Ben Sasse of Nebraska, whom he called an “arrogant academic.” Kaufmann set off fireworks recently when he used a Trump appearance in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to rail against a fellow Republican, former college president and current Sen.
“We really fit what he was standing for-pushing back against the establishment, establishment Democrats and establishment Republicans, and trying to find the working-class voter.” “Populism really probably is a better explanation for the election” in Iowa than party or religious influence, Kaufmann said. In Iowa, Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said Trump’s nearly 10-point victory relied in no small part on shared distaste for the elites the president spent his campaign scorning. Among the key states were Iowa and Wisconsin. Helpfully for Trump, the states he needed to turn his way in November already possessed strong veins of populism, making their voters more receptive than those in other states to Trump’s message. The only coast with political power at the time was in the East the West Coast has since become another symbol of elitism, particularly when the gaze is fixed on California and Hollywood. In early American history, populist sentiments led farmers to rebel against more urban coastal elites. What has mattered, he said, is an objection to power being centralized in government or among distant leaders. Bell, author of the 1992 book “Populism and Elitism,” who describes himself as a populist despite his education at an elite university, Columbia. “It is a world view, it really isn’t dependent on education status or income,” said Jeffrey L. Now, as then, who and what represents the distasteful elite is almost entirely in the eye of the beholder. But they were able to persuade followers that they shared sentiments more powerful than social standing. The Colonial leaders who bucked British control were the elite of their day, wealthier and more educated than those they led into the Revolution. That the man fueling it arose from elite social status is not uncommon either. Such us-against-them positioning has been common during populist eras in American politics for generations. “The good news is the people get it, even if the media doesn’t.” “We have accomplished so much, and we are being given credit for so little,” he said Friday as he announced his new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci. Trump has used both specific insults and the specter of powerful and mysterious external forces - he often describes them as an undefined “they” - arrayed against common Americans, with him as chief defender. “But he’s also the guy from Queens rebelling against the know-it-all smarty pantses from Manhattan.” “He’s a billionaire, and therefore a member of a certain type of elites,” Gage said. As telling as his political and policy postures is his language - who else but Trump would angrily call his predecessor’s signature program “a big fat ugly lie” - and a perpetual sense of victimization. To voters listening for them, Trump’s anti-elitism signals have blared. “Trump has taken it to a whole new level by not only attacking clueless elites but the entire idea of expertise.” He has blamed vaccines for autism, despite the scientific debunking of that notion.Įxcoriating elites “is classic populist language,” said Yale historian Beverly Gage. He has alleged, without proof and contrary to both Democratic and Republican officials in key states, that millions of illegal voters cast ballots last year. Trump has refused to accept the judgment of intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. The last has played a large role in raising questions about Republican proposals to repeal and replace Obamacare, leading to a furious White House assault on its competence. Trump has taken particular aim at entities that could counter his power, which has helped stoke the ardor of his political backers.Īmong his targets so far: the government’s intelligence agencies, the media, foreign allies, the Department of Justice, establishment politicians, scientists and the Congressional Budget Office. Yet for Trump and his allies, a war on elites has been central to the campaign which put him in the presidency and has maintained the loyalty of his core voters. Trump lived before his inauguration in a gold-plated home in the sky above New York’s Fifth Avenue, a billionaire’s luxurious domain. The rhetoric against elites came from two men who would seem to be card-carrying members of the club: LaPierre made more than $5 million in 2015, the most recent year for which his compensation was publicly released.
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