Introduction
Democrats in the United States are eagerly anticipating that, as the effects of President Donald Trump’s “Great and Beautiful Bill” become apparent, his working-class supporters will abandon him in disillusionment. However, it’s more likely that many will continue to believe he is on their side.
The Republican Party’s Unique Approach
Unlike other Western political forces, the US Republican Party stands out. While Democrats, British Conservatives, and German Social Democrats embraced austerity in recent decades to curb public debt, Republicans never genuinely sought fiscal reduction. Despite campaigning against “big government” from Nixon to Reagan and Bush, they inflated deficits with tax cuts for the wealthy and massive military spending once in power.
Trump: The Post-War Republican Essence
Donald Trump embodies the post-war Republican. By leveraging the allure of tech giants, stablecoins, low corporate taxes, and the threat of tariffs—like his predecessors—he bet on increasing deficits to achieve a Republican goal: triggering enough austerity frenzy in Congress to cut Social Security and Medicaid.
Trump’s Tax Plan: A New Era of Austerity
Trump’s tax plan is extraordinary, even for the unrestricted class warfare standards of Republican politics. It discards old austerity pretexts (“fiscal responsibility,” “debt reduction”) in favor of the true goal: dismantling state support for the majority while enriching a few.
The Shift in American Workers
Unlike Reagan-era Democrats who benefited from higher average worker wages while maintaining jobs amid massive job losses, Trump’s supporters have no such luxury. Post-2008 financial crisis, American capitalism changed forever. Securing bank baiards while pushing more secure, high-quality workers into precarious, low-paying jobs without prospects became the norm.
Trump’s Appeal to Disaffected Workers
Against the backdrop of the Clintons’ Wall Street romance, Obama’s bank bailouts, and Biden’s strategy of telling struggling people that the Democrats had achieved an “excellent” economy, Trump capitalized on working-class rage. He only needed vague, incoherent notions of a “broken” country and an “slaughter” inflicted by selfish, irresponsible elites on people like them to attract voters the Democrats had long abandoned.
Key Questions and Answers
- Q: Will Trump’s working-class base abandon him when they feel the impact of his tax plan? A: Democrats hope so, but it’s uncertain. Trump’s base may not revolt as American workers didn’t during Reagan’s era when their collective prospects sank while the rich grew wealthier through federal borrowing.
- Q: What sustains Trump’s support despite his policies harming his base? A: Trump sells two intertwined dreams: crypto-wealth reflecting a novel assault on the common good (privatizing the dollar) and an America resurgent and globally dominant, shedding the Vietnam War baggage.
- Q: Who will bear the brunt of anger when Trump’s scam is exposed? A: If Trump’s crypto-tree and global prosperity narrative protect him, a new populist narrative might emerge from the accumulated rage.
The Author
Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek Finance Minister, leads the MeRA25 party and teaches Economics at the University of Athens.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 1995 – 2025
www.project- syndicate.org
