The so-called New Right likes to complain about Europeans, but when it comes to policy, a lot of their ideas would make the US more like the continent.
Once upon a time, Republicans saw America as a “shining city upon a hill” with “free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity.” Now, based on some of their comments and policies, the party’s vision for the country is for less consumption, fewer choices, a bigger welfare state, a larger manufacturing sector and cheaper drugs. In general, today’s Republicans idealize the past and favor a slower-moving world.
In other words, what Republicans want is Europe.
At times President Donald Trump sounds less like a Republican businessman (much less Ronald Reagan) and more like a college student one month into his junior year abroad. Even if you dismiss his random musings, there is a budding intellectual movement among younger Republicans such as Vice President JD Vance and Senator Josh Hawley, known as the New Right , that is gaining influence in the party and in the administration.
Continue reading the entire piece here at Bloomberg Opinion (paywall)
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Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
Photo by KIRAN RIDLEY/AFP via Getty Images
