The Symbolic Candidate (Reading List)

Trump Proves That Liberals Have Been Right All Along

 Republicans behave as if Trump is both a self-contained phenomenon and a singular mouthpiece for the most important segment of their electorate. An unmetastasized malignancy and a vital organ, simultaneously. - Brian Beutler

 

The Banality of Trumpism

The basic liberal diagnosis of modern conservatism has long been that it was a plutocratic movement that won elections by appealing to the racism and general anger-at-the-other of whites; there’s nothing too surprising about an election in which the establishment candidates continue to serve plutocracy while the base turns to candidates who drop the euphemisms while going straight to the racism and xenophobia.  - Paul Krugman