E.J. Dionne's Take on Conservative Mistakes

"It all started with Goldwater..." That's how E.J. Dionne starts to explain the rise of conservatism and where it went wrong, referring to then-Senator Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential run that revolutionized the Republican party.

E.J. Dionne, Washington Post political columnist, senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, government professor at Georgetown University and the author of Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond (Simon & Schuster, 2016), says Republicans made an error in adopting Goldwater's approach that reverberates today.

He examines a number of Republican politicians in his book, from Nixon to Reagan to George W. Bush, and the degree to which they appeased and alienated conservatives. "The Tea Party rebellion began quietly during the Bush administration," Dionne says, explaining conservatives thought Bush was too moderate and big-government.

Reflecting on Trump, Dionne sees an important issue emerging that Democrats and Republicans should take seriously:

"What Trump does represent that I think both parties need to pay attention to is a real seething resentment among white working class voters and on the Republican side they voted Republican election after election and received no material benefits out of that. And so oddly this billionaire is leading kind of a class war in the Republican party."

He goes on to explain how progressives should respond to this trend:

"I think we really have to empathize, not denounce, working class people who are going through a lot...Yes, we should denounce racism. Yes, we should denounce the hideous things Trump says about immigrants. But I think we also need to understand that there are rational reasons why people are unhappy and we gotta try to deal with those reasons. "

Now: @EJDionne gives his take on American conservatism and where the right went wrong. Tune in to @WNYC. pic.twitter.com/OrNqQ6nKH0

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) January 19, 2016

“A party that is so heavily dependent on the votes of older white people has a kind of time limit on it.” @EJDionne on @WNYC

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) January 19, 2016

.@EJDionne quotes recent @pewresearch study: 60% of Dems prefer politicians who compromise rather than stick to positions, vs 38% of Reps.

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) January 19, 2016