texaslatinoconservatives.COM    

"REMAKING AMERICA:  REFLECTIONS ON THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY - FOUR YEARS THAT CHANGED A NATION" by Stephan Helgesen with forward by V. Lance Tarrance, Jr. (2021) Amazon - "Donald J. Trump has given new meaning to a well-known but infrequently used political term…populism, a set of intrinsic sentiments that have been long prevalent in US politics. In Trump’s case, it's a new anti-elite national populism and it's not an understatement to say that he has single-handedly given new life to that brand of American political thought and action that was on life-support for many decades.  He proved the odds-makers in my profession of “herd political polling “ wrong in 2016 when he won an election that was 'all but decided' for Hillary Clinton.  I'm proud to say that my co-author of "Breaking Republican" (and the author of this new two-volume set of "Remaking America") and I handicapped the race correctly when we said that the only Republican candidate that could win both the GOP nomination and the Presidencyagainst the well-financed Establishment had to be a third way type outsider that would challenge Washington D.C., itself. While Donald Trump was not exactly in our crosshairs at the time our book was published, his type of candidacy certainly was.  

We could see this potential win coming after the expected defeat of John McCain and later the unexpected defeat of Mitt Romney at the hands of (at that time) the most radical Democrat supported by Wash DC elites to aspire to the nation's highest office since FDR, Barack Obama.  Americans on the Right were now beginning to be deeply skeptical of “ free trade “globalism that only benefited it’s architects and the faulty economic outcomes engineered by the Left.  They hungered and thirsted for someone who spoke plainly and forcefully against abundant state power and it’s increasing totalitarian tendencies and who wasn't afraid to be bold, dream big and act, decisively.  They were also motivated by fear, fear that four more years of Progressivism directed by Hillary Clinton and her condescension would signal the end of their way of life and that American traditionalism would be lost forever.

Trump, as a concerned businessman, chose not to ignore or withdraw from this political arena, but to enter it with a stronger but unorthodox style of personal leadership rather than sterile policy positions that caught the Administrative State by surprise.  His campaign for President challenged the ruling elite in both parties, not just doctrinaire Democrats, with an alloy of common sense, more traditional thinking and uncommon courage to question fundamental tenets and liberal perspectives of the status quo.  He perceived many establishment Republicans as enablers and weak.  He advocated for more “America first” priorities and appealed directly to the middle class and blue-collar workers to form a rock-solid coalition. The Age of Trumpism is about a national populism that has created a new template or theoretical construct for a fusion of Conservative factions – Libertarianism, Traditionalism, anti- Relativism, anti-expansionist national security Conservatives, and it has mobilized the “forgotten” middle class and blue-collar voters with new grass roots fervor. It well could be the first stage of another Great Awakening in the U.S… if Trump remains a fully-engaged political force before his populistic tide abates. 

The Trump fusion of both old and new factions is the next generation of political activism that took up where the Tea Party left off, and it represents a challenge to the Left radicals who are working overtime to upend the conservative Trump agenda  of the past four years that was rooted in a new-found national populism. Trumpism channeled the anger and frustration of the conservative Republican base left over from the Obama years and was actively transformed into a powerful energy stream before being stalled out by the narrow allegedly corrupt 2020 Biden win. There is every reason to believe, however, that it will re-emerge and that those factions will coalesce to challenge the impatient Wash DC elites who are attempting to centralize once again their control. Trump and those who share his populist views will not be silent nor will they allow the established elites of either party to dictate the narrative going forward. Neither will they cede the political arena to the big money donors, big tech oligarchs, the 'fake news' media, the Deep State or least of all the Wash DC political class.  Donald Trump succeeded in turning out over 74 million voters last November  (12 million more than he got in 2016).  Many of these were first-time voters.  He earned these votes the old fashioned way - by campaigning directly to them - and by end-running the mainstream media with populistic messages of common sense politics that resonated with his base.    

There are several challenges that lay ahead for the Republican Party, and Donald Trump understands them well. The Republican Party must keep re-building and refreshing itself in the Age of Trump with leaders who will push back against any attempts by the Wash DC Establishment to drag it back to the indecisive moderate middle.  It must keep up the pressure on the theme of the  "Biden Betrayal" that is part and parcel of the Trojan horse politics toward a Welfare State dependence being engineered by the New Left of today. Only Trump’s fusion of nationalistic populism with the current conservative factions can succeed in today’s polarization of all that is political. In the coming months we will see if the Administrative State of the intellectual and political establishment has truly outlived its time.

Finally, since this is a Foreword to a book, let me say that I wholeheartedly applaud Stephan Helgesen for his tenacity as a stalwart supporter of conservative thought, his relentless pushback at flawed liberal arguments and for publishing this much-needed two-volume work. 'Remaking America' not only lays out the facts about the most consequential Presidency in modern American political history, but it also offers two things that every American voter needs…insight and foresight.

Lance Tarrance 

News/Views 2020