Reform conservatism, in my parlance, is a proposed coalition of Christian Democrats and Reactionaries within the GOP whose primary focus would be on improving the lot of white working class people. The centerpiece of the program is a tax cut tailored narrowly to workers and middle income people, not the wealthy. As such, it is anathema to the WSJ and to business interests (i.e., the PBP faction of the party).
The “Reformocons” never had any use for Trump himself, but they viewed his candidacy as a means by which the GOP could wean itself off Reagan and Bush-style tax cuts for rich businessmen. As things have turned out, however, they have the worst of all possible worlds: a candidate they view as being dangerous and irresponsible with a tax cut plan that looks like the Bush tax cut on steroids.
Assume, for purposes of argument, that Trump loses big in November. Is there any future for the Reformocons in the GOP? I don’t think so, for the following reasons:
- Of the 17 GOP Presidential candidates, exactly zero bought into the Reformocon program. Bush and Rubio incorporated small parts of it in their plans, but they were swamped by huge tax cuts for the donor class.
- The WSJ, the Club for Growth, and all of the other GOP enforcers are still out there and baying for blood. Trump may have defied them to some extent, but he is the exception that proves the rule.
- Who is going to vote for the Reformocon program? To be sure, it would appeal to the economic interests of Reactionaries, but it rejects their nativism, which is more important to many of them than money. The WSJ isn’t going to fall in line, either.
- A big Trump loss in November is going to ignite a civil war within the GOP between Reactionaries complaining about the lack of establishment support and an establishment that attributes the loss to a clearly inadequate candidate. My guess is that the center of the party will revert back to that old time tax cutting religion, and the Reformocon agenda will be out in the cold.