The Realignment

When the dust clears, the Republican party will be the party of the middle class while the Democrats will be the party of the rich, poor, and public unions. It’s strange that it’s Donald Trump who took us here, but here we are. The Republican party will not be the party of idealistic nation-builders. It will unapologetically help some achieve peace through victory in ways that it thinks advance American interests and makes a Hobbesian world safer. Often this will involve helping some bad guys defeat other bad guys. The Democrats will be the party that works with the international community to craft peace treaties, while apologizing for America’s role in messing up a once peaceful world. Often this will result in unending war and suffering. The Republicans will be the party for people proud to be Americans. There’s a xenophobic edge to that right now, but Trump and other Republican leaders are already distancing themselves from Trump’s early nasty rhetoric and winning over some women and minorities. The 2016 Dems are struggling to answer Trump’s “Make America great” pitch because too many Dems scoff at the idea that America was ever great. The Republican party will move to the middle on social issues, meeting Americans where they are, counseling slow change, real tolerance, and respect for individuals and institutions on all sides. The Democrats are the party demanding radical change with no tolerance for dissent. Each party will have its dark underside. Among Republicans it’s bigots who hate women, Mexicans, gay people, Muslims and Jews. Among Democrats it’s bigots who hate whites, men, Christians and Jews. Those who want to be the new Nazis are Republicans. Those who think Jews are the new Nazis are Democrats. Personally I have far more confidence in America-loving Republicans to fight off their Jew-haters than I do in Democrats fighting off theirs. Most Republicans know to reject and fight Nazis, bigotry and authoritarianism. The same cannot be said about Democrats regarding Communists, bigotry and totalitarianism. But I digress. Look past the sound and the fury, the sideshow and excesses of the great media manipulator. Perhaps only such a demagogue could lead this change and get the message through to the American people. The Republican party is doing a reset. They are re-aligning themselves with the views, values and interests of the American middle class. It started mostly with white Christian men, but the Republicans will spend the next six months trying to undo some early damage, and appeal to all those who are proud to be American. The Republicans will stand strong (perhaps too strong) on Americans vs foreigners, and against political correctness. On other issues, they’ll move to the unoccupied middle. The Democrats’ problems are more systemic. They can’t run to the middle because they’re the party of all sides against the middle. Rich white social justice warriors and Black Lives Matter against the white patriarchy. Hillary has no message for two reasons. She is the white patriarchy. And there is no message that unites the Democrats and can win an election. “We hate hate” is less effective than the Left expected. Donald Trump’s Republican party will not be known for tax cuts for the rich, war-mongering in the Middle East, religious extremism, or cutting entitlements. It will be the party of the American middle. The middle class, the moderately educated, the flyover-country flag-wavers who are proud to be Americans. The party of natives and immigrants who love America and neither apologize for it nor wish to see it transformed. Trump’s excesses were the sideshow. The Republican party will heal. And perhaps win.