Inevitably, as we face the losses of Republicans and Democrats to Trump, we're trying to make sense of the situation. Making sense of Trump is relatively easy: very little in the toolkit which makes for a great deal of unpredictability. This presidency is unique in that it's the only successful response of American populism. Historically, populists have failed to elect a president.
For years, however, both Republicans and Democrats have failed or were unable to understand how to deal with the social and political discontent of many Americans. In spite of years of denial, it's...
Ideas are at last percolating to resolve some of these issues, but it's going to be messy for quite awhile. Anatole Kaletsky, the UK economist and journalist, asks whether Trumpism represents a new economic model. I don't think that balance is necessarily an inherent good, but in this instance the economist presents a very balanced perspective. He looks to a number of international thinkers of all stripes--from Feldstein to Stiglitz. Here's his conclusion:
The Trump presidency, like anti-establishment upheavals in Europe and elsewhere, will force the entire world to start asking fundamental questions about how the relationship between markets and governments in the next phase of global capitalism should evolve. Under Trump, US economic policies in the next four years are very unlikely to provide the right answer; but his administration may at least show the world what not to do.
The entire article is available on Project Syndicate here.