Invaluable chronicler of Trumpistan, Heather Cox Richardson, has a post about what might be called the FDR Consensus. The basic idea was a fundamental shift in the role of the government in people's lives. Prior to FDR, the prevailing philosophy of government was expressed by Grover Cleveland, when he said that while the people should support the government, the government should not support the people. This headed off calls for a robust safety net and government regulations to improve the lives of normal Americans.
The Reagan Revolution was a backlash against "Big Government" that had its roots in racial resentment over the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts of the 1960s. Broad macroeconomic trends created by welfare spending, the Vietnam war and rising energy costs meant that the '70s saw inflation that was far, far worse than what we have recently experienced. This - combined with the foreign policy embarrassments in Vietnam, Iran and elsewhere - led to a palpable sense of American decline, one might even say American Carnage. It often feels like Donald Trump wee lizard brain is stuck in the dystopia of 1970s New York.
The point being that Reagan's election was caused by a lot of things, but mostly a reaction to the perceived failures of the New Deal/Great Society state. In fact, only a modest portion of the problem was caused by the expansive welfare state, the Reagan forces interpreted his victories as mandate to crush that New Deal state. However, once in Washington, the New Deal/Great Society state proved more popular than they had presumed.
Destroying it via legislation has always been a non-starter.
Which brings us to President Elon Musk and King Donald. Trump has always understood that the fanaticism present in the Paul Ryan budgets was politically toxic. As raving liberal Dwight Eisenhower once said, the political party that destroys Social Security would cease to exist.
What Musk is doing via his coup is destroying that state via illegal executive actions, illegal firings and illegal impounding of funds.
The eventual outcome of this will be a backlash to the backlash, as Red Staters realize that Big Government actually helps them quite a bit. In the meanwhile, people will die from preventable diseases, perhaps from breaches in national security. A recession seems inevitable if Trump and Musk continue down the road they are on. People die from recessions.
Maybe then Americans will realize that the presidency is not fit for a reality TV show and his billionaire puppet master.
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