would emphasize almost exactly the same issues as Bernie Sanders.

Friday, April 1, 2016
The New Yorker
Benjamin Wallace-Wells
The United States of Trump

An inside look at the voters who took over the Republican Party.

Monday, June 20, 2016
NBC
Benjy Sarlin
An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right

An explanation and defense of Trump’s alternative right supporters.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Breitbart
Allum Bokhari and Milo Yiannopoulos
Polls
Economic Hardship and Favorable Views of Trump

The data show that Americans who have a favorable opinion of Trump are slightly more likely to be employed and no more likely to be out of the labor force than those who see him unfavorably.

Friday, July 22, 2016
Gallup
Jonathan Rothwell
Less Than Half of Republicans Pleased with Trump as Nominee

Less than half of Republicans, 46%, are pleased that Donald Trump is their party's presidential nominee, while a slight majority, 52%, wish their party had nominated someone else.

Friday, August 19, 2016
Gallup
Frank Newport
Trump, Clinton and Americans Agree on Several Economic Issues

The candidates agree on the need to create more jobs, the need to spend more on infrastructure, and in their opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Gallup
Frank Newport
Trump Supporters Differ from Other GOP Voters on Foreign Policy, Immigration Issues

Supporters of Donald Trump differ substantially from other Republican voters in many of their foreign policy attitudes. And these differences extend to their views of immigration and government scrutiny of Muslims in the U.S.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Pew Research Center
Samantha Smith
Evangelicals Rally to Trump, Religious “Nones” Back Clinton

78% of white evangelical voters say they would vote for Trump if the election were held today, including about a third who “strongly” back his campaign.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Pew Research Center