No political party in any country has a completely predictable or unified base, however the Republican Party of the United States has definite characteristics which can be outlined. The Republican base, broadly speaking is predominated by white Americans, religious conservatives and rural voters.

Free Market Meets Church

Republicanism since President Ronald Reagan has been defined by what theorist Frank Meyer termed “fusionism,” which basically means a marriage between libertarian free market global capitalism and religious, traditional conservatism. In order to win elections, religious conservative figures like Paul Weyrich and others agreed to work hand-in-hand with those who were not very concerned with social issues but more with market dominance and free trade. It was a logical partnership during the Cold War when communism threatened the world, but the fusionism ofbecause they were thoroughly alienated from the new, actual base: the Trump base.

The Trump Base

Trump infamously quipped that his diehard supporters “my people” (his base) would still stick by him if he shot a man in the middle of Fifth Avenue in New York. So, who is Trump’s base? They are not quite the same as the usual Republican base. They tend to be white, male and rural, but there are also many independents and Democrats in the Trump base. Indeed, Trump broke through to victory by smashing the Democratic “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which Hillary Clinton took for granted as her territory. Trump, a nationalist-populist, enjoys support from a minority but ardent core base who cross political lines but broadly converge around his “America