Stephen K. Bannon and two of his longtime benefactors are putting together a political coalition designed to ensure that the victory of a Republican insurgent in the Alabama Senate primary this week was just the beginning of the surprises that await the party establishment. Mr. Bannon brings to the effort […] 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 »
For those in the Party of Trump, the Republicans — not the president — are to blame
… Granville County has long been a Democratic stronghold, but it was one of six rural counties in North Carolina that flipped from voting twice for Barack Obama to voting for Trump last year. Local Democrats blame the flip on low turnout, especially among African Americans who make up a […] Read more »
Muted backlash to Trump’s bipartisanship signals warning for GOP
… The old rules of GOP politics held that any Republican who stepped out of line to seek compromise with Democrats risked immediate attack for ideological heresy, or worse, squishiness and weakness. But Trump’s call for a “much stronger coming together” with Democrats last week earned him little direct public […] Read more »
How Big Is The Bannon Wing Of The Republican Party?
… After Bannon was fired, he said he was going to “war” against the president’s enemies, including some in the administration itself. Bannon, moreover, represented a clear ideological wing within the Trump White House and in the GOP electorate more broadly. If Bannon wages a media campaign against Trump, or […] Read more »
Trump’s Populism Isn’t Popular — But That’s On Him, Not Bannon
What if upon taking office in January, President Trump had carefully balanced the insurgent influence of Steve Bannon, his chief strategist (now gone), with the establishment-friendly approach of Reince Priebus, his chief of staff (now gone) — and governed as a kinder, gentler, more media-savvy populist? … Instead, almost the […] Read more »