Fall of the Resistance

A 2028 contest between left- and right-populists is looking more and more possible

Remember the resistance? These were the people who during Trump 1.0 marched in pink hats in the shape of reproductive organs and lit Robert Mueller prayer candles. To them, democracy versus authoritarianism was the central political conflict of the age. To the extent they engaged in normal left-right debates, they were heavily weighted towards social and cultural questions, defending the rights of immigrants, women, and LGBTQ people from Trumpist attack. They had very little to say about economic questions, which used to be the main dividing line between the parties.

The Resistance was fundamentally united by a belief that the system worked—and in the Obama era it in fact did for liberals. The system had come a long way in solving the major representational challenges of modern America, electing the first Black President and elevating the first female major party nominee. RBG sat on the Supreme Court, issuing her scathing dissents. Whatever the problems with the system, they could be …