Republicans Unify Under Anti-Left Populism

• Trump and Vance unified the Republican party under a populist banner

• The Republican party is embracing a message that combines worker rights and traditional values

• An exodus of minorities from the Democratic Party is creating a broad coalition of normal Americans

The story

Republicans are riding a wave of excitement after Donald Trump  narrowly escaped with his life during last Saturday’s assassination attempt, drawing comparisons to the “Bull Moose” President Theodore Roosevelt, who was also shot on the campaign trail.

The enthusiasm continued with the electric nomination of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) for vice president during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee. Vance, a populist, Marine veteran, and author of the acclaimed Hillbilly Elegy is seen as a voice for disaffected Americans.

The tone of the RNC reflected the excitement of a changing party. The new GOP is embracing a populist message, strongly supporting tariffs, being pro-labor union, critical of big business, less concerned about traditional marriage and abortion, speaking to the needs of Americans affected by the fentanyl crisis, and building a rapidly growing coalition of working-class people of all races who value public safety and better schools.

The politics

Trump chose to bring the party together by inviting several of his former primary opponents to speak. They all discussed inflation, the economy, and unifying the Republican party in the face of divisive left-wing identity politics and the elite political class, of which the speakers are, ironically, all members.

Old-guard Republicans are unhappy with Trump’s move away from William F. Buckley-style fusionism, which is the marriage of social conservatism and economic libertarianism. “This is a British Tory platform … not a conservative platform. Trump is aiming right down the middle,” said former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and the New York Times  criticized the sycophancy on display at the RNC. Walz said Democrats don’t “check our dignity at the door and bend the knee.”

Walz further rebutted GOP criticisms of the economy, saying Biden “delivered on an economy that’s thriving,” accused Vance of being a Yale-educated elitist, and attacked Trump’s quest for “unfettered presidential power.”

The convention

After nine years, the GOP looks like Trump. He took a note from Barack Obama’s and Bernie Sanders’ playbooks by playing a populist tune to the chagrin of the establishment. Trump has long emulated populist Andrew Jackson, who fought powerful institutions during his tenure. Though at the convention, Trump diverged from Jackson's notoriously divisive style.

In their speeches, Trump’s rivals often draw a friend-enemy distinction, positioning working people and Republicans on one side and the identity-obsessed left, career bureaucrats, violent criminals, and illegal aliens on the other.

Trump’s former rival, former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), spoke about unifying and expanding the party because “Democrats…they’re putting our freedoms in danger.” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) railed against “an entrenched political class” and “immigration that stands apart or in contrast to our American values.”

Vivek Ramaswamy hammered home the unification message in one of the most electric speeches of the convention. “We’re in the middle of a national identity crisis,” he exclaimed while encouraging a return to traditional values. He bashed the “unelected bureaucrats in the deep state,” contrasting them with Trump as “the president who will actually unite this country.”

J.D. Vance emphasized the party’s move to economic nationalism. Calling America a “homeland,” he celebrated his hometown, which was “cast aside and forgotten by” elites and suffers from drug and alcohol addiction. He castigated President Biden for unnecessary wars and trade deals “that sent countless good jobs” overseas. He hails Trump as an economic savior who “answers to the working man.”

To illustrate Trump’s commitment to remaking the GOP into the party of the working class, he shocked the world by inviting Teamsters Union President Sean O’Brien. He declared that American workers are “being taken for granted” by giant corporations and “economic terrorism.” He made clear that the Republican Party’s opposition to unions and “corporate welfare” must end.

One of the most visceral speeches of the convention came from Madeline Brame, the mother of a military veteran murdered on the streets of New York City. Nearly screaming, she exclaimed, “Soft on crime prosecutors…the Democratic party that poor minorities have been loyal to for decades — they betrayed us!”

Why it matters

Religion, the liberal order, fundamental relationships like friendship and marriage, and trust in mainstream institutions are collapsing, creating confusion and meaninglessness among ordinary Americans. The new Republican message creates a coherent and orderly narrative about solving society’s problems in the face of hopelessness.

The Democratic coalition that got Obama elected is breaking down because the party is incapable of creating a unifying and appealing narrative. Instead, an old man, stuck in the past, is at the helm, telling a story about America that has not been true since the 1960s.

This false image of America is contrary to the growing number of working-class whites and minorities moving to the Republican Party who can’t stand political correctness and are far more interested in having safe streets, good schools, and an economy that works for them.