Left and Right American Populisms - The Woke 99% Vs. MAGA, Equality vs. Freedom.
The Old is Dead, and the New has Been Born... as Rival Twins
Introduction -
There are two major political fault lines in the United States - Left Vs. Right, which is what I usually cover, but America is also caught within a global rift between Leftwing financial, cultural, and educational elites, who have created a global subculture of their own, and nationalist, reactionary, Rightwing populist groups (Trump, Brexit, Shinzo Abe, AdF, Bolsonaro, etc.).
Nancy Fraser’s 2017 article From Progressive Neoliberalism to Trump—and Beyond is an argument for a Leftwing populist movement that rejects its ties to corporatism and neoliberalism, arguing that otherwise the only alternative is a reactionary, Rightwing populist movement (MAGA). According to her,
“Prior to Trump, the hegemonic bloc that dominated American politics was progressive neoliberalism. That may sound like an oxymoron, but it was a real and powerful alliance of two unlikely bedfellows: on the one hand, mainstream liberal currents of the new social movements (feminism, antiracism, multiculturalism, environmentalism, and LGBTQ rights); on the other hand, the most dynamic, high-end “symbolic” and financial sectors of the U.S. economy (Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood). What held this odd couple together was a distinctive combination of views about distribution and recognition.”
Taking that idea for granted, I want to lay out the steelmanned argument for both a Leftwing Class Conscious, Progressive Populism (The Woke 99%), and for the Rightwing, nationalist populist alternative (MAGA).
(Antonio Gramsci, in a clearly not at all photoshopped image)
Background -
Antonio Gramsci, a Communist who died imprisoned in fascist Italy, is famous for the quote, “The old is dying, and the new cannot be born.” He meant that the old liberal, capitalist model of the state was failing, but that conditions made it impossible to bring about a new future, liberated from the social and class divisions of the past. Nancy Fraser adapted this idea to build her model of progressive-neoliberalism in her 2019 book, ‘The Old is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born: From Progressive Neoliberalism to Trump and Beyond.’
This got me thinking, what if Gramsci was right? What if the old really did die, with the corporate-elites, the class-conscious Marxists, the rights-conscious classical liberals, and the exhausted moderate majority left as the frustrated older siblings, with two posthumous births having survived the death of their mother - the Woke 99% and the MAGAs?
If Western civilization was built within the tension between freedom and equality, then within the politics of 2022 we find these new twins finding themselves and growing in strength, each laying a claim to one half of their inheritance - the Woke 99% as the champions of equality (redistribution), based on social identity (recognition), and the MAGAs as champions of freedom, without any concern for unequal outcomes.
The Case for Class-Conscious Progressive Populism, Part One -
Neoliberal institutions try to be a vehicle for progressive change and a revenue generating institution at the same time, generating principal-agent matrix problems. Two good examples of this are Coke telling people to be ‘less White’ and the NBA supporting BLM, while profiting off of Uighur slave labor in China. The problem isn’t the message of ‘racism is bad,’ it’s that the organization saying it has ulterior motives and is being hypocritical. For Fraser, the support neoliberal institutions provide for progressive causes, but at the price of having their values subverted into and by the structure.
So a progressive populism would be a Woke political movement, but one that isn’t imbedded and subservient to corporate and government power structures. They would push for traditional redistribution and recognition causes (improved welfare, investment in poor communities to lead underserved communities, universal healthcare, labor rights, environmental protections, etc.)
These ideas are generally popular and benefit everyone across class and social identity lines. The role of the Left, prior to Clinton’s triangulation politics in the 1990s, was that of disrupters, who fought on behalf of the oppressed. A progressive populist movement could actually fight corporations that pollute and exploit labor, rather than being incorporated into them. People across the political specturm have issues with the inequality of wealth distribution.
This type of populism could challenge both the system and its Rightwing populist twin, and bring about true equality for everyone.
(MAGA Hulk and friends, enjoying a sunny day in Beverly Hills in 2020)
The Case for Reactionary Rightwing Populism -
So the Leftwing view of Trump and MAGA is that he’s a sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ethno-nationalist, fascist, etc…. and therefore all of his followers are too.
But how do they see themselves?
I got interested in this topic in 2015 because I was a progressive activist involved in Democratic party politics, and everyone on my side was saying that Trump would be the next Hitler. Then one day I go on Facebook, where I see my uncle post a story about how he’d been on the local news, head to toe in red, white, and blue MAGA gear, saying that God had sent Donald Trump to save America, and that he was like the second coming of both Jesus Christ and John Wayne.
We were clearly not seeing the same thing.
And that, along with my CCA story being covered in Rightwing media, was the birth of my phenomenological fascination with the Conservative point of view. I wanted to know what they were seeing, and why, and over the course of the Ph.D. program I think I got a pretty good handle on it.
So here goes my argument-
The corporations and neoliberal organizations that the Left used to hate, but presently seem to accept if they have high enough ESG (Environmental Social Governance) scores, did real damage to the MAGAs by moving manufacturing overseas, polluting their communities, stripping them of their wealth, and starting wars for profit that their children fought and died in. The MAGAs listen to Leftwing elites in Hollywood, the media, and academia call them bitter deplorables, clinging to their guns and religion, and deserving of replacement and destruction. These insults on top of injuries go back for decades, and they feel that GOP politicians just uses them for their votes, only to turn around and use their elected positions to start wars and give themselves tax cuts. They can’t vote for the political party that looks down their nose at them, which makes them feel trapped into having to accept the GOP as the lesser of two evils (Bernie supporters also know that feeling).
But then along came a man named Trump, and Trump’s mission was to go and kick the asses of all the elites who had robbed them of their prosperity and dignity. Was he an asshole? Sure. But so was Stone Cold Steve Austin.
And that’s the key to understanding the appeal of MAGA.
Trump is the one and only President who is in the WWE Hall of Fame, which he got for taking a Stone Cold Stunner at Wrestlemania 23.
Early in my quest to understand MAGA from their own perspective, I realized that the presidential narrative he told at his rallies was the same as Stone Cold’s storyline from the 1990s Attitude Era. He’s rude, crude, and has a bad attitude, but he’s a hero in that world because he’s taking on all the other elite monsters that Righties hate - the media, Hollywood, Democrats, and Republicans. He’s a Monster for sure, but he’s THEIR Monster - like when Godzilla defends Japan against other kaiju.
Supporting Trump, especially when you were told by everyone not to, felt like telling the worst boss you ever had in your life to kiss your ass. Retribution through proxy. And it wasn’t just Whites who felt that way. I was fascinated in those years by Black MAGA supporters - Bryson Gray, MAGA Hulk, Kanye West, The Hodge Twins, Candace Owens, Larry Elder, Diamond and Silk, and so on.
I attended a Black Marxist conference via Zoom in mid-2020, and the theme was concern about how many young Black men were going to vote for Trump. Their explanation was that Trump represents ‘White success’ (luxury, money, and girls), and that young Black men felt resentful at having been asked to take a back seat in the community to women and LGBTQIAA+ persons because of intersectionality. Whereas he got 13% of the Black male vote in 2016, that grew to 18% in 2020. Part of it was the economy, part of it was Economic Investment Zones and historical funding for Historical Black Colleges and Universities, but it was also the fun and transgressiveness.
The fun is what the Left never got about MAGA - Car parades, boat parades, endless memes about Pepe the Frog - they were having themselves a party. Here’s a 2020 song by a Cuban group Los 3 de la Habana performing ‘Cancion de Trump’, and it’s catchy as hell:
And the god damn crazy thing is that it somehow worked out. The economy soared, he was the first President since Carter to not start or escalate a war, he somehow went from being on the brink of nuclear war with North Korea to being the only US President to be honored by being placed on a stamp there. The man played president like Brett Favre played football - you never knew if it was going to be a touchdown (a record economy) or a pick-six (global nuclear Armageddon), and that was both terrifying and exciting. Left or Right, love him or hate him, he kept those neurochemicals flowing.
The Case for Progressive Populism, Part Two -
But MAGA fun only works if the progressive elites have the institutional power to punish them for being juvenile - costing people their business, getting people fired, getting them banned, shadowbanned, and demonetized on social media, etc. It’s reactionary by nature.
Progressive neoliberalism is deeply unpopular. Progressives should resist neoliberalism because of its capitalist exploitation of workers, the environment, and progressive movements themselves. Likewise, Reactionary populists should resist neoliberalism because of its detrimental impact on freedom of expression and small-c capitalism (mom and pop stores). There’s shared middle ground where the Woke 99% could peel off Trump supporters and bring back disaffected moderates -
“If there is one thing that populists on the left and right can agree upon, it is disdain for crony capitalism. It is a distaste for the cesspool of Washington influence in which big-business lobbyists canoodle with lawmakers to get their way. It is anger at corporate welfare enriching America’s biggest companies at the expense of the little guy.” -Neil Irwin, in the New York Times
There are pressing concerns that aren’t going to get addressed by the current system or by MAGA. MAGA is more about geist (spirit) than policy, and where people have distribution or recognition based needs, there is a gap waiting to be filled by a Leftwing populist movement.
The exhausted majority middle is looking for someone to be an adult and lead this country out of the mess it’s in. Looking at the Hidden Tribes model.
67% of the electorate that is up for grabs. A lot of Middles and non-MAGA Conservatives want a calm, stable, boring, serious adult to be in charge. The establishment doesn’t seem to have anyone to fit that bill at present, and the MAGAs aren’t exactly known for being boring or tame, so that means that there’s a tremendous potential for a serious Leftwing populist movement to fill.
However, if the Culture War remains a battle of adolescent and petulant rebellion, with the progressives in bed with the corporations and neoliberal institutions, then my money says the MAGAs are going to win this because they’re more willing to be transgressive and rebellious, and rebellion is fun.
And That’s The Bottom Line, Cause Nate Bork Says So.
As always, thanks for reading. I edit these articles in response to constructive criticism, so let me know if there’s something you disagree with or would like me to elaborate on in the comments section below.
Bonus clip - Here's a Curb Your Enthusiasm montage of Larry David rocking a MAGA cap so people will leave him alone. The part where he dons it to keep a biker from kicking his ass is pretty fantastic.