Opinion | Did Trump Make Everything Progressive? (Published 2021)
His presidency pushed American institutions to the left. But they were moving that way anyway.
www.nytimes.com
"Instead, his administration’s mix of haplessness and menace was a great gift to progressivism, inspiring an anti-conservative reaction that extended through every walk of elite life, turning centrists into liberals and remaking liberalism into exactly the kind of progressive orthodoxy that conservatives most fear. Republicans got control of the Supreme Court out of the bargain, but in almost every other institution that matters, from Langley to the corporate boardroom, their position got much worse."
Will Trump and (far more importantly, Trumpism) turn out to be a great gift to the progressives? The answer, of course, is "we don't know yet".
But he sure as hell has created a backlash that could be strong enough to do it. Hell, I was concerned about this even before he elected:
August 13, 2016:
I guess it will depend on the fallout from Trump. What these people don't see (because talk radio never mentions this) is that their behavior is making it easier for the Dems to move the country Left. They're so proud of the smoking rubble they can't see the big picture.
May 18, 2017:
My personal nightmare scenario is playing out in real time: Trump is in such trouble so quickly that the Democrat party won't even NEED to go through its badly-needed Reformation. The Regressive Left is now waiting in the wings, licking its chops.
December 18, 2016:
Well, we'll see. For better or worse, it's pretty much on Trump in the short term. If he fucks up, the power in the Dems, the Regressive Left, will be able to grab it all back, every last crumb.
June 17, 2016:
What concerns me is that, in response to him, the country knee-jerks too far.