The Republican Party stands with America’s veterans — until
America’s veterans stand up to the party’s donor class.
The GOP relies on former servicemen and women as both a
constituency (in 2016, Donald Trump won them by a two-to-one margin), and as
reinforcements in its culture war. Veterans command broad, bipartisan respect —
and thus, have the power to turn any cause they’re associated with into a
sacred cow. Republicans have had little difficulty reframing calls for cutting
America’s gargantuan military budget or ending misbegotten wars — or even reducing
police violence against African-Americans — as affronts to those who fought and
died for this country.
But veterans’ cultural cachet is a double-edged sword for
the GOP. The conservative movement exists to undermine the notion that the
federal government has an obligation to safeguard the well-being of
working-class Americans. And veterans are both largely working-class and
disproportionately likely to rely on public programs and public-interest
regulations for their well-being. Vets get their health care from the single
most socialized segment of America’s health-care sector — and most of their
advocacy organizations want to keep it that way. Meanwhile, veterans’ acute
vulnerability to predatory lenders has abetted the passage of bipartisan
legislation strengthening federal regulations on the finance industry. Which is
to say that on a number of economic issues, Democrats are the ones holding the
“support our troops” card.
All this presented the Trump administration with a stark
choice: It could either show deference to the interests of one of its core
constituencies, or maximize its cronies’ ability to profit off of deregulation
and privatization (at considerable political risk).
It’s now clear that president Trump has opted for door No.
2.
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