Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Michael D. Purzycki's avatar

If they keep gaining support among working class blacks and Hispanics, it would not surprise me if, a century after FDR’s first victory, the Republicans were the new New Deal party:

-Strong in the South while gaining ground in the North

-Jacksonian at heart

-Defenders of a diverse working class (Hispanics now are about where the Irish were then)

-Also friendly to (some) business interests (Lind has written about how Southern and Western elites developed their regions by being part of FDR’s coalition)

-Benefitting from backlash to immigration (Krugman has written about how mass immigration in the 30s would have made the New Deal impossible)

If the Democrats remain dominated by highly educated cultural progressives, this is a very plausible scenario.

Expand full comment
Up From The Slime's avatar

Do not confuse pro-union with pro-labor. There was a time in the USA when labor unions looked out for the interests of their rank-and-file members, but today many unions prioritize political goals that have nothing to do with labor and everything to do with advancing an outright Socialist agenda (what does Gaza have to do with UAW contracts?). Democrats should not waste time on dealing with the pro-labor Right and should instead worry that so much of American labor (not the unions, but the actual workers) are pro-Right.

Expand full comment
2 more comments...

No posts