Trump has tied his fortunes to a growth in the share of voters more focused on shaking up the system than in prescribing specific ideas for its replacement. The 2009 tea party rebellion in the Republican Party, which began as a demand for less government spending, seamlessly morphed into broad support for Trump’s 2016 campaign, despite his promises to resist cuts to government entitlement programs and his disinterest in lowering federal deficits.
“There is an element of the core base in both the Democratic and Republican Party that is more nonideological and anti-establishment than any other aspect of their political view,” said Josh Holmes, a former chief of staff to McConnell who helped lead the Republican effort to defeat tea party challengers in the 2014 elections. “Taken to its logical conclusion, that means that they will support anybody regardless of their ideology that is intent on opposing the powers that be.”
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