Shortly after winning the presidential election in 2016, Donald Trump personally intervened to stop a multinational corporation from closing an Indiana factory and shifting its production to Mexico.
Trump had literally saved several hundred jobs, a symbolic fulfillment of his campaign promise to "bring back" American jobs. But it was probably the high point for right-wing economic populism as something that actually benefits the working class.
Trump didn't go on to save any other factories, and if there's right-wing sympathy for manufacturing workers, it hasn't translated into economic policy.
Take the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. It's a federal program for retraining workers whose jobs are destroyed by globalization, providing laid-off factory workers job counseling, training and money to pay the bills.
This program is about to cease to exist, and its likely demise is a symbol of how Washington has returned to its stingy pre-pandemic ways after a burst of pandemic-inspired spending on regular people.
Congress is putting the final touches on a bill to boost the domestic semiconductor industry to make the U.S. more competitive with China, and Democrats have said Trade Adjustment Assistance should be part of the package.
Republicans told me they're not into it for the arbitrary reason that there is no new trade deal being negotiated. Instead, they are more interested in using the bill to get rid of Trump's tariffs on China (which could itself cause more manufacturing layoffs).
Sure, there are Republicans who rant about "woke corporations" and say they'll stick up for regular Americans — but when it comes to actually doing pro-worker policy, conservative populists are missing in action.
Meanwhile, the majority of Republicans in Congress have cosponsored a bill to repeal the estate tax, which applies only to the inheritances of the richest rich people you can find, and the Republican senator in charge of Senate campaigns actually proposed taxing the poor.
These are interesting policies for a "working-class" party!
