Let Them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality

Political scientists Hacker and Pierson (American Amnesia) analyze the modern Republican Party’s shift toward “plutocratic populism” in this barbed and cogent account. Contending that all conservative parties within democracies face the same dilemma of how to protect the interests of the “economic elite” while winning electoral support from the masses, Hacker and Pierson document Richard Nixon’s efforts to win over white, working-class voters; Newt Gingrich’s partisan warfare during the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations; the rise of the Koch brothers’ libertarian agenda ; and Donald Trump’s embrace of the “most radical” Republican priorities. They examine the role of evangelical Christians, the NRA, and the right-wing media in Republican efforts to solve the “Conservative Dilemma” despite the unpopularity of their legislative pursuits (repeal of the Affordable Care Act, tax cuts for the wealthy), and note that gerrymandering, restrictive voter ID laws, the Electoral College, and malapportionment in the U.S. Senate help to ensure that conservative voters have an outsized voice. Though much of this will be familiar to politically minded readers, Hacker and Pierson pull disparate pieces into a lucid narrative that goes a long way toward explaining the current iteration of the Republican Party. Liberals will be equal parts enraged and edified by this deeply sourced polemic. Agent: Sydelle Kramer, the Susan Rabiner Literary Agency. (May)