{"text":[[{"start":5.6,"text":"Yet another part of Donald Trump’s coalition — the Make America Healthy Again movement — is splintering. Chemical-fearing, organic food-loving Maha activists descended on Washington recently to protest against the Trump administration’s support for glyphosate, the weedkiller packaged as Monsanto’s Roundup. The product is the subject of a big liability case. "}],[{"start":27.25,"text":"Bayer, Monsanto’s parent company, denies that Roundup causes cancer. But “Maha moms” are sceptical (like many others), as evidenced by their cries of “people versus poison” outside the Supreme Court last week."}],[{"start":40.4,"text":"It is noteworthy that the highest-profile speaker at the event was not vaccine-eschewing health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, but agribusiness sceptic Cory Booker, a Democratic US senator. For Maha moms, many of whom are as dubious of large corporate interests as any progressive Democrat, family health is more important than party loyalty. The protest also points to the way that Trump’s base is pulling away from him, as part of a larger realignment that could reshape partisan politics in America."}],[{"start":72,"text":"Trump came into his second term promising a richer America (off the back of a manufacturing boom), a healthier America (see Maha), a more devout America (he won evangelical and a majority of Catholic voters), cheaper prices and no more foreign wars. So far, so bad. Not only are manufacturing jobs down and inflation up (thanks most recently to Trump’s war of choice in Iran), but the president has managed to offend the faithful by warring with the pope and posting pictures depicting himself as Jesus. “We don’t completely know where he is in his heart,” said Bunni Pounds, the organiser of a national Bible reading event last week, about the US President. Preach, sister."}],[{"start":110.75,"text":"Pre-midterm polls show declining support among faith voters and working people, indicating that many in the Maga base now see Trump for what he is: a rich charlatan, who is cosy with the companies moving their jobs abroad or polluting their water, and seems ready to send them to fight foreign wars. This is fact, not fiction. Maga Inc, the political fundraising group, or Super Pac, that supports Trump, gets most of its money from Big Tech, finance, defence and energy companies. That’s anathema to the populist wing of the Republican Party."}],[{"start":144.4,"text":"But it’s not only the base that’s feeling alienated. There are any number of issues where conservative voters differ from the president. While true conservatives support states’ rights, this administration has tried to prevent states from passing their own AI regulation rules. Trump has also done an about-face on privacy, something libertarian Republicans care a lot about, pushing for the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) that allows US intelligence agencies to query digital information about Americans without a warrant. Previously, he’d been against it."}],[{"start":179,"text":"It is telling that the Fisa reauthorisation fight, which is going on right now, involves a right/left coalition that has been with us since the rise of both Trump and veteran leftwing senator Bernie Sanders. Both appealed to voters who rejected conventional centrist wisdom on concentrated economic power, vested interests, free trade, government corruption and globalisation. "}],[{"start":203.35,"text":"Members of the House Freedom Caucus, the most conservative wing of the Republican Party, want to close the “section 702” loophole that allows for “backdoor searches” of US citizens’ communications, as do economic populists and tech sceptics, including Republican senator Josh Hawley. That idea is also supported by progressives like Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren and of course Sanders. Meanwhile, many centrists on both sides support a “clean” reauthorisation of the bill in its current form, citing the usual issues like terror prevention and national security."}],[{"start":236.95,"text":"On this, as with an increasing number of issues, the outer edges of the parties are overlapping with each other. Witness conservative Indiana politicians who treasure states’ rights pushing back on White House gerrymandering. Or progressives like Democratic senator Chris Murphy speaking about spiritual issues, Then there is Maine oyster farmer, veteran and Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, who advocates for a less interventionist foreign policy than liberals supported in the past. These are all areas where issues are taking precedence over party allegiances."}],[{"start":273.2,"text":"This sort of realignment isn’t unprecedented. In the 1850s, anti-establishment populism led to the collapse of the Whig Party, which split over slavery, and the rise of the Republican Party. But transformation across partisan lines can also occur without disrupting the entire party structure. In the 1930s Franklin D Roosevelt used a power vs people narrative to bring Democrats, Republicans and labour activists into the New Deal coalition."}],[{"start":301.15,"text":"I’m not yet betting on a collapse of either party. But it is clear we are in another period of great political churn and change. I suspect that populists at both ends of the spectrum will attract more support in the midterms and very probably in the 2028 presidential election too. Party lines will continue to blend and shift, with the ultimate result perhaps being a centrist/pro-business candidate on one side, and an economic populist on the other. The big question is which party they would represent."}],[{"start":339.24999999999994,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1777821666_2859.mp3"}