Zakaria: ‘Perhaps Trump Knows His Base Better than We Do’

RUSH EXCERPT:
ZAKARIA: "There’s increasing evidence that Trump’s base supports him, because it feels a deep, emotional, cultural and class affinity for him. And while the tax bill is being analyzed by economists, trump picks fights with black athletes, retweets misleading anti Muslim videos and promises never to yield on immigration. Perhaps he knows his base better than we do. In fact, Trump’s populism might not be as unique as it’s made out to be. Polling from Europe suggests the core issues motivating people to support Brexit or the far right parties in France and Germany and even the populist parties of eastern Europe are cultural and social. The most important revolution in economics in the last generation has been the rise of the behavioral scientists trained in psychology who are finding that people systematically make decisions that are against their own interests. This might be the tip of the iceberg in understanding human motivation. The real story might be that people see their own interests in much more emotional and tribal way than scholars understand. What if in the eyes of a large group of Americans, these other issues are the ones for which they will stand up, protest, support politicians, vote and even pay an economic price? What if, for many people in America, and around the world, these are their true interests?"