Facing Reality and Moving Forward

Normally I skip the op-ed pages of the power-worshiping New York Times, but a recent piece by R.R. Reno caught my eye. Reno, a political and religious conservative, edits First Time, a neoconservative journal.

In his article, “Republicans Are Now the ‘America First’ Party,” Reno contends that Donald Trump understood that unfair free trade deals, immigration, and the “broad and deep impact of globalization on America’s economy and culture” deeply vexed many voters. These were the ominous developments that stoked Trump’s populist rhetoric. An angry backlash against the New York/Washington establishment carried the day in key electoral states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.

According to Reno, Trump’s juxtaposing of globalism and Americanism, or what Reno describes as “patriotic solidarity,” won the election for Trump. That is, enough voters strongly resented the elite, neoliberal globalists (think Clinton and Obama), believing they cared not one whit about them.

Prior to the election, the Deep State, or unelected real power, favored Hillary Clinton’s tried and tested corporate reliability. Had the Constitution allowed a third term, Barack Obama’s fervent goosing of golden goose globalism would have garnered their support. On the latter: In March, 2009, President Obama brought some dozen leading financiers to the White House. A Rogues Gallery of people responsible for the meltdown in 2008, all of them entered the meeting with genuine trepidation. After the…

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