Ever since Richard Nixon coined the term “silent majority” in 1969, commentators have been obsessed with debating this voting bloc’s contours and character. … The silent-majority concept is inextricably intertwined with backlash politics of the sort promoted by Trump. The concept was perhaps best explained by historian Rick Perlstein, who […] Read more »
Why an Assault Weapons Ban Hits Such a Nerve With Many Conservatives
… Weapons of mass death, and the submissive fear they engender, put teeth on that shrinking minority’s entitled claim to indefinite power. Without the threat of violence, what have they really got? Votes? Sooner or later, they won’t have enough, and they know it. Nearly every Republican policy priority lacks […] Read more »
You Are What You Watch? The Social Effects of TV
Other than sleeping and working, Americans are more likely to watch television than engage in any other activity. A wave of new social science research shows that the quality of shows can influence us in important ways, shaping our thinking and political preferences, even affecting our cognitive ability. CONT. Jonathan […] Read more »
Trump Relies on Populist Language, but He Mostly Sides With Corporate Interests
History will record last week as a moment when President Trump turned to raw racial appeals to attack a group of nonwhite lawmakers, but his attacks also underscored a remarkable fact of his first term: His rhetorical appeals to white working-class voters have not been matched by legislative accomplishments aimed […] Read more »
Ross Perot brought us the tea party — and President Trump
Populism is the Old Faithful of American politics, erupting at intervals — from President Andrew Jackson railing against the “giant Augean stable” of Washington corruption to William Jennings Bryan’s “cross of gold” speech to Pat Buchanan’s “America First” tagline. What they all had in common was a vision of a […] Read more »
How Ross Perot led the way for Donald Trump
Businessman and two-time presidential candidate Ross Perot died Tuesday at the age of 89. Perot’s life was more than just being a two-time non-major-party presidential candidate, but his campaigns changed the political landscape during his life and are influential to this day. … Perot showed that a populist businessman outsider […] Read more »