'The passage of Trump's budget bill highlights persistent political tensions within the American right'
Major cleavages persist within the Trump coalition, as highlighted by the controversy surrounding the White House's refusal to release the Epstein files, reignited by the explosive recent story published in the conservative Wall Street Journal about Trump's unsavory connections to the late, disgraced mogul, who died in 2019. Understanding these rifts is essential to assessing the future of the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement. Trump's hold on the Grand Old Party (GOP)'s elites is also more complicated than the passing of the OBBB would indicate.
Since Trump's political rise in 2016, the world of American conservative elites has undergone a dramatic reconfiguration. His first victory led to a dramatic ideological shift in the upper echelons of the American conservative movement, and the rise of a new coalition of intellectuals known as the "New Right." Whereas the old conservative establishment stood for the "fusionist" trifecta of free-market economics, social traditionalism and anti-communism, and internationalism in foreign affairs, the New Right stands for nationalist economics, social traditionalism, isolationism and a crackdown on immigration.
Obvious tensions
Today, the old legacy of fusionism continues to influence American conservatism, fueling schisms in the GOP and within the New Right coalition. Many tech industry figures on the New Right, for example, were frustrated with Trump and JD Vance's new tariff regime. Elon Musk was a ferocious opponent of the OBBB, and at one point threatened to back alternative candidates in the Republican primaries against any member of the party who voted in favor of the bill.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
4 minutes ago
- France 24
From Gaza to Paris: Former FRANCE 24 fixer evacuated from the enclave testifies
08:24 29/07/2025 Ivory Coast President Ouattara, 83, says will seek fourth term 29/07/2025 Deadly Russian air raids hit Ukraine as Trump warns of sanctions 29/07/2025 France leads UN talks on Israel-Palestine two-state solution 29/07/2025 China: Deadly floods hit the north of the country 29/07/2025 France: Paris election shows split in the Republican party, Culture Minister and ex-PM to face off 29/07/2025 How Claude Monet's masterpiece named Impressionism? 29/07/2025 Colombia ex-president Uribe guilty in bribery trial 29/07/2025 Turkey battles wildfires, arrests suspects as heatwave grips Mediterranean 29/07/2025 Thailand and Cambodia ceasefire holds as wary displaced villagers return home
Euronews
4 minutes ago
- Euronews
Automotive giant Stellantis faces €1.5 billion hit from US tariffs
The second-biggest carmaker in Europe has forecast that US tariffs could cost it €1.5 billion this year as the EU has failed to avert auto levies imposed by the Trump administration. The producers of luxury Maserati cars as well as mid-range and affordable favourites such as Lancia, Peugeot and Fiat, said on Tuesday that net profits plummeted from €5.6bn in the same period last year. This was as it burned €3.3 billion in cash for the cancellation of a hydrogen fuel cell project. Changes in the fine regime for US carbon emission regulations and write-downs on platform investments also hit profits. US President Donald Trump's tariffs cost the company €300 million in the first six months of the year, Stellantis said. Losses like these could crank up political and labour pressure as the carmaker faces a heightened risk of plant shutdowns, delayed model launches and fights with unions as management scrambles to manage the cash gap. Carmakers are the main drivers of European industry. The sector pumps out roughly 7% of EU GDP according to the European Commission, supports around 14 million jobs across its supply chains and delivers one of the bloc's biggest export surpluses each year. Automakers also pour more than €70bn annually into engineering and technological innovation. A dip in their fortunes can therefore ripple into technology, steel, chemicals, logistics and the continent's drive for innovation. Stellantis said it expected net revenues to increase over the next six months compared with the first half, when they dropped 13% to €74.3bn. The carmaker also said cash flow would improve. Incoming CEO Antonio Filosa, who was confirmed in the role last month, said the new executive team would "continue to make the tough decisions needed to re-establish profitable growth and significantly improve results". 'My first weeks as CEO have reconfirmed my strong conviction that we will fix what's wrong with Stellantis,'' Filosa said in a statement.
France 24
33 minutes ago
- France 24
Displaced Cambodians return home after Thailand truce
People who fled the Cambodia-Thailand border return to their homes in Oddar Meanchey province The territorial conflict, which ignited into open combat on Thursday, stems from an obscure cartographical dispute dating back decades, and the truce was sealed after interventions from world leaders including US President Donald Trump. Back in his Cambodian village of Kouk Khpos -- about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Thai border -- 30-year-old farmer Lat Laem is grateful for his homecoming, and more quotidian concerns. Lat Laem said he was working in his rice field when the first blasts broke out, heralding the start of fighting © TANG CHHIN Sothy, TANG CHHIN SOTHY / AFP "I feel happy to be back to my newly built home so I can clean the floor," he told AFP, after a two-hour trip trailing his family home on a tractor through shuttered villages and empty streets. Lat Laem said he was working in his rice field when the first blasts broke out, heralding the start of fighting that was waged with artillery, rockets, jets and ground troops. At least 43 people have been killed on both sides in the deadliest clashes in years over a scattering of ancient contested temples on Thailand and Cambodia's 800-kilometre border. The truce came into effect at midnight on Monday, and while Thailand accused Cambodia of violating the pact with skirmishes, peace has generally prevailed. Hope intact When the strikes started raining down around his home, Lat Laem says he took refuge in his brother's bunker -- built because border residents are accustomed to sporadic strife. He was initially reluctant to abandon his simple white home, so recently constructed that he has yet to hold a house-warming. When the drumbeat of blasts became too much to bear, he fled -- joining around 140,000 others in Cambodia, and 180,000 more in Thailand who were forced to quit their homes. He left with his wife and daughter, his sister-in-law and her children on a tractor-drawn wagon known locally as an "iron cow" -- piled with a few scant belongings including cooking gear and a fan -- and headed to a shelter 50 kilometres away. While they were gone the border was scarred by destruction, as both sides traded fire and allegations about the use of cluster bombs, the targeting of civilian homes and even of hospitals. Evacuated far from his prized property, Lat Laem was consumed by anxiety it would be claimed by the conflict. "I was worried that my house that I spent all that money to build might be damaged -- that would upset me," said Lat Laem. "I could not sleep." But pacing the perimeter of his own patch of land back near the contested frontier he confirms it is free of shrapnel scars -- totally undamaged by the turmoil. "It was not hit, it is intact," he marvelled. "Now I am happy that it is all good." © 2025 AFP
