Like most presidential elections, 2020 was called the “most consequential” in US history. Wrong, that would have required Bernie Sanders on the ballot. Biden is no Bernie and, after Trump’s apparent loss, Republicans are not moving to Canada. What’s consequential in 2020 is a GOP shift from serving “big bucks and big business” to protecting “median incomes and small businesses” – and this is the Trump legacy.
Trumpism is a next-gen synthesis of nationalism and populism; attracting disaffected Democrats and confounding GOP elites. Its core constituents are forgotten Americans who feel liberal elites are killing American dynamism and exceptionalism. Neuro-marketers know feelings determine votes, and Trump got 11,000,000 more voters to feel MAGA was needed in 2020 (up 17.4% from 2016). Even in defeat, Trump’s coattails were much longer than Biden’s.
There is no question MAGA is today’s major political movement; far greater than Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, or Sanders socialism. This movement got 19,700,000 votes in 1982 (Perot), 63,000,000 in 2016, 74,000,000 in 2020, and ousted 1,000 Democrats in 50 states during the Obama years. Turns out Dems forgot 87% of America is native-born and 66% didn’t go to college; the real situation that elected an outsider president in 2016.
Next-gen nationalism is a re-balancing of America away from more globalization toward a more integral domestic economy. This means on-shoring essential supply chains (e.g. pharmaceutical) for security and gainful employment, diffusing growth out of coastal cities (e.g. Seattle) into fly-over America, capital invested in US production to spur wage growth, and government spending on vocational education for everyday people – not just college for the top third.
Next-gen populism is a re-democratization of our constitutional republic in reaction to the arrogance of secular elites. To wit, 66% of Americans are Christian with a constitutional right – even in a pandemic – to go to church. 218,000,000 Christians know they’re the majority and resent Democrat governors and mayors for depriving them of sanctuary in their hour of greatest need.
As an economic movement, MAGA can only gain steam because new Americans (immigrants) want the American Promise (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness). Democrats foolishly think now-poor immigrants want universal basic income, but the main influx groups, Asians and Hispanics, want the dignity of a job (predictable income) and the status of achievement (discretionary spending).
Even as a cultural movement, MAGA appeals to Hispanic and Asian immigrants, who arrive with strong social traditions. Mostly Catholic Hispanics are indifferent to aggrieved feminists and LGBTQ rights. Indo-Asians believe strongly in educational achievement and two-parent homes. As these ethnic groups achieve middle-class status, they want great public schools and safe neighborhoods – not cancel culture.
Mr. Trump will be a vocal ex-president; giving interviews, holding rallies, and tweeting in opposition to Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer. Democrats and their media cronies can only whine. The record is Biden’s to defend, and a many Americans will confirm he’s a man of limited ability and a world of problems that here’s the deal and the fact of the matter cannot fix. Somewhere, Nikki Haley is picking out new colors for Air Force One. How cool is that?