The Republican Party and Plutocratic Populism

The Republican Party is controlled by the rich and the super rich. The Party elites like being rich and super rich; they want to be taxed less and get even richer, and to that end they want to cut government spending except to support their own interests, and they’ve shown that they don’t much care about the problems of the middle class and the poor and disadvantaged. Because these elites comprise only a small minority of voters, to gain and retain power they have had to entice large numbers of voters whose economic interests would be better served under Democratic administrations. 

Republican elites succeeded in accomplishing their aims by appealing to people for whom possession of firearms is of great importance, people for whom particular religious teachings are of great importance, and people motivated by their resentment of African Americans, immigrants, recipients of pubic assistance other than themselves, and those whom they have been led to believe are dangerous radicals, socialists, liberals, or leftists.

Aided by highly partisan right-wing media and donations from very rich donors, Republican elites succeeded in patching together a winning coalition of these disparate groups. The brand of political faith they successfully marketed has been well characterized as plutocratic populism. They’ll keep pitching it as long as it works, and, as long as it works, they will keep getting richer at the expense of everyone else.