The Working Class Republican

Since when are the Republicans the party of the common man? Since Reagan.

Donald Trump’s election has led many to wonder if the Republican Party remains the Party of Reagan. In fact, President Trump’s election gives Republicans their last, best hope to re-Reaganize the GOP. Political analyst Henry Olsen reveals that the simplistic antigovernment Reagan most Republican politicians invoke is a myth. The real Reagan was a lifelong fan of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and supported the robust safety net FDR’s New Deal created and inspired. In The Working-Class Republican, Olsen argues that Reagan successfully wooed working-class voters—the “Reagan Democrats”—by convincing them that he was preserving, not rejecting, Roosevelt’s legacy.

As Olsen shows in this provocative work, Reagan developed a unique conservative philosophy that enhances freedom while using government to actively help Americans receive what they deserve, provided they work to the best of their abilities.

President Trump’s robust defense of American manufacturing and the safety net was closer to Reagan’s and FDR’s visions than anything Republicans have offered since the Reagan era. It’s no wonder, then, that he was the first Republican nominee since Reagan in 1984 to carry all five of the Reagan Democrat-dominated midwestern states—Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania—and with them, win the presidency.

The story of Reagan’s rise and his importance for today’s America and Republican Party has never seemed as fresh and as relevant as it does in The Working-Class Republican.