If anyone had predicted a few years ago that one of this country’s major political parties would turn its back on capitalism and democracy, most people would have guessed it would be the Democrats.
But that’s not what happened. The full 360-degree turn has come from the Republican Party.
In the not-so-distant past, Democrats were easily demonized as radical, drug-induced hippies whose loyalties were constantly in question. Worse still, they were seen as obsessed with social engineering—championing far-out notions of equality and fairness while spending money without restraint. After all, the Democrats had long been the party of public works, labor unions, government programs for the poor, the New Deal, and civil rights.
Republicans, by contrast, it was commonly understood, stood for unrestrained profit, limited government, protections for the corporate world, and personal responsibility. They were the party of Ronald Reagan and John Wayne toughness, not of grievance. If you were poor, some even believed it made sense to be a Republican—you’d get rich through osmosis.
But under Donald Trump, the GOP has morphed into something closer to the old Soviet model: a centralized, personality-driven machine built on loyalty to one man and the victories of propaganda over principles.