The Elephant in the Room: Donald Trump and the Future of the Republican Party

Political scientists Busch (Divided We Stand) and Mayer (The Uses and Abuses of Politics) gather “Republicans, conservatives, libertarians, and ex-Republicans” to assess Donald Trump’s legacy and influence on the 2022 and 2024 elections in this hodgepodge anthology. Appraisals of Trump himself range from sharply critical to mixed to admiring, but most contributors find value in his policies. For example, Glenn Harlan Reynolds credits Trump’s tax and interest rate cuts with stimulating a sharp increase in median household income in 2018 and suggests that Trump’s “willingness to fight on behalf of those working-class people whom the ruling class... so despises” is an ethos the Republican Party should embrace. On the other hand, Mayer blames Trump for causing Republicans to lose their majorities in both houses of Congress, while his coeditor Busch praises Trump for accomplishing Republican goals of rolling back the “regulatory steamroller,” appointing conservative justices, and confronting unauthorized immigration, but faults him for provoking a trade war with China and undermining America’s international alliances. Looking to the future, John J. Pickney Jr. warns: “Trumpist politics are repulsive to voters under thirty.” Taken together, the essays present a muddled and inconsistent assessment of Trump and Trumpism. Readers won’t find many firm takeaways. (Sept.)