Washington • The focus on President Trump’s political strength among white working-class voters distracts from a truth that may be more important: His rise depended on support from rich conservatives, and his program serves the interests of those who have accumulated enormous wealth.
This explains why so few Congressional Republicans denounce him, no matter how close he edges to autocracy, how much he lies, or how much bigotry he spreads. The GOP leadership knows Trump is tilting our economy toward people just like himself, the objective they care about most.
To borrow from the president, he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and still not lose House Speaker Paul Ryan or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as long as they have a reactionary tax bill to push into law.