A decade after he descended that elevator, liberal and conservative elites alike still don’t understand President Donald Trump’s enduring appeal to Americans.

It’s astounding. Ten years in, the professional left is still screaming from the rooftops that the twice-elected president of the United States will destroy America. On the right, conservative intellectuals are screaming about Trump’s many departures from free-market orthodoxy.

They’re all clearly baffled. How on earth does this man continue to exert such a powerful hold on so many Americans?

Yet both sides are saying more about themselves than they are about Trump. Namely, they’re saying that too many of them are out of touch with the American people.

I say this as a free-market conservative who has had to come to grips with reality. I oppose Trump's recent decision to have the U.S. taxpayer take a 10% stake in the chipmaker Intel.

I dislike how he forced Nippon Steel to give him an absolute veto over any big decisions it makes regarding U.S. Steel’s American operations. And I worry that his tariffs are so broad and one-size-fits-all, they’ll stifle the very free........

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