Even when Democrats dominated the so-called Solid South, the GOP showed strength in mountain areas of the region. Northwestern Arkansas, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina and western Virginia all had substantial Republican sympathies. But now that the national Republican Party has transitioned from the Party of Lincoln to the party […] Read more »
Can the Republican Party Keep Its Coalition Together?
Donald Trump and the Republican Congress this week are straining every fraying seam in their party’s coalition. In just days, Trump’s White House has advanced aggressively nationalistic initiatives on trade and immigration, while also starting an incendiary fight with protesting NFL players. Each of these confrontations has energized elements of […] Read more »
The Trump Voter Paradox
Roy Moore’s decisive victory over Luther Strange in the Republican Senate primary runoff on Tuesday in Alabama confirms — as I have reported before — that many Republican voters have a strong sense of white identity, that they harbor high levels of racial resentment and that they sometimes exhibit authoritarian […] Read more »
After Alabama, GOP anti-establishment wing declares all-out war in 2018
The stunning defeat of President Trump’s chosen Senate candidate in Alabama on Tuesday amounted to a political lightning strike — setting the stage for a worsening Republican civil war that could have profound effects on next year’s midterm elections and undermine Trump’s clout with his core voters. The GOP primary […] Read more »
An Accidental President Charts a Purposeful Course
It’s a popular refrain that President Trump and his administration are ineffectual and unable to achieve their goals. If you measure by legislation passed, that’s pretty much on target. … But if you widen the lens to other areas, it turns out that Trump and his administration have made, and […] Read more »
America Wasn’t Built for Humans
From time to time, I’ve wondered what it must be like to live in a truly tribal society. Watching Iraq or Syria these past few years, you get curious about how the collective mind can come so undone. What’s it like to see the contours of someone’s face, or hear […] Read more »