Trump’s “post-ideological” campaign resonated with the white working class, but further alienated from the GOP Americans most personally vested in tax relief. The 2016 presidential election was the first since at least 1956 when the Republican candidate lost college-educated whites. The consequence is a new partisan divide: “high-output” Democrats versus “low-output” Republicans. As Brookings scholars Mark Muro and Sifan Liu observe, the 472 counties that voted for Hillary Clinton collectively produce 64 percent of the country’s GDP. Partly, this is because Asian Americans—after supporting Reagan and George H.W. Bush—unified against Trump.

Trump’s advisors have apparently drawn different conclusions from the election outcome. Vice President–elect Pence claimed at the Heritage Foundation that number of counties Trump won has given him the largest mandate of any Republican since Reagan. Stephen Moore brought a more sober “dose of reality” to congressional Republicans: “Just as Reagan converted the GOP into a conservative party, Trump has converted the GOP into a populist working-class party”—a sea change that could frustrate free-market conservatives.

Either way, selling a post-Reaganite Republican base on tax cuts—and the pro-growth, meritocratic culture they encourage—could be an uphill battle. With looming intra-party fights over infrastructure and Obamacare, Trump and House Republicans might conclude that it’s not worth the effort.

Pratik Chougule is the managing editor of the National Interest.

Image: Ronald Reagan gives a televised address from the Oval Office, outlining his plan for Tax Reduction Legislation in July 1981. Wikimedia Commons/Public domain