Obviously my style of Republicanism is not in vogue right now. The Reagan vision of free trade, pro-immigration etc. While the economic data shows clearly that trade increases growth, and thus a higher standard of living, it also does leave people behind and that can't be ignored. Trump appealed to many of those people. On paper 'America first' sounds great, I mean who isn't for America? But tariffs retard growth. Tariffs aren't going to lead us back to a 1950's style economy. Technological advancement has made sure of that. So I acknowledge there needs to be a balancing act in the way we help those left behind.
Just my opinion of course but I don't think Trump broadened the base. I've read a fair bit the argument that Republicans should be a more working class party. But the reality is the white working class isn't a growing portion of the population. More young people are going to school and the country is diversifying. The GOP needs to be able to appeal to those folks and I don't believe we're doing that.
What a refreshing, honest, and well-informed synopsis of the current political system. Thank you.
My take:
Both (D)s and (R)s have abandoned those blue-collar workers left behind as globalization and automation coincided. The (D)s pushed college education. That's great but a lot of blue-collar workers have no interest or ability. (R)s pushed punishments on trading partners and told blue-collar workers that their lack of good jobs at their skill level was because (D)s sold them out to foreign countries for cheaper labor. Both are wrong.