The thing that isn't discussed enough about Christopher Caldwell's Age of Entitlement is how the GOP, independent of its ability to win elections, has either done nothing to prevent the country's leftward drift or has been completely complicit in that, from Reagan to Trump
The GOP's role from Reagan to Trump has been to reconcile/delude Americans to the death of their country with the illusion of victory. The GOP is "good" Civil Rights Act party, the Democrats are the "bad" ones, and Caldwell argues that they aren't different
Take Caldwell's criticisms of Reagan as reconciling conservatives to defeat and apply them to Trump and it is identical. Caldwell's criticism of Reagan's role in the MLK holiday applies to Trump and Juneteenth
The thread that runs through Caldwell's book: the GOP wins elections on legitimate grievances, lulls Americans into a false sense of victory, the country goes left anyway, and often they facilitate that shift. Sure, gas is cheaper--but you still lose your country. Economy!
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