Read this simply as a political strategy blueprint for “how to win.” Avoid getting wrapped up in whether you agree or not. It is a worryingly solid strategy. What happens if a left-wing populist version of Trump figures this out? A left-wing, competent Trump-like figure is likely more dangerous to the Republic than the present moment.
“In all of his machinations, Trump presumes that if 21st century politics is just a battle for attention, then an ever-more spectacular culture war can overwhelm Americans’ senses and distract us from the smell of our money burning up as GOP donors quietly feast on policy favors and the president enriches himself.
…This repackaged version of deregulation is the same election-losing algorithm Democrats used in the 2024 campaign and that they’ve been amplifying for a generation: On economics, it’s incrementalism, technocratic neoliberalism, and corporatism that placates donors; on culture, it’s identitarianism, social libertarianism, and lawn-sign liberalism that generates plenty of Internet memes for YouTubers and Instagram influencers — but so often alienates voters.
…This is a truism that most Americans face in their daily lives. They see it in their credit card bills funding higher bank earnings, their rents fueling bigger landlord windfalls, and their health care premiums financing insurers’ profit margins.That frustration makes the anti-oligarchy message a far stronger counter-argument to MAGA than Abundance Bros’ technocratic complaints about zoning regulations or #Resistance Liberals’ paeans to democracy and identity. Moreover, unlike what Democratic leaders are offering, anti-oligarchy politics offers a direct contrast with Trump not just on economic matters — but on cultural terms.
Unlike the Big Tech-courting Abundance acolytes, anti-oligarchy is a challenge to the titans sitting in the front row of Trump’s inauguration. It’s a challenge that doesn’t just mock Trump-aligned moguls’ obscene wealth, but also makes a pro-family, anti-predator case against their business models that target kids, their surveillance pricing schemes that target your purchases, and their censorship crusades that target their critics.
https://www.levernews.com/how-to-combat-americas-culture-warrior-in-chief/
