For Part I, Click Here.
Contrast the lethargic initiative of Mr Trump leading to a “business as usual” policy mentality with the raw energy animating the American left. Right now, we are witnessing the equivalent of left wing tea party-style political renaissance. Millions took to the streets for the womens’ march after Donald Trump’s inauguration. Hundreds of thousands mobilized in the “March for our Lives” demanding gun control measures after a school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Many on the right complain that such activism cannot be used as a metric for electoral outcomes, especially considering that wealthy Democrat benefactors are the chief drivers behind this activism. Well, have any pro-Trump demonstrations since the inauguration come close to mobilizing such turnout? Of course not. Furthermore, even though the tea party protests of 2009 and 2010 had the backing of wealthy GOP donors, the massive turnout of angry suburban voters for tea party rallies was an effective barometer of the Republicans taking the house in the 2010 midterm elections. Put simply, political activism matters. Money behind such activism does not discount a presence of real desire for change among the populace.
The Womens’ March and the March for Our Lives are only the most publicized examples of the American left making their voices heard. Teachers’ Strikes in the heartland, in the reddest of states like West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona are upending austerity-minded Republican politics. In fact, I would not be surprised if many of these teachers actually voted for President Trump, even as they now fuel a reinvigorated, left-wing mass-mobilization, potentially shaping the future trajectory of American politics.
Even in the cultural space, a new way of far-left thinking is emerging, challenging both the Trump Administration and what this segment sees as the inadequacies of centrist Neoliberalism embodied by Democrat establishment figures like Hillary Clinton. Chapo Trap House, a quirky-named political podcast, attracts hundreds of thousands of listeners weekly. Just as the tea party bashed GOP establishment figures for being too liberal on issues like deficit spending and abortion, the hosts of Chapo Trap House, who claim to be a part of “the dirtbag left” reserve utmost vitriol for the Democrat party on the grounds of it being too far right on issues like economic inequality, universal healthcare and war. They despise liberal pop culture elitism, center-left think tanks, establishment wonk technocrats, Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Of course, this cultural space is a barometer of political outcomes, as the spike in the popularity of right-wing talk radio personalities like Glenn Beck before the 2010 midterm elections showed.
In closing, the Trump presidency looks to be falling significantly short of Mr. Trump’s vows that he alone could fix what he saw as a nation in dramatic decline with immigrants pouring across the border, a massive crime wave and an aloof political elite. The undramatic nature of Mr. Trump’s governance stems from his lack of initiative. He’d rather be at Mar a Lago than understanding the finer points of health care legislation. He’d rather have Fox News personalities tell him what a great job he’s doing on TV than listen to chief diplomats weighing the pros and cons of the Iran nuclear deal. Meanwhile, the grass roots left wing is animated with its own populist insurgent rage that will likely pay off huge dividends in 2018 given the power of seething, raw anger in contemporary American politics.
Beyond the far-left bringing Congress to Democtratic control this year, I do not expect dramatic policy from the Trump Administration going forward. Sure, Mr. Trump may say a few things that command what he most values-attention and high ratings-before he drifts on with his hyper-short attention span to the next issue. He will diss Putin on Twitter, or praise him, whatever works. He will diss the Chinese president, and in the same sentence brag about winning the electoral college. He will fire more of his staff on Twitter. I don’t think any future drama will affect the actual life of, say, a White working-class middle aged auto worker in Ohio (in other words, Trump’s base that brought him to power). At the end of the day, these shenanigans don’t really impact anyone in America, no matter the breathless media hype. We have heard a lot of talk about fake news. With Donald Trump, we may be witnessing a fake presidency.
