Donald Trump’s style is pure populism. He uses Twitter to communicate directly with his supporters, eschewing the gatekeepers in the media. He attacks independent institutions constantly and seeks to bend them to his will. He goes on and on about “the swamp,” although what he apparently means by that is anyone who disagrees with him or attempts to follow the law and established practice. He despises experts and makes decisions based purely on intuition. He lies and defies established norms on a minute-by-minute basis. His followers love him for it.
But, at least on domestic issues, Trump is mostly a standard fare GOP politician on substance. Tax cuts for the rich, benefit cuts for the poor, conservative judges, and deregulation all the way, baby! The GOP legislative leadership tolerates him, in spite of his ethical flaws, because of it.
Task one for the Democratic nominee will be to point out this yawning contradiction between style and substance. Will it work? We’ll see next year.