Donald Trump was elected president without the support of the GOP establishment and with few ideological commitments, which gave him unprecedented freedom in choosing how to govern. He had the following options:
- Govern as a man above party. Combine GOP-friendly tax cuts and deregulation with infrastructure plans that would appeal to Democrats. Cut down on the partisan rhetoric and call for patriotism and unity.
- Morph into an establishment Republican. Fill the government with traditional figures. Give up tweeting, cut Steve Bannon loose, and stick to the basics of tax cutting and deregulation.
- Combine the unpredictable, scattershot approach that won him the election with swaggering, hard line GOP positions on virtually everything.
As we know, he chose #3, and the American public has been suffering for it ever since. The point, however, is that the decision was not inevitable, or dictated by events. He chose it, and we have to live with it.