After the latest round of United States primaries and caucuses, more than half of the 50 states had chosen their preferred candidate—and Donald J Trump had galloped far ahead of the Republican field. He has kept winning, all over the map, some of the victories strikingly large, 19 states so far, from Alabama (rural, evangelical, low-income Deep South) to Massachusetts (urban, secular, prosperous New England), and Michigan (industrial, workingclass) to Florida (urban and rural, ethnically diverse). The only question now is whether Trump’s two remaining opponents, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich, can deny him the nomination outright before the party’s delegates convene in Cleveland, Ohio, in mid-July.
No matter the outcome, Trump already seems to be remaking the Republican Party, if not in his garish image, then along the lines of his fixations and enthusiasms. It is fast becoming “the party of Trump,” as the New York Times has declared, in mingled horror and amusement.
But what is this new Republican Party? Who belongs to it? What do they want? What do they see in Trump? And what does he see in his own presidency? What would he do if he does get to the Oval Office?