America’s Elites Were Fervently Opposed to Donald Trump

“He thinks Trump was the result of a populist revolt that shattered the neoliberal consensus”

…or pretended not to support Trump until he could deliver them upper-class tax cuts. Same thing, really:

Those were heavy losses in pages whose content is managed by fewer than thirty people in total. And the reason, according to several defectors, was the Journal’s skidding reversal once Rupert Murdoch realized Trump could win. Several sources pointed to the editorials by one writer, James Freeman. “All-in for Ted Cruz” during the primaries, Freeman wrote a strong attack on Trump’s Mob dealings, and had a second ready to go. But as Trump got closer to clinching the nomination, Paul Gigot kept delaying publication, saying “it needed work.” Once Trump became the likely Republican nominee, Freeman executed a neat volte-face. “The facts suggest that Mrs. Clinton is more likely to abuse liberties than Mr. Trump,” he wrote. “America managed to survive Mr. Clinton’s two terms, so it can stand the far less vulgar Mr. Trump.”

Since then, the Journal has gone further. Even jaded readers were startled to see the editorial-page call for Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia investigation, to resign. And when an op-ed urged Trump to issue blanket preemptive pardons for the accused, John Yoo, the theorist of the expansive “unitary executive” and author of the Iraq War “Torture Memos,” warned in the Times that the Journal’s advice would place Trump on the road to impeachment. (Neither Gigot nor Freeman replied to interview requests.)

And this fierce opposition had continued, as Congress has spared no effort to hold Trump, who they fervently oppose, accountable:

In the wake of passing major tax cuts, congressional Republicans gathered at the White House beneath a cloudy December sky on Wednesday to make sure that the man who prizes winning over all else, President Donald Trump, received his thanks.
he event had echoes of the May fete in the Rose Garden, when House Republicans gathered with Trump to celebrate the passage of a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act before watching the effort disintegrate in the Senate.

This time, they saved the party and self-congratulation until the very end.

A Marine band serenaded the crowd with Christmas carols as cabinet members and staff took seats on the South Lawn and congressional Republicans obediently lined the steps on the South Portico of the White House.

A triumphant Trump, joined by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence, took the stage to “Hail to the Chief” and kicked off a series of speeches aimed at touting the legislation — and especially on praising the president, who is expected to sign it in the days ahead.

After months of frustration with Trump’s erratic leadership, congressional leaders on Wednesday seemed to compete for who could lavish the most praise on the president, whose hunger for aggrandizement is well known.
“This has been a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the Trump administration,” declared McConnell, who led off the speeches. “We’ve cemented the Supreme Court to the right of center for a generation. Mr. President, thanks to your nominees we put 12 circuit court judges in place — the most since the circuit court system was established in 1891. You hold the record.”

Ryan followed: “Something this big, something this generational, something this profound could not have been done without exquisite presidential leadership. Mr. President, thank you for getting us over the finish line, thank you for getting us where we are.”

And Pence continued: “Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for your leadership, thank you for your boundless faith in the American people and thank you for keeping your promise to see this Congress deliver the largest tax cut in American history before Christmas of this year.”

“You,” Pence gushed to the president, “will make America great again.”

Trump appeared to soak it all in, smiling and nodding along, playing the role of emcee as he summoned each speaker to deliver his or her thanks.

“I want to say thank you to Mr. President,” said Rep. Diane Black of Tennessee. “Thank you, President Trump, for allowing us to have you as our president and to make America great again.”

I would have to agree the thesis that Trump has faced near-universal opposition from Amerca’s elites remains plausible, so long as you see the country’s most powerful legislators, the director of the FBI, Rupert Murdoch, most of its wealthy political donors, and most of its rich white people as a marginalized class devoid of political influence.