Laura Ingrahamâs âBillionaire at the Barricadesâ Gives Conservative
Laura Ingraham
Laura Ingraham  was one of the few people who saw Donald Trumpâs shocking victory coming. More importantly  as a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan who saw firsthand how viciously the Bush-aligned establishment despised Reaganâs working-class voters   Ingraham  understands how powerful the conservative-populist movement is and why the elites in the permanent political class have spent gazillions and worked overtime for three decades to thwart it.
In  her  blockbuster new book  Billionaire at the Barricades: The Populist Revolution from Reagan to Trump  Ingraham  the best-selling author  explains how Trump got elected and the forces heâand other economic nationalistsâwill have to battle to implement the peopleâs agenda.
Billionaire at the Barricades is a must-read because  Ingraham   who still gets chills when she sees footage of the crowd at Kemper Arena in 1976 realizing they had nominated the wrong man in Gerald Ford  takes readers on a fast-paced journey through the 2016 campaign cycle and shows how everyone who was blindsided by Trumpâs rise should have seen it coming  especially after Dave Bratâs shocking primary victory over then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) in 2014.
Elites give off the impression that Trumpâs populism on the campaign trail was something they had never seen before when  in fact  every candidate who has won the presidency in the television age has been the one who was the most populist. As  Ingraham  writes  âpresidential candidates invoke the populist style because it connects with working people.â
Conservatism and populism  according to  Ingraham   âoverlap in their opposition to âbig thingsââbig government  big international organizations  big media  big business cronyism.â
Reagan understood that âthese distant  uncaring entities rob people of decision making and ignore their interests â and  Ingraham  notes that âPat Buchanan and Donald Trump summarized conservative populism best when each vowed to put âAmerica first.ââ
âConservative populists tend to support a policy of economic nationalismâpeople-centered economic policies that put the nation and its workers first. They oppose a massive national debt because it weakens America and makes its citizens beholden to lenders â  she  continues. âThey also believe high taxes are bad because they sap workersâ wages and economic freedom. Similarly  they are against huge trade deals and international organizations like the World Trade Organization because they take power out of the hands of voters and give it to a far-away and often hostile global elite.â
When it comes to foreign policy   Ingraham  explains that âconservative populists oppose broad military interventionism and believe military force should only be used when American interests are threatened.â  She  slams populismâs critics who foolishly toss around âthe term âisolationismâ to dismiss populist foreign policy â even though that label does not describe any populist  she  has ever known.
 Ingraham  points out that âthroughout the Cold War  populists were among the strongest voices opposing Soviet communism.â In addition  populists have always believed that âsquandering the nationâs wealth and blood on un-winnable wars and nation-building is unwise. Instead  they support a pragmatic foreign policy based on achieving âpeace through strengthâ by maintaining a strong military and using it prudently.â
Unfortunately  as  Ingraham  details  âsome conservatives took a dangerous detourâ and âthrust us into a bizarre world of globalization  wars based on idealism and nation-building  and intense hatred toward the very voters who accounted for the Reagan coalition in the first place.â
The betrayal started almost immediately after George H.W. Bush won Reaganâs third term. The Bush administration purged Reaganites  and  Ingraham  recalls that Margaret Tutwiler told Reaganite Ed Rollins at a party that âthere are a lot of us who had to suffer during the eight years of Reagan  and now itâs our turn.â
âWe were Reagan people. They were Bush people. We all knew what the differences were â  Ingraham  writes. âMany of the GOP Establishment types who behind closed doors scoffed at Reagan as a dim-witted former actor with anââultraconservativeâ outlook were now working in the Bush administration. They thought it was time to return the Republican Party to what they believed was its more genteel  respectable roots. In effect  it meant the return to power of the Rockefeller Republicans who had worked to deny Reagan the presidency in 1976.â
Bushâs Office of Management and Budget Director Richard Darman convinced Bush to infamously abandon his âread my lipsâ pledge not to raise taxes  and  in the end   Ingraham  argues that âGeorge H. W. Bush stalled the conservative-populist engine that powered Reaganism.â As Rollins said  âGeorge Bush was the beneficiary of the greatest baton pass in presidential history in 1988  and he and his people tossed it away.â
âGlobalism is fundamentally anti-American because it aims to raze American sovereignty by atrophying our ability to take independent actions that are in our nationâs best interests â  Ingraham  writes  pointing out that globalists do not understand that âbecause of the enormous anti-American sentiment around the world  itâs almost impossible to create a multinational organization where U.S. interests donât become compromised or harmed.â
Just like his father  George W. Bush campaigned as a populist but governed as a globalist.  Ingraham  blames âBushâs decision to aggressively pursue amnesty after his unpopular warâ for insulting the âmillions of conservative-populists who had worked so hard to put him in power.â
âBecause of Bush  conservatives lost everything â  she  continues. âWe lost the House. We lost the Senate. And we lost the White House.â
[TGT] was one of the few people who saw Donald Trumpâs shocking victory coming. More importantly  as a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan who saw firsthand how viciously the Bush-aligned establishment despised Reaganâs working-class voters    [TGT]   understands how powerful the conservative-populist movement is and why the elites in the permanent political class have spent gazillions and worked overtime for three decades to thwart it.
In   [TGT]   blockbuster new book  Billionaire at the Barricades: The Populist Revolution from Reagan to Trump  Ingraham  the best-selling author  explains how Trump got elected and the forces heâand other economic nationalistsâwill have to battle to implement the peopleâs agenda.
Billionaire at the Barricades is a must-read because  Ingraham   who still gets chills when she sees footage of the crowd at Kemper Arena in 1976 realizing they had nominated the wrong man in Gerald Ford  takes readers on a fast-paced journey through the 2016 campaign cycle and shows how everyone who was blindsided by Trumpâs rise should have seen it coming  especially after Dave Bratâs shocking primary victory over then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) in 2014.
Elites give off the impression that Trumpâs populism on the campaign trail was something they had never seen before when  in fact  every candidate who has won the presidency in the television age has been the one who was the most populist. As  Ingraham  writes  âpresidential candidates invoke the populist style because it connects with working people.â
Conservatism and populism  according to  Ingraham   âoverlap in their opposition to âbig thingsââbig government  big international organizations  big media  big business cronyism.â
Reagan understood that âthese distant  uncaring entities rob people of decision making and ignore their interests â and  Ingraham  notes that âPat Buchanan and Donald Trump summarized conservative populism best when each vowed to put âAmerica first.ââ
âConservative populists tend to support a policy of economic nationalismâpeople-centered economic policies that put the nation and its workers first. They oppose a massive national debt because it weakens America and makes its citizens beholden to lenders â  she  continues. âThey also believe high taxes are bad because they sap workersâ wages and economic freedom. Similarly  they are against huge trade deals and international organizations like the World Trade Organization because they take power out of the hands of voters and give it to a far-away and often hostile global elite.â
When it comes to foreign policy   Ingraham  explains that âconservative populists oppose broad military interventionism and believe military force should only be used when American interests are threatened.â  She  slams populismâs critics who foolishly toss around âthe term âisolationismâ to dismiss populist foreign policy â even though that label does not describe any populist  she  has ever known.
 Ingraham  points out that âthroughout the Cold War  populists were among the strongest voices opposing Soviet communism.â In addition  populists have always believed that âsquandering the nationâs wealth and blood on un-winnable wars and nation-building is unwise. Instead  they support a pragmatic foreign policy based on achieving âpeace through strengthâ by maintaining a strong military and using it prudently.â
Unfortunately  as  Ingraham  details  âsome conservatives took a dangerous detourâ and âthrust us into a bizarre world of globalization  wars based on idealism and nation-building  and intense hatred toward the very voters who accounted for the Reagan coalition in the first place.â
The betrayal started almost immediately after George H.W. Bush won Reaganâs third term. The Bush administration purged Reaganites  and  Ingraham  recalls that Margaret Tutwiler told Reaganite Ed Rollins at a party that âthere are a lot of us who had to suffer during the eight years of Reagan  and now itâs our turn.â
âWe were Reagan people. They were Bush people. We all knew what the differences were â  Ingraham  writes. âMany of the GOP Establishment types who behind closed doors scoffed at Reagan as a dim-witted former actor with anââultraconservativeâ outlook were now working in the Bush administration. They thought it was time to return the Republican Party to what they believed was its more genteel  respectable roots. In effect  it meant the return to power of the Rockefeller Republicans who had worked to deny Reagan the presidency in 1976.â
Bushâs Office of Management and Budget Director Richard Darman convinced Bush to infamously abandon his âread my lipsâ pledge not to raise taxes  and  in the end   Ingraham  argues that âGeorge H. W. Bush stalled the conservative-populist engine that powered Reaganism.â As Rollins said  âGeorge Bush was the beneficiary of the greatest baton pass in presidential history in 1988  and he and his people tossed it away.â
âGlobalism is fundamentally anti-American because it aims to raze American sovereignty by atrophying our ability to take independent actions that are in our nationâs best interests â  Ingraham  writes  pointing out that globalists do not understand that âbecause of the enormous anti-American sentiment around the world  itâs almost impossible to create a multinational organization where U.S. interests donât become compromised or harmed.â
Just like his father  George W. Bush campaigned as a populist but governed as a globalist.  Ingraham  blames âBushâs decision to aggressively pursue amnesty after his unpopular warâ for insulting the âmillions of conservative-populists who had worked so hard to put him in power.â
âBecause of Bush  conservatives lost everything â  she  continues. âWe lost the House. We lost the Senate. And we lost the White House.â