Subject: Re: Philip Roth on Trump
Sure. Is something appropriate at one point in time supposed to be frozen in amber and *always* kept that way?
Of course not. This isn't a criticism, it's an observation. My point was that Trump sharply moved the party left on several issues: a much more protectionist trade policy and support for popular entitlement programs that fiscal conservatives have long wanted to trim (like Medicare and Social Security). For example, your criticisms of trade policy are not new - but objections to corporate outsourcing and protests against trade regimes (like GATT and the WTO) have traditionally come from the left, not the GOP.
This is a change. It's not limited to the U.S., either - across the globe, conservative parties are becoming more populist and less accommodating to business leaders. Derogating the Chamber of Commerce and corporate CEOs as representing the moneyed elite instead of the common folk used to be a liberal pastime, but you're starting to see the GOP embrace it as well.