Misreading the populist moment from the right

In our recent briefings, we're linking the assassination of the healthcare CEO, the public reaction to that, and those on the hitherto triumphant right misreading their audiences' reaction to that event.

Those on the hard-right, like Musk/Shapiro etc, whether consciously or not, see Trump's victory in culture war terms, and in terms of the conflict between the Merchant Right and the Brahmin Left.

This is a mistake. While many seemingly rejected progressive causes are associated with cultural elites, politics is driven by a far broader trend of populism vs. elitism. Healthcare executives, who many of the culture warrior billionaire class feel of kinship to, are, for a mass audience, part of the elite they are rejecting.

I wrote this some time ago, but just published it. Looking at it now, and I've written here, it really strikes me how wrong it is to narrowly interpret the populist moment.

By failing to come to terms with frustrations over the US healthcare system, the Merchant Right is siding with the Brahmin Left against those whose anger helped propel Trump to power.