General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsReagan conservatism died with the election of Donald Trump.
Many Republicans are under the illusion that they can return anytime they want to the Reagan philosophy of government. At the moment, they are perfectly content to watch the Democrats run around with their hair on fire. Some have said that their new politics is nothing more than anti-anti-Trump philosophy. They are happy so long as the left is unhappy. There may be some truth to that?
But they have paid a big price for their loyalty to Trump. They have surrendered their loyalty to Ronald Reagan and his brand of small-government conservatism. They gave up without a fight.
No doubt, Republicans in future political races will call themselves "Reagan conservatives" but they cannot return to a home that has been dismantled and destroyed by a tyrant and dictator posing as a Republican. Reagan is dead. And so is his politics.
bigtree
(86,005 posts)...his entire economic policy was based on lies, meant to enrich the wealthy at the expense of poor and middle-class benefits, and his foreign policy was an opportunistic, right-wing imperialist mess.
What we're experiencing under Trump is what it would have been like if there was no Democratic party to confront Reagan in Congress and if his conservatism knew no bounds. It's not just Reaganism which is being inflated by this presidency and republican Congress and Senate, it's the full measure of republicanism, itself, it's extremes in full production and action.
kentuck
(111,110 posts)It worked for the Republicans for many years. After Trump, where do they go?
Initech
(100,099 posts)And it will get them nothing. Hell, it will get them less than nothing. It will be like dividing by zero.
Wounded Bear
(58,694 posts)What we have now is the natural progression that follows from 40 years of worshipping the Reagan mythology.
This is what the anti-Reagan coalition has been warning about of since the 80's. This is "trickle down" economics at its very basic core. The rich get insanely rich, and anybody who lost out on the genetic lottery or can't win the actual lottery is fucked.
This IS the Reagan legacy. Trump was, in many ways, inevitable as long as Reagan was held up on such a high pedestal.
shockey80
(4,379 posts)The Tea Party and then Trump filled the void.