The New Trumpism: Culture War Is Overrated

MAGA goes anti-anti-woke.

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Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake greets supporters during an event with former U.S. President Donald Trump on April 4, 2023 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Watching right-wing populists downplay the importance of cultural revanchism is like watching communists downplay the importance of seizing the means of production.

Without that, what’s the point?

I can’t imagine Donald Trump shooing his fans away from their grievances against “wokeness” any more than I can imagine Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez scolding her own admirers for caring too much about redistribution.

But that’s the funny thing about this era in politics. Wondrous things happen routinely that one would never dream might occur.

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  1. Dlwondercheck

    That CBS News poll is pictured is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen, or at least seen this morning.
    So the margin of error is +/- 5.4, which means their sample size was so small that the poll is worthless - it is not representative of anything (any poll with a margin of error over 3.0 should be ignored. that's basic undergraduate statistics, if I remember correctly).

    But look at the questions - they were given only four pre-written alternatives to choose from - "Challenges woke ideas" - a poorly defined, subjective term (what is woke? varies from person to person), and three other ridiculous straw men that allow no nuance or alternative. Very few republican voters oppose ANY gun regulation. Its no wonder that the woke question got 85% of responses.

    I would advise the author to please not use ridiculous, poor quality "data" like this to support any arguments in the future. Just my .02

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      Quasimodo

      The CBS poll picture states these were the top answers, not the only answers offered.

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    JDW

    I don't like DeSantis but I'd vote for him to be rid of the Democrats. He is a performative MAGA but not a real one. He does stuff he knows will fail in the courts but he gets the credit and when it fails it is already long forgotten. It's sad we are reduced to even considering these sorts of candidates but our choices are abysmal. I will say that I am not voting for Trump no matter what. I'm #NeverTrump to the death.

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  3. Alex G

    “ Around the same time, Donald Trump Jr. broke with right-wing orthodoxy on boycotting Bud Light for sponsoring trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. “I’m not for destroying an American, an iconic company, for something like this,” he complained, uncharacteristically. ”

    Doesn’t INBEV own Anheisser-Busch, making Bud Light a Belgian company?

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    Tele

    Read as bullet points, the only item on Charlie’s list I’m against is the 6 week abortion ban. (I’m fairly convinced we’ll end up like Europe at 12-15 weeks, we just had a 50-year time out on the discussion, I’d like to get to the end).

    The entire Disney thing just seems pointless. When it ends, the difference between what they end up with and the original Reedy Creek agreement will be minimal.

    All of DeSantis accomplishments are as a governor of a state. Those shouldn’t be the same goals as being president.

    I’ve thought since the 80’s that the best thing for people being able to express themselves as they’d like is a good economy. So I like a focus on the economy for this presidential race.

    Regardless Trump is spectacularly unqualified for the job, and will never receive my vote.

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    Kbroot

    The idea that Kari Lake…Vice President… the stomach virus has returned just reading that. Thinking about Trump, her and maga is sickening but read and hear we must and oppose, even as we retch. And DeSantis is a wretch and a big no. Independent will not vote for either.

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  6. Dougrhon

    The Trump cult turning against the "culture war" reminds me of the American Communists in 1941. They went from attacking Roosevelt for his undeclared war on Soviet ally Hitler to demanding "second front now" in a matter of days.

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    Javier Seravalli

    I am not so sure that Desantis can't win. He is with the republican base on nearly all of the anti-woke issues (demonstrating that they were never classical liberals). The Trump verdicts in the NY civil suit, the 2 DC cases and the Georgia case might actually damage his support. As Nick explains, there aren't enough moderates that would rally around a third candidate, many are anti-Trump which may mean also not fans of Hailey or Pence. With Biden as the incumbent it is almost sure Desantis will win.

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    1. Rch22

      If a defeated Trump is caterwauling in the background about a "stolen" primary, it's hard to see DeSantis mustering the votes he needs to win the general.

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      JDW

      I'm with you. I think DeSantis wins easily. People don't want Biden but Trump is not the answer they want in exchange.

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    AlainL

    I don't think the evidence shows that Trump is, or ever has been, anti woke. Fundamentally Trump is a NY liberal. Two things he is definitely not, evangelical and conservative. He's a master at playing his audience with racial and immigration dog whistles, but I dont think he has an intellectual position on those issues. This is why is so easy for him to pivot.

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      Marty

      Trump's one and only "intellectual position" is the supreme importance and magnificence of Donald J. Trump and all his works, and the impossibility that he could ever lose at anything . He has no other principles whatsoever.

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    2. Bobby D

      I agree. The few hard-core Trump supporters I know all tend to have nativist sympathies.

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    Kizedek

    “he insists that he couldn’t have raped her because she wasn’t his “type””

    While in that same deposition, he mistook Carrol in a photo for Marla Maples, his ex-wife of six years. I suppose he finally divorced her because she just wasn’t his type.

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    1. AJLiberty

      Can 50% of Republican voters watch that video deposition and really say, that's who I want for President? It's embarrassing, maybe even mortifying. This is a horrible man who just doesn't get it. There's something wrong with him. Stop protecting him. Stop rationalizing him. There are good people (or at least better people) out there who can lead the GOP. It's excruciating to think that you don't want better.

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      1. OldBoomer

        Yes, indeed they can. In fact, way more than 50% of Republicans would support him no matter what he says. Where have you been in the past eight years?

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        1. AJLiberty

          Trust me, since Trump besmirched McCain's military service, he was a non-starter for me. I foolishly thought the GOP would reject this interloper and take a known proven product...be it Kasich, Cruz, Walker, Rubio, or Bush. Someone dignified, experienced, and smart. Oh yeah, how wrong I was. Still, I thought the sloppy, undignified, and dumb behavior would move the party away from him. The first impeachment was their first out. Missed. Then January 6th dropped. Many were compromised....fist-pumping the invaders and continuing the charade of the stolen election. So the second impeachment was another missed opportunity. But whatever one thinks about not impeaching a loser in his last few days in office, there's no excuse now.

          Multiple potential indictments ranging from election interference, obstruction of justice, to some variant of seditious treason. Oh and how about a rape accusation and paying hush money to a porn star to boot. There's no sanity in claiming that the party cannot go on without him. We have 50+% drunk on personality and not dealing with reality. They need to be called out until they tire of the cognitive dissonance. This site should be required therapy....

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    The Bell Tower

    Man, give me a break with that stupid ass CBS poll.

    “Would you like turtles, farts, hubcaps or tennis balls for breakfast?”

    Republicans like farts!

    How about ham and eggs? Whatever, all this Trump stuff reminds me of Lenin looking around the smoldering mess he made of his homeland and telling his brain dead hordes “Yo, we need some market reforms or these people are gonna kill us.”

    I felt DeSantis opened a lane with his 6 week abortion ban because if we know nothing else about Trump, we know that he stands on one principle: whatever helps him get elected.

    Look at the Trump zombies over at Twitter pretending to dunk on Jonah for his gas stoves take.

    “That’s your team though!”

    In other words, policy decisions don’t matter. The team making them does. This is idiotic but useful for a politician. It’s Trump’s secret weapon in the primary and Achilles heel in the general and I think DeSantis, like much of the media, confuse radical right with radical Trump. Those people don’t give a damn about abortions or guns. They care about Team Trump. Wins only count if their team is getting them.

    However, I do think Nick and many media underestimate how important some of this education stuff is to parents. Spend some time in corporate America (I can’t imagine academic America) and you’ll see what pushing out ignorant, progressive minded robots is doing to society. These aren’t principled leftists. They’re DEI, anti-Racist, anti-Capitalist, intellectually vacuous babies who will destroy it all if given the opportunity.

    DeSantis, as you pointed out in the beginning, is one of the few Republicans making any kind of traction against this garbage. That will have more value than you think, whatever his other flaws may be.

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