Trumpism is here to stay

But just over a month after he left the White House, Donald Trump himself now hints that he will run again.

“I may even decide to defeat them a third time,” the former president said during Sunday’s speech at CPAC, the American conservative movement’s equivalent of Almedalen Week.

To cheers from the audience, the 74-year-old also said that Joe Biden had the most disastrous first month as president in modern times, that Republicans who voted for the Supreme Court will destroy the party, and that “everyone knows” that the Democrats used the pandemic as an excuse to steal the elections.

Does it sound familiar to you?

According to Albert Einstein, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

But Donald Trump does not seem to intend to change either himself or his rhetoric. On the other hand, he says he intends to stay within the Republican Party and “unite” it, which in practice probably means freezing those who do not align with his ranks.

Like the intimidation the 17 courageous Republicans who voted against him in the Supreme Court process were subjected, dissenters will now be exposed to hatred, threats and primary rivals loyal to Trump.

Some observers have portrayed the actions of Republican lawmakers under the Supreme Court as a trend-breaking factor, as a sign of Donald Trump’s diminishing control over the party.

But we must remember that he had 244 of the 261 Republicans in both houses behind him, even though the votes were on an attack on his own workplace and took place after the president had resigned.

That says it all about strength in the grassroots movement that the former real estate mogul has built. That says it all about who won the Republican Civil War.

In other words, we should stop viewing Donald Trump’s political program as a parenthesis in American history. Trumpism is here to stay, regardless of whether its author will be the party’s presidential candidate in 2024 or not.

The most important difference compared to traditional Republican politics is that Trumpism is primarily directed at the working class. This was pointed out by Colin Dueck, a professor of politics at George Mason University, during a seminar at the Institute for Foreign Policy last week.

Politically, voters are not as concerned about budget deficits as traditional Republicans and are in favor of maintaining current levels of social security, according to Professor Dueck.

Trumpism also stands out for being more nationalist, isolationist, and protectionist. In addition to trade disputes and opposition to immigration, Donald Trump has made an important point of not starting any more wars and bringing home soldiers from foreign posts.

Trumpism was obviously enough not quite for Republicans in the 2020 presidential election, where the pandemic distorted the competition. But the demographic development speaks against the party even in the long term.

According to polls, up to 65 percent of young “Gen Z” voters voted for Joe Biden in November. Even among minorities, who make up a growing proportion of the electorate, a clear majority voted for the Democrat.

This means that Republicans will also have an uphill battle in the next election, especially if the party’s more moderate candidates are exposed to challengers from the Trump-sponsored primary.

Without center candidates, it is highly doubtful that the party can retain its traditional voters, much less attract independents or Democrats on its own initiative.

The transformation of the Republicans it will have effects even outside the country’s borders. One serious is that we have probably seen the end of the cross-party consensus on foreign and security policy that has prevailed in the United States since World War II.

This creates greater uncertainty about the future role of the United States in the world.

Frida wallnor