Regime mouthpieces The New York Times and Washington Post have both published recent pieces crediting Donald Trump with a political realignment that goes beyond racial backlash, contrary to what leftists have long argued.
Liberal writer and Trump critic Thomas Edsall conceded that Trumpism has "found fertile ground across a broad swath of the electorate" in a recent New York Times article.
The article, titled, "The Unsettling Truth About Trump’s First Great Victory,” warns liberal readers that Trump represents something "beyond racial resentment" that is "more powerful than many recognize or acknowledge."
Edsall attributes Trump's appeal to a charismatic, anti-establishment "nihilism."
"That Trump could capture the hearts and minds of these voters suggests that whatever he represents beyond racial resentment — anger, chaos, nihilism, hostility — is more powerful than many recognize or acknowledge. Restoring American politics to an even keel will be far tougher than many of us realize."
Edsall is right about one thing: Trump undoubtedly evokes something powerful.
While Edsall call it "chaos" or "nihilism," his supporters would probably say it's simply patriotism -- and his willingness to fight radical leftists who hate the country.
The Washington Post, that other regime mouthpiece, credited Trump from a different angle, saying he forged a new "consensus" in Washington that is hostile to China and free trade, and wary of entitlement reform.
Author Charles Lane called Trump "one of the most divisive, destabilizing figures in U.S. history" but also "one of the most influential," pointing to cooling relations with Beijing and the GOP's refusal to touch Social Security.
Trump "has helped marginalize a business lobby, formerly strong in both parties, that favored economic engagement with Beijing," Lane wrote.
"This transformation seems likely to last through the next presidential election and beyond," he wrote.
Indeed, the potency of Trumpism is demonstrated by the fact that even Joe Biden has tried to cast himself as a populist advocate for the "forgotten" heartland, however implausibly.
Many have ascribed Trump's success to his adoption of a broadly popular economic message to Americans left behind by globalization, one he has continued to trumpet by defending Social Security and Medicare, in defiance of GOP orthodoxy.
However one defines Trumpism, it's clear that it's left an impact. And Trump himself doesn't seem to be finished yet, with new polls showing him expanding his lead in the Republican primary.
