Thread by @DKThomp

This Sean Wilentz essay in @nybooks is a fabulous history of Trump as the culmination of 70 years of Republican politics, rather than some wild departure from the party’s trajectory.

nybooks.com/articles/2019/…

@nybooks 1. He’s good on the familiar history, from the New Right of the late 1950s—which combined a distrust of the liberal international order with strong support for southern segregationists—to Pat Buchanan.

But he’s very VERY strong on the quietly Trumpy legacy of the GWB admin.

@nybooks 2. GWB might be a loud critic of Trump today. But let’s not forget that his administration pioneered, or accelerated, a style of anti-science, anti-expertise, anti-diplomacy politics and topped it off w/ a helping of old-fashioned bigotry.

Also, the constant, constant lying.

@nybooks 3. This is also familiar but benefits from reminding:

Some of the most prominent Republican NeverTrumpers today are culpable for Sarah Palin and the sound-and-fury-told-by-an-idiot brand of outrage theater politics, which found its most masterful performer in Trump.

@nybooks 4. Last, the corporatist wing of the party can wring their hands over the China trade war, or whatever else, but they’ve been bankrolling the GOP’s xenophobic wing for years.