Donald Trump may be ahead in the polls, but he needs money badly. And so, according to Ross Douthat, he has been telling donors with deep pockets that his second term will look like the first one. Sure, there will be plenty of white noise to keep the base happy–that’s his brand, after all. But he will actually govern as a typical Republican. Ignore the populist sound and fury; just pay attention to what he actually does in office.
Should they trust him? Should we trust him?
Of course not! This is a man who told 30,000 lies during his term of office. Furthermore, we know from his first term (and, to some extent, from his history before that) that he hates Ukraine, the EU, and NATO, despises the law and the MSM, loves dictators, rejects the whole idea of climate change, and embraces tariffs as a way to bring back the economy of the 1950s. This time, he will be surrounded by advisors who know better than to try to restrain him, and he is angry at his opponents and desperate to avoid prison. Why should anyone believe that he will govern as a man of moderation?
Just in case you were looking for another historical precedent, German industrialists ultimately decided to ignore Hitler’s extreme racist and nationalist rhetoric and back him as the lesser of the evils, too. How did that turn out?