One could describe Trumpism as a hybrid between the old Nixon/Rockefeller wing of the GOP, fused with rightwing populism, ranging from George Wallace to Pat Buchanan, a point that Keith Preston of Attack the System has made. For instance, Trump recently praised Pat Buchanan and Mike Pence denounced Trump’s populism as at odds with conservativism. This is despite that many of Trump’s policies were conventionally conservative, such as tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate deregulation, while increasing the military budget.

A good analogy is that hardcore MAGA types like JD Vance, Margorie Taylor Green, Matt Gaetz, and Paul Gosar, are the modern day Wallaceites while more moderate Trump allies, like Elise Stefanik, are modern day Rockefeller Republicans. In contrast, the coalition behind Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, as well as Mike Pence, are more representative of the Reaganites and Bush era neocons. However, DeSantis seems to be a sort of compromise between MAGA and the GOP establishment, in the way that Elizabeth Warren was between Bernie Sanders and the Democratic establishment. There are also apt comparisons between DeSantis’s and Ted Cruz’s 2016 campaign.

Conservatism Inc generally loves DeSantis, with conservative ideologues like Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin endorsing DeSantis. DeSantis has appeal to the conservative coalition, made up of foreign policy hawks, pro-business conservatives, and the Religious Right. DeSantis also has support from intellectual dark web types like Dave Rubin and Chris Ruffo. Despite major flaws, a positive aspect of Trump was that he undermined that Reaganite GOP coalition.

Trump brought in a new demographic of working class Whites, who were former Democrats or independents, and who were motivated by populism rather than economic or social conservatism. Though Trump lost a good chunk of this demographic in 2020, and expect a lot of them to back RFK jr. over Trump. Regardless, a lot of the Romney to Clinton voters hate Trump but could support DeSantis, while DeSantis would do much worse than Trump amongst Obama to Trump voters. The Sunbelt conservatism vs. Rustbelt populism distinction is significant, with DeSantis epitomizing Sunbelt conservativism which is linked to the military industrial complex and energy industry. Since a lot of Sunbelt states are trending purple/blue, Reagan conservativism is no longer viable, with the future of the GOP having to tilt towards the Rustbelt. DeSantis is trying to pull off a Reaganite econ and social con alliance, which the GOP wants but has increasingly less appeal to voters.

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