For decades, being a Republican meant
believing in conservative ideas like limited government,
free markets, and American exceptionalism.
America is freedom.
Freedom of speech, freedom of religion.
I’m a proud member of my party,
but I’m more than that.
I’m an American.
Even though Trump has pursued things that
make him seem like an old-school Republican,
like tax cuts and entitlement reform,
he continues to surround himself with advisers
who want to tear down the old GOP establishment.
So, what does it mean to be a Republican in the age of Trump?
And is Trumpism just a phase,
or could it be the beginning of a major realignment in
American politics?
To understand the changes taking place in
the Republican Party now, it helps to go back
to the last time the party went through a major transformation.
In the first half of the 20th century,
the GOP was more ideologically diverse
than it is today.
The party had many conservatives,
but also had liberal Republicans who supported things
like social security, infrastructure spending, and civil rights.
It was Eisenhower, a Republican,
who forcibly desegregated schools in the South.
But, in 1964, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater
shocked the political world when he won the
Republican nomination by running on an
unabashedly conservative platform.
If you listen to his acceptance speech now,
the rhetoric will feel familiar.
At the time, Goldwater was widely seen as a radical.
In fact, his victory in the Republican presidential primaries
was so controversial that Nelson Rockefeller, a moderate,
stood up during the convention and gave a blistering speech
denouncing Goldwater and his fellow conservatives.
These are people who have nothing in common with Americanism.
The Republican party must repudiate these people.
But, Goldwater’s brand of politics prevailed.
His book, the Conscience of a Conservative
was a bestseller in the 1960s and influenced a
whole generation of Republican leadership:
from Ronald Reagan, to George W. Bush, to Ted Cruz.
Goldwater’s conservative movement ended up
dominating Republican politics for 50 years.
Could Trumpism dominate the next 50?
So far, the GOP’s old guard
is entrenched enough that the Trump administration
is still pursuing some of its conservative policies—
from cutting the corporate tax rate, to repealing Obamacare.
But the old guard could eventually be replaced
as a new generation of mini-Trumps,
people in the mold of Steve Bannon and Steven Miller,
rise to positions of prominence in government and media.
Some high profile conservative pundits,
like Tucker Carlson, are already remaking themselves
in the image of Trump.
It's been pretty obvious for a while now
that the Trump-Russia story is essentially bogus.
So why are the other news channels still behaving
like this stupid little conspiracy tale
is the moral equivalent of the Nuremberg trials?
For now, the main issue that they face is that
their ideology isn't quite as clear cut as conservatism.
They don't have a best-selling pamphlet to inspire a new generation
like Goldwater's.
But there is a coherent philosophy that's starting to
be built around Trumpism.
The Trumpist Republicans want the GOP to be a more populist party.
They believe in economic nationalism,
meaning America should withdraw from the world stage
and put up trade barriers.
They oppose Paul Ryan-style fiscal conservatism,
and condemn costly military interventions,
like Bush's invasion in Iraq.
Many on the left and right want to write off
Trump as an anomaly in American politics.
And, to be fair, it’s hard to argue that
he’s really governed like a full-on populist nationalist so far.
But, political revolutions take time.
In 1964, Goldwater got destroyed,
winning only a few Southern states.
But, in the decades that followed,
Republicans built on Goldwater’s vision.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter
by using Goldwater’s playbook, and governed
based on many of his principles.
As we head towards the 2018 midterms,
we will get an early clue if Trumpism is here to stay.
Will Republicans run on Trump’s “America First” platform,
or return to the conservatism of Goldwater, Reagan, and Bush?
This is Unpresidented, a weekly series where
Atlantic writers explore what’s happening
in this new era of American politics.
Let us know what topic you want us to tackle next.
I’m McKay Coppins, thanks for watching.