Thomas Donlan‘s latest editorial commentary in Barron’s focuses on the reasons American voters turned to Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential race.
The Great Lakes states, also known as the Rust Belt, threw the election to Trump. The people formerly known as Reagan Democrats apparently became Trump Republicans.
There’s more to this shift than race or education or social values. Republicans have a coherent program grounded in an appeal to old-fashioned economics.
Take a fresh look at Trump’s Contract With the American Voter. Behind the headline rants about immigration, trade agreements, and corruption are useful ideas about production that also resonated with things the former Democrat believe went wrong with the country.
He has promised to energize the energy sector, producing more natural gas, more oil, and more coal. He says he will let energy producers sell their products overseas at least as freely as they operate in U.S. markets, without regard to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Instead of funding dubious alternative-energy projects in foreign countries, he says he intends to shift money to U.S. infrastructure investments in water and environmental projects.
The president-elect insists on tax cuts and regulatory repeals to stimulate the economy, emphasizing the benefits for the middle class. The cuts for business and high-bracket people would be more important for economic growth, but less popular with populists.
Even on immigration, Trump has said he would allow more highly skilled immigrants to enter the country. This is only sensible, considering how many such new Americans have already built new businesses here. Intel, Google, eBay, and Yahoo! are some of the biggest and newest, but Trump should also consider the millions of restaurants, stores, and construction and service companies that were founded by immigrants who heard American opportunity knocking. Wealth and advanced degrees should not be the only qualifications for access to America’s many advantages.
