The right-libertarian faction of the Republican Party forms an almost miniscule percentage of the party's coaltion. And there's a big difference between Massie's ideologically pure libertariansim, and the libertarian-influenced conservatism of the larger factions of the party's coaltion. Furthermore, the dominant faction under Trump - the Populist faction - is the least libertarian-influenced faction of any within the party's coalition. Nationalist Populism is actually not "classically liberal" economically, so it's not in alignment with the right-libertarian economic view that Massie espouses. The Republicans are not in power based on a libertarian-leaning majority of the electorate, because the majority of the electorate does not care for such principles. Trump's Populist movement, similar to the analogous movements in Europe, is instead based on a principle of "solidarity", which translates as a rather classically leftist (social democratic) economic program, combined with a social/cultural traditionalism.
It is this outdated, classically leftist economic program of Nationlist Populism that is the reason for the overlap between Trump's movement and the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign. It's important to remember that exit polls in West Virginia for the 2016 Democrat Primary had 4 in 10 Democrat voters for Bernie stating that they would vote for Trump over Hillary in the General Election. The same reason explains why a Democrat is currently in his second term as governor of Kentucky, or why Democrat Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia lasted as long as he did. If you look at the last Kentucky governor race, it was actually the eastern, "coal-country" counties that went blue. Along with West Virginia and central Appalachia, these were always historically among the most pro-worker, pro-union and "old-left" Democrat-voting parts of the country.
The right-libertarian faction of the Republican Party forms an almost miniscule percentage of the party's coaltion. And there's a big difference between Massie's ideologically pure libertariansim, and the libertarian-influenced conservatism of the larger factions of the party's coaltion. Furthermore, the dominant faction under Trump - the Populist faction - is the least libertarian-influenced faction of any within the party's coalition. Nationalist Populism is actually not "classically liberal" economically, so it's not in alignment with the right-libertarian economic view that Massie espouses. The Republicans are not in power based on a libertarian-leaning majority of the electorate, because the majority of the electorate does not care for such principles. Trump's Populist movement, similar to the analogous movements in Europe, is instead based on a principle of "solidarity", which translates as a rather classically leftist (social democratic) economic program, combined with a social/cultural traditionalism.
It is this outdated, classically leftist economic program of Nationlist Populism that is the reason for the overlap between Trump's movement and the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign. It's important to remember that exit polls in West Virginia for the 2016 Democrat Primary had 4 in 10 Democrat voters for Bernie stating that they would vote for Trump over Hillary in the General Election. The same reason explains why a Democrat is currently in his second term as governor of Kentucky, or why Democrat Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia lasted as long as he did. If you look at the last Kentucky governor race, it was actually the eastern, "coal-country" counties that went blue. Along with West Virginia and central Appalachia, these were always historically among the most pro-worker, pro-union and "old-left" Democrat-voting parts of the country.