The Limousine Liberal: How an Incendiary Image United the Right and Fractured America

No political metaphor in recent American history has enjoyed the impact of the limousine liberal. Taking aim at what many consider the hypocrisy of wealthy liberals who champion the cause of the poor but who have no intention of bearing the costs of doing anything about their plight, it has mobilized an enduring politics of resentment against everything from civil rights to environmental regulation.

In The Limousine Liberal, Steve Fraser argues that the metaphor of the limousine liberal has had a pernicious effect on American political culture. From Henry Ford's attacks on Jews, bankers, and Bolsheviks in the 1920s to the Tea Party's vehement hatred of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, it has served as the animus binding together right-wing populism in America.

In the vein of the late Richard Hofstadter, Fraser dives down below the surface of rational political life to identify and understand the right's most elemental fears.