Republicans in Congress already drive Democrats crazy in the way the GOP becomes the party of green eyeshades and budget constraint under Democratic presidents, and the party of fiscal expansion under Republican presidents. Well, here we go: The GOP should become dramatically expansionary and seek to make good on Trump’s promises. That means infrastructure spending. It also means Republicans should fight to make the country a better place to employ workers. One of the easiest places to start is to make the corporate tax rate at least competitive with Germany, Canada, or even Ireland. It also means finding ways to check the currency manipulation of China and Germany, which use American money and credit to subsidize foreign workforces. Republicans could even seek what Edward Conrad calls “balanced trade” policies that demand China and other trade partners buy American goods rather than treasuries.
At the same time, the GOP must encourage Trump to strip the racist baggage from his rhetoric, and scrupulously expand the appeal of the new nationalism from older whites to American workers of all races. Republicans can win when the Democrats become the party of Goldman Sachs, safe spaces on campus, and the redistribution of economic opportunity to non-Americans. All over Europe and other parts of the world, right-wing nationalist parties are pitching themselves to the working class, and pushing the party of social liberalism to embrace the unpopular politics of economic liberalism, enforced cosmopolitanism in culture, and mass immigration. The center-left has increasingly justified its support of the free movement of labor and capital because it breaks up the private hierarchies of cohesive national cultures. Call this liberaltarianism, if you like. It’s an ideology that conservatives can defeat over and over again if they are willing to become a workers’ party.
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