Why Reform Conservatives Should Embrace Capitalism, Not Shun It March 15, 2021 There has been no shortage of “what happened and what comes next” analyses since last November. What do we make of President Trump’s unexpected 2016 victory and close defeat in 2020? To what extent did these outcomes depend on Trump’s unique personality, media attention, Hillary Clinton’s unpopularity, or Joe Biden’s perceived moderation? And how much credit — or blame — should we assign to Trump’s policies and his questioning of Republican economic orthodoxy? On that last question, reform conservatives have been having their moment in the sun. On the night of the election, Sen. Josh Hawley infamously tweeted: “We are a working class party now. That’s the future.” Sen. Marco Rubio gave a speech on “common-good capitalism” questioning the “right to return money to shareholders” and criticizing Republicans for supposedly neglecting the “rights of workers to share in the benefits they create.”