Trump is Forging a Coalition, not Championing a Faction

Too many Trump supporters seem to miss the difference between coalition and faction. Fortunately, Trump gets it.

In the weeks since winning the election, President Trump has announced a flurry of nominations.  Predictable responses have followed. 

The hysteria of the opposition is an uninteresting topic for another day.

I’m far more interested in what I’ve seen among Trump’s supporters.  Two views seem to dominate.  One says that if Trump did it, it must be wonderful and praised without question.  The other says that if Trump makes even a single poor choice, it’s proof that the entire movement has been compromised, infiltrated, and doomed to fail.

Both views are dangerous, nonsensical, unhealthy, and deeply unhelpful.

Faction and Coalition

America is a big country.  It’s always been a big country.  And some things about it have never changed.  Way back in the Federalist Papers, “factions” were a major source of concern.  They still are—though today we’re more likely to call them “movements” or “interest groups.” 

America has always been a mosaic of competing and overlapping factions.  In the political realm, these factions have always organized themselves into two enormous coalitions.  Since the 1850, the names of these coalitions have been “Democratic” and “Republican.”

Factions form over priorities.  To take a clear example, today’s America has two factions formed around abortion.  One believes that all abortion is murder and must be prohibited.  The other believes that all abortion restrictions are inherent civil liberties violations.  Members of these factions are single-issue voters that have sorted themselves cleanly; the former belongs to the GOP coalition, the latter to the Democrats.  Neither party spends time or resources addressing the faction that has settled across the aisle. 

Most Americans belong to neither faction.  That doesn’t mean that they don’t have strong opinions on the issue.  It simply means that they elevate different priorities—perhaps economics, public safety, or something related to the specific circumstances facing their families or communities.  That makes these voters reachable.  Consider, for example, the faction elevating a secure southern border as its top priority.  Members of this faction have a full range of views on abortion.  Here’s the challenge: How can the GOP attract and retain voters who prioritize the border but lean towards the Democratic position on abortion?  That’s the challenge of coalition management.

Individuals place themselves in one or more factions.  The political side of President’s job is to forge, maintain, and expand the coalition.  Broad coalitions have two features: First, they are more likely to take actions that displease some of their constituent factions than are narrower coalitions.  Second, the actions and agendas they put in place are far more durable than those of narrow coalitions.

Trump is Building a Durable Coalition

President Trump has been working to create a broad coalition capable of durable change.  That means that each faction of the GOP can expect to swallow more compromises than it considers “fair,” given the support it has shown the President.  For my money, that’s exactly the correct approach. 

FDR restructured American government because his 1936 coalition was the broadest in American history (an 80-16 Senate!), and consequently the most durable.  Those of us committed to reining in a bureaucracy run amok need a coalition just as broad.  That means that no faction can get all that it wants. 

It also means that things are supposed to happen within the coalition that make each constituent faction unhappy.  If you see something that makes you unhappy, by all means—speak out about it!  Never stop thinking and never self-stifle!  Presidents balance multiple concerns.  They’re allowed to make mistakes—as are their followers.  No one benefits from the suspension of independent thought.  Too many of Obama’s followers saw him in messianic terms.  It was deeply unattractive.  It’s just as unattractive to cast Trump as the Messiah.  He’s a gifted individual undertaking an herculean task against all odds and doing a remarkable job.  Isn’t that enough?

Loving the Squabble

Speaking personally, I’ve never been shy about my preference for a messy coalition.  From 1980-2005 I was an active Democrat.  Throughout that period, I saw factions I liked and politicians I admired in each party.  What I saw in the GOP, however, was a fairly disciplined party that had handed much power to factions I disliked.  What I saw among the Democrats was a collection of squabbling factions, ranging from admirable to detestable, locked in a constant struggle for leadership.  That meant that nearly all interesting discussions were happening among Democrats—and all of the action lay in securing advantage for the finest factions in that coalition.

By 2005, it was clear that the Democrats were lost.  The entire coalition had coalesced behind its very worst factions committed to move in increasingly dark directions.  The GOP was running on the fumes of its longstanding pecking order.  I found both parties unsupportable.

The elections of 2006 and 2008 broke open the old GOP.  In 2010 the Tea Party obliterated its remnants.  For the first time in my adult life, the Republicans had become a collection of squabbling factions, ranging from admirable to detestable, locked in a struggle for leadership.  All interesting discussions occurred beneath its umbrella.  I signed up eagerly.  By 2015, when the old guard moved to coronate Jeb Bush, the coalition it still claimed to lead yawned, laughed, and moved on. 

I’m far happier in Trump’s GOP than I ever could have been in the Bush GOP.  And an important part of that pleasure is the breadth of the coalition and the scope of internal debate Trump invites.  The party showing weaker internal discipline will always be the party of independent and creative thought—and that’s where I belong.

Part of that involves swallowing factions I don’t particularly like.  While my admiration for brave, independent, morally clear Democrats like John Fetterman or Richie Torres elevates them far above feckless Republicans like Mitt Romney or Lisa Murkowski in my personal estimation, I never forget the obvious: Those who belong to my coalition but not my faction will support keeping my coalition in power.  Those in the other coalition I admire will not.  That makes far more difference than it should.

I’ve been fairly consistent in the 20 years since I realized that the Democratic Party had placed itself on the dark side.  I believe that America needs a coalition broad enough to isolate the Democrats’ largest, most powerful, most dangerous, most anti-American and anti-human factions.  I’ll make a lot of compromises to get there—though I’m admittedly  happiest when those compromises avoid my top-priority concerns.

I’m thrilled that President Trump is working towards assembling that coalition.  Overall, I’m quite pleased with the Cabinet he’s been assembling.  That I may be less pleased with some nominations than others is a price well worth paying.

---

For more information about Bruce D. Abramson & American Restorationism, visit: www.BruceDAbramson.com

To learn more about America’s Spiritual Crisis and the new religion of Wokeism, see: American Spirit or Great Awokening?  The Battle to Restore or Destroy Our Nation (Academica Press, 2024). 

To learn more about how America’s elites destroyed the republic, see:  The New Civil War: Exposing Elites, Fighting Utopian Leftism, and Restoring America (RealClear Publishing, 2021).

To learn more about the ideology driving today’s anti-American leftism, see: American Restoration: Winning America’s Second Civil War (Kindle, 2019).

To learn more about our work at the American Coalition for Education and Knowledge, visit us at The Coalition for America.

To learn more about how I turn the ideas I discuss here into concrete projects that serve the interests of my clients, donors, and society at large, please e-mail me at bdabramson@pm.me.