On Rhetoric, Policy, and Personality

You can deconstruct the Trump presidency into those three components, as follows:

1. RHETORIC: Trump sounds like a pure Reactionary. He divides the world into three parts: real Americans, consisting of white Christians, mostly from rural areas; the liberal enemy within, who is everyone else within our borders; and the enemy outside. He constantly reminds his supporters through his pungent tweets that he is on the side of the real Americans, and that, like them, he fears and despises everyone else. In spite of the fact that he is a thrice-married millionaire developer and former casino owner from New York, they believe him.

2. POLICY: In domestic matters, notwithstanding the Reactionary rhetoric, Trump follows the traditional Reagan Coalition line: tax cuts and deregulation for business and right-wing judges for social conservatives. His foreign policy is largely idiosyncratic, and is based on enthusiasm for right-wing dictators (thought to bring stability and order to a world that needs it), mercantilism, and suspicion of our traditional allies. Trump has put more money into the armed forces, but does not believe in war or nation-building; his weapons of choice are tariffs, which he uses indiscriminately to get attention and reward his friends, and economic sanctions.

3. PERSONALITY: We all know what the man is like by now. His narcissism, corruption, suspicion of experts, capriciousness, irresponsibility, lack of regard for legal norms, and invincible ignorance of policy are a huge part of his legacy.

So what parts of the presidency will outlast him? His GOP successors will undoubtedly be more consistent, attractive personalities. The explosive and divisive rhetoric has been shown to “work” in a fashion; expect to see more of it in the future. Will future GOP leaders be “national conservatives” who are largely indifferent to business interests? Will they carry forward Trump’s mercantilism, enthusiasm for dictators, and loathing of the EU? My best guess is that the answer to both questions is no, but I could be wrong.