1. The parts of corporate America that have any basic understanding of history and political philosophy are, I hope, having an internal debate right now about Trump.
2. One one hand & in the short term they're thinking, WE'RE IN THE MONEY!!!!
On the other hand & in the long term, "this guy is a threat to the existing global order, the US constitutional order, & basic social order, all of wch are necessary pre-conditions for us MAKING MONEY!!"
On the other hand & in the long term, "this guy is a threat to the existing global order, the US constitutional order, & basic social order, all of wch are necessary pre-conditions for us MAKING MONEY!!"
3. Anecdotal evidence in regard to this. Someone I know works for an accounting firm that helps really rich people pay as few taxes as possible. In 2016, almost all of their co-workers voted for Trump for $$$ reasons. Today, almost all say they'd never vote for Trump again.
4. Why have they changed their minds? Originally they acted from pure self-interest, "Trump will lower taxes for rich people. I and the people I know are rich, therefore Trump." They overlooked all of the other stuff (as you can probably tell, none of these folks are POC).
5. What changed their minds was the chaos, the unpredictability, the moral nihilism, the rank ignorance, the mobbish hatefulness of Trump and his followers. When I was told this it took everything I had not to scream HOW DID THEY NOT SEE THIS COMING!?!? WE KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!
6. But this attests to the power of a) economic self-interest and b) the ability of well-off white people to believe that "things are normal, nothing seriously disruptive or bad can happen here."
7. I'm not counting on a rational corporate elite to save America. I am, however, curious as to how many well-off folks who have always voted for a "low tax, low regulation" agenda are now starting to question whether such short-term gains are worth the long-term disruption.
8. There are plenty of conservatives out there who understand that basic socio-political order is a necessary precondition for capitalism--folks like David Brooks, Jonah Goldberg, Ross Douthat, etc. We need well-funded schools. We need universities. We need healthy citizens, etc.
9. Generally, such folks have focused more on the importance of changing culture--fostering greater "personal responsibility" & stronger nuclear families. They favor private rather than political action cause they think state action in the private sphere threatens liberty.
10. I've been surprised, however, by how little such conservatives have said about the threat wch Trumpist political culture poses to basic social order. They seem more concerned about "radical leftist mobs" than the mobs on the right (which are now bound up with state power).
11. These conservative institutionalists (as opposed to the more libertarian/anarchist types), IMHO, could be doing much more to explain to their fellow, well-off, white conservatives just why Trump poses a threat. It's not just that he's vulgar and distasteful.
12. It's that he's fostering a politics that threatens to dismantle the basic institutional underpinnings (rule of law, free press, elections, social comity, fact-based decision making) that, according to traditional conservatism, are essential background conditions 4 capitalism.
13. Perhaps such folks would say Trump is a symptom not a cause. Perhaps this was the case in 2015. But now that Trump is the primary spokesperson and "thought leader" for American conservatism, he's now a significant change agent.
14. It's time for the conservative thought leaders who have any chance of being heard by the community of rank and file, self-described conservatives to start putting their Burkean money where their professedly Burkean mouths are
