This is an opinion column
Today’s Republican Party has come a long way from the era of Ronald Reagan. I can go on and on about my conservative principles, but most Americans trying to make ends meet aren’t interested. The importance of maintaining democratic norms does not resonate with parents whose children are unsafe at school. A line mechanic sent to work in Mexico cannot stand my defense of free trade. Donald Trump may disrupt American politics, but at least he’s not telling American workers to have their cake and eat it too.
“The best plan for the future is to get really, really rich,” one of my former employers quipped. I understood the joke, but I didn’t fully understand the truth of the matter. Three-quarters of Americans report living paycheck to paycheck. For most people, planning for the future is a luxury. If you’re just working to break even and support your family, your philosophy and policies are someone else’s business.
By that standard, most Americans have little patience for people to ponder principles.
Trump is rising while Vice President Kamala Harris is in decline because he is actually a populist and Harris plays one on TV. Trump is a billionaire who attacks many of his critics and acts incoherently. I couldn’t understand the appeal for years. As a conservative, I liked some of his policies, but the ego and confusion are still a tough pill to swallow.
In the summer of 2023, President Trump said something that stuck with me. “At the end of the day, they’re not coming after me,” Trump told the Atlanta crowd. “They’re coming after you, and I’m just getting in the way.”
It connected like a right hook to the jaw. While pundits like me wax poetic about ideological coherence, President Trump is speaking to all Americans who fear they will be left behind. These Americans are wrestling with cold reality, not political philosophy. For all his faults, Mr. Trump is focused on significant political change, but he is not getting any of the headlines he deserves.
For a generation, the Democratic Party represented America’s blue-collar class. From 1996 to 2023, the percentage of Democratic voters with at least a college degree more than doubled, from 22% to 45%. Republican voters are also becoming more educated, but only 35% have a college degree.
Education is directly correlated to the types of jobs Americans have. It also provides information about the issues they are most concerned about.
As of September, health care and Supreme Court appointments rank higher than the economy for Harris supporters, as does abortion. Meanwhile, the top concern for Trump supporters is the economy, followed by immigration and violent crime.
Working-class Americans want safe communities and stable jobs that won’t be taken over by cheap immigrant labor. Frankly, most of these voters don’t care about your pronouns, toxic masculinity, or the temperature of the planet in 500 years.
If Trump can solve these core problems, voters will forgive his narcissism and bizarre personality.
What should evangelical Christians do who are concerned that President Trump is not passionately opposed to abortion? Fiscal conservatives certainly won’t find a champion in Trump. His approach to tariffs gives free trade economists hives. He has a weak relationship with the truth, and even if he manages to succeed, he probably won’t even sing in church.
President Trump is willing to bet that the majority of concerned Republican voters are not upset enough to vote for Harris. People who do this are not welcome among Republicans, and even among Democrats who support the Republican Party, it is a partisan novelty. Trump would happily trade that crowd for black men who suddenly realized Trump might have more to offer than Harris’ political pandering and Barack Obama’s nagging.
Make phone calls to avoid contacting Trump. He is a billionaire who leaves his name on a skyscraper. This guy is your typical country club Republican. At least he owns it. He will tell everyone who will listen that he is the most consistent genius of all time and also happens to be the “father of IVF.” He thinks that Reagan was a pretty dignified president. President Trump also likes Abraham Lincoln, but believes the Civil War probably would not have happened if he had been president at the time.
It strikes me that many of the people who hate Trump spend a lot of their time telling the American people what they should care about, instead of paying close attention to what they actually do. noticed. Make fun of Trump. Please point out the strange things he says. Make a list of his lies. Please chase him who broke the law. Much of the Democratic focus is on stopping President Trump rather than helping Americans in need.
President Trump, on the other hand, has positioned himself as a defender of average Americans against a burdensome federal bureaucracy and an incompetent political class.
Principles are important, but without them nothing will work. We are not wise defenders of our republic if our ideas and values are not connected to the actual, day-to-day needs of our fellow Americans. We are simply a political chorus of gongs and cymbals, increasingly disconnected from the American people.
Smith is a recovering political lawyer with four boys, two dogs, a bearded dragon, and a very patient wife. He is a partner in a media company, a business strategy expert, and a regular on talk radio. Send your outrage or disagreement to csmith@al.com or @DCameronSmith X or @davidcameronsmith’s thread.
