Not surprising. The whole point of (most of) the modern left is to fight "racism". I've argued we are entering a new era of politics where it will be culture not economics, which decide elections, and we are engulfed in an intense culture war.
And why do you see yourself on the (presumably) anti-left side of that "war"?
I think the main issue WILL be culture. We are already seeing that as economic lines (in terms of party voting) are pretty mixed. For example, it used to be Democrat=working class and Republican=wealthy. Now, both parties are pretty much the same in terms of wealth. Hell, if you subtract African-Americans, Republicans are by average LESS wealthy than the Democrats. I mean, I don't see how the Republicans will survive as a national party if we don't accommodate our new base (which, is heavily White and working-class) without making major changes in our parties' economic viewpoints. That being said, it seems the driving issues of the day center around Trump and wether he was right or wrong for insulting some group. Immigration, guns, diversity, free speech, etc carry much more weight in terms of discussion then tax cuts or privatization (lol) do. And, all of this is centered around a new America vs Old America dynamic (you see this on college campuses everywhere).
I would post links expanding more on this, but for some reason I can't.
About as likely as me getting my "socially moderate, economically center-right, pro-business" party, pal. Trump undoubtedly made some gains with voters who previously hadn't supported Republicans (or at least not often enough), but 1) a lot of that had to do with Hillary Clinton's unique weakness as a candidate (despite whatever other narrative you are trying to spin about Trump being the only one who could beat her) and 2) he lost tons of reliable Republican voters in suburban areas. A successful Republican who actually wants to equip the party to win longterm and not serve as some pathetic last gasp in the culture war but rather be a vehicle for enacting conservative policy needs BOTH set of voters. That is achieved by being both economically friendly to the middle class (which doesn't necessarily equate with your fetishized *populism*) and inoffensive to growing demographics in the country that the GOP will eventually need. "Bush-Reagan neoconservatism" may well no longer be in favor ... but this is "Trump nationalism"'s 2004 then. The GOP needs to find another way forward, and any moron can see that.
