There’s this New York Review of Books article about the resurgence of the political right in Europe. Far right movements around the world are coalescing around an anti-immigrant, protectionist, social conservative message.

The strain of libertarianism obsessed with economic liberty has had an outsized effect on U.S. conservatism that was so complete I realized only recently how unique it was in the context of conservative movements around the globe.

While they balk at bureaucratic EU paternalism, the European right, for example, also opposes neoliberal economics for sacrificing workers and the middle-class at the alter of financialization and globalization.

Now American conservatism is falling in line with conservatism in the rest of the world.

Citing polling indicating that the Republican base supports increased taxes on the rich, opposes cuts in Medicare and Social Security, and generally opposes a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, George W. Bush speechwriter turned Never-Trumper David Frum wrote in 2016,

Against all evidence, both [big Republican donors and the politicians who depend on them] interpreted the Tea Party as a mass movement in favor of the agenda of the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

I guess the GOP base never cared for economic liberty either. Just the donor class.