Washington
People think a reckoning is needed. Big business and big banks need taking down a peg or two
The best explanation for the Donald Trump phenomenon was given to me by a woman I met at one of his recent rallies. She’d spent the best part of three decades backing conventional Republican candidates. But, she said, ‘not again — not ever again’. A good politician, she said, does enough unpopular things to make a difference to the nation — but not so many that they couldn’t be re-elected. The mark of a good politician is ‘which unpopular causes they choose’. She had had enough of Republican politicians explaining to her that putting a time-limit on abortion was ‘too unpopular’. Why restricting immigration was ‘too hard’. Why cutting the benefits and entitlements of hard-working families was ‘unfortunate but necessary’. Yet those same politicians always found time, resolve and political capital to cut taxes for the rich and protect corporate perks.
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