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?

David Frum
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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

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

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Ted Cruz helped create an environment where populist demagoguery would flourish on the right.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

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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

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Spreading the Blame

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Sunday, May 15, 2016

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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

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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

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Wednesday, August 24, 2016

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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

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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

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Benjamin Wallace-Wells

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Monday, June 20, 2016

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Benjy Sarlin

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

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

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Allum Bokhari and Milo Yiannopoulos

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Friday, July 22, 2016

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Friday, August 19, 2016

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Frank Newport

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Tuesday, August 23, 2016

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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

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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

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