Jeff Sharlet on Donald Trump, American Preacher: Building a congregation for his prosperity gospel, one chaotic rally at a time. Brian Connolly on our sovereign father, Donald Trump. Tom Shachtman on Eric Hoffer, the American prophet who predicted Trump. J.D. Vance on why Trump’s antiwar message resonates with white America. Trump’s appeal seems rooted in a distinctive political culture — born in the British borderlands, and still flourishing in America’s southern highlands. Ariel Dorfman on the case for feeling compassion toward Trump supporters. Young Republicans are surprisingly moderate — and they could change American politics. Adam Gopnik on Donald Trump and the stunts that expose the GOP. Is the Republican Party too cowardly to stop Trump? Anti-Trump conservatives are embracing the liberal critique of the Right — and they will disavow every word of it on the first day of the general election.
Donald Trump’s avenging angels: Rick Perlstein on how the orange-haired monster has rewritten the history of American conservatism. Donald Trump is sloppy about policy details, but precise at managing party factions: He is carefully trying to remove libertarians and neoconservatives from the Republican coalition. Could the GOP be facing an intellectual exodus? Forty years ago, neoconservatives started migrating toward the Republican Party — a reverse migration is possible. Can the American Right renounce utopianism? The Republican masses are more conservative, in the traditional sense, than the so-called conservative intellectuals. What happens when the partnership that created the modern Republican Party shatters? Tevi Troy on how GOP intellectuals’ feud with the base is remaking U.S. politics. One part of the Republican establishment actually loves Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
Jonathan Bernstein writes in defense of the Republicans’ nomination rules. Trump on ice: He probably won’t be the nominee — so how will the GOP get rid of him? Republicans have a candidate who could take back the White House — they’re just not voting for him. Is the GOP risking suicide? Pat Buchanan wonders. Can Republicans recover from convention chaos? Democrats did in 1968. Ed Kilgore on how the GOP will probably bounce back quickly if Trump wins the nomination and crashes and burns in November. Yuval Levin on the next conservative movement: After Trump’s demagoguery, Republicans can revitalize their party by offering bottom-up solutions suited to the diverse, dynamic society America has become. Can Donald Trump lead a political movement? After he loses, his supporters may beg him to keep up the fight — and he just might have no better option.
