Trump's selective populism pits MAGA against Wall Street
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President Trump is pioneering a bespoke form of populism — championing workers against corporate elites on the one hand, and protecting big business on the other.
Why it matters: The unorthodox blend works for Trump and his deeply loyal MAGA base. But it leaves no clear blueprint for the movement's next leader, who will almost certainly lack his gravitational pull.
- True MAGA adherents may revolt if Trump's successor strays from hardcore populism. Business leaders could balk if they lean too far the other way.
On the populist side: Trump has used tariffs to fundamentally remake the global trading order, with the goal of both punishing countries who "cheat" the U.S. and boosting domestic manufacturing.
- He's waged a public war on the Federal Reserve — railing against high interest rates as punishing ordinary Americans, and threatening the independence of the central bank.
- Trump's "big, beautiful bill" included targeted tax breaks for workers — eliminating federal taxes on tips and overtime — while avoiding the biggest cuts to Medicare and Social Security long sought by GOP deficit hawks.
- MAGA has embraced Trump's mass deportation campaign as a form of wage protection for American workers, while also claiming it could alleviate pressure on housing and health care.
On the pro-business side: Trump has delivered major wins for corporate America, including by extending the 2017 tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.
- His administration has aggressively slashed regulations and signed off on high-profile mergers, reviving the pre-Trump GOP instinct to unshackle big business.
- Trump also allowed Nvidia to continue exporting certain AI chips to China — a concession to tech and Wall Street that undercut his broader "tough on China" stance.
- And he's flirted with protections for undocumented farmworkers, a position that inflamed MAGA activists but aligned with Big Agriculture's demands for cheap labor.
What they're saying: "While the Old Right has lost a lot of ground, its arguments are still potent with many elected Republicans," American Compass executive director Abigail Ball told Axios.
- "On issues like tariffs, the administration has shown a willingness to choose long-term American interests over short-term business interests, but there remain areas where charismatic business leaders are winning the argument, at the expense of America's economic and national security."
The intrigue: Some of Trump's moves have bucked the traditional populist–corporate dichotomy.
- The government's 10% stake in beleaguered chipmaker Intel, for example, blurred the line between worker-first industrial policy and corporate bailout — a uniquely Trumpian intervention that doesn't fit neatly in either camp.
- Sources tell Axios that within MAGA, there are limits to how much appetite there is for intervention in private businesses beyond Intel, which serves a national security interest that other companies don't.
Between the lines: Free-market economists describe Trump's policy mix as less a cohesive approach to the world and more whatever confirms his long-standing personal beliefs, even if those policies contradict each other.
- "I don't think these circles are squarable," says Wayne Winegarden, an economist at the Pacific Research Institute, which promotes private initiative and limited government.
- "His policies are significantly more anti-growth than people readily talk about," Winegarden said, citing tariffs, immigration crackdowns and central bank interference, among others.
Others agree that Trump's economic policy is rooted more deeply in personality than ideology — which works well for him but won't necessarily for whoever comes next.
- "He's trying to give the base what they want in terms of these bad economic policies that make them feel good," said Alex Nowrasteh, vice president for economic and social policy studies at the Cato Institute.
- "Personality and the economic benefits are like substitutes for each other," he added. "You can have a lot of personality that can make up for a lack of economic prosperity a little bit, and you can have economic prosperity that make up for personality."
Friction point: While Trump's Republican support on economic policy has slipped of late, he's still mostly held onto his base.
- Whether that lasts, experts say, is entirely a function of how much national economic policy seeps into personal reality.
- "You can manipulate the data all you want, but people know if they don't have a job," Winegarden said.
For the record: The White House denies there are any contradictions in Trump's multipronged economic agenda.
- "The Administration is rectifying the broken policies that have put America Last — from lopsided 'free' trade deals to no-strings-attached taxpayer giveaways to the largest companies in the world — while doubling down on the policies — like working-class tax cuts, energy abundance, and rapid deregulation — that have delivered for the American people," said White House spokesperson Kush Desai.
The bottom line: Trump alone has managed to sell a mix of populist red meat and old-fashioned capitalism. But 2028 will test whether anyone else can keep Wall Street and Main Street on the same page.
