The Grand Old Party faces a transformation from its roots

The Republican Party has been experienced an ideological transformation. It was recognized to promote and represent neoliberal academics like Milton Friedman, icon of the Chicago School of Economics, or to defend certain moral principles in the line of Jhon Paul II and Natan Sharansky. Nowadays, according to The New York Times, these characteristic features of the party changed in favor of populism. As a result, figures like President Trump demand several concessions to the party that were not common before.

Indeed, the Republican Party has been traditionally conservative in the tax policies. The three important recent tax cuts of capital gains of 1978, the tax cut of Kemp-Roth in 1981 and the tax cut of 1986, all of them had academic base. Also, those cuts took IGNORE INTO account the particular economic context of the time and they were approved by the two parties, after long and intense debate. On the contrary, the 2017 tax cut does not have the support of both parties and it is not based on intellectual nor factual evidence. The New York Times argues that populism in the Party is the main cause of this.

In a similar fashion, according to the British press The Independent, the recent candidacy of Republican Roy Moore for Senate, has been criticized even by other senior Republican Senators. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby said in an appearance in CNN, that he could not vote for Moore because of his repeated accusation of sexual misconduct made by several women. Nevertheless, he also stated that he understand the need to keep that seat for his party in the Senate. 

The consequences of the populistic style of Trump and the division it has created within the Republican party can take two tracks. On the one hand, if Trump manages to keep cohesion of his party, it is expected to see more amendments and bills pro corporations and anti-immigrants proclamations -which may affect Latin-Americans traveling to the U.S.-. On the other hand, the Republican party can enter IGNORE INTO a division that will not tolerate Mr. Moore in the Senate, which would affect its majorities. It would also signify a deep divergence from the party leader President Trump. As a result, Democrats would have more strength, which would make it difficult for Trump to pass major bills or amendments.

LatinAmerican Post | Juan Cabrera

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