How would a Jacob Rees-Moog-style conservative perform in an American election?

[Vittorio]

Programmatically, he'd be no different from a Trump Republican: hostile to abortion, immigration, environmentalism, etc. He (and it certainly would be a he) might even be to the Right of Trump on the 'social issues'.

But his political gimmick would be entirely different: think of a snooty Old Etonian transplanted to American soil. He probably comes from New England - maybe Vermont. He is unapologetically proud of his pedigree, and in fact exaggerates his style as a way of building his brand. Religiously he is probably a TradCath or High Anglican, though he certainly wouldn't have been born into other.

Assume a neutral election year for an open seat, under conditions approximating 2016.

[bagelman]

NH, CT, even MA (home of the newer aristocratic Kennedy family and the older Weld family) are all better states as he has no potential support in modern VT. Bernie Sanders and his allies would absolutely annihilate him statewide.

Without Trump's populism MI is thrown out of reach and it's much harder to win WI and PA. He still wins OH if the Democrats nominate that b###h - and along with OH the GOP needs VA and FL to reach 270. With a decent candidate the Democrats can create an even stronger contrast between themselves and someone with Romney's attitude, making a play to retain OH, which is a checkmate.

Overall JRM is a much weaker candidate than Trump, assuming I'm getting the right idea of him. A proudly out of touch elitist is not going to appeal to Americans who are proud of "earning" their living to distract themselves from the massive income gap in modern society.

[brucejoel99]

I imagine that a Member of Congress from the 18th century wouldn't do all that well in a modern American election.