Much is being made of a meeting of so-called “national conservatives” last week. In my terminology, “national conservatives” are just the Reactionary faction of the GOP; the point of the convention was to give better definition to their ideology.
Most of the headlines revolved around racism and immigration policy, but the more interesting bit pertained to the economy. Historically, Reactionaries have deferred to the PBP agenda of regressive tax cuts and deregulation in exchange for votes and financial support on racial, social, and cultural issues. The speakers at last week’s convention, however, urged the group to get behind a much larger role for the federal government: increased social spending, particularly for declining rural areas; subsidies and protection for sensitive industries; and support, in general, for white workers over business interests.
It wouldn’t be too much to call this industrial policy, and it sounds a lot like Warren’s agenda. Some speakers at the convention even acknowledged that, while going on to make it clear that she appalls them for lots of other reasons.
Is this a potential opening for her in a general election campaign? Only to a limited extent, because Reactionaries are primarily concerned with identity issues, and a white female Harvard professor is about the worst possible candidate to win them over on those grounds. Still, it suggests some potential points of agreement between the parties in the future, and that may prove to be significant.