It’s 1898. America doesn’t have an income tax, a web of federal regulations, independent agencies, or a welfare state, but it does have a large tariff. It doesn’t aspire to be a democratic shining city on a hill, but it demands to be taken seriously as a great military power. It is about to engage in a war for the ostensible purpose of eliminating human rights abuses in Cuba, but the war will end with satisfied imperial objectives in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Most people used to think that America was last great in 1950, but Trump’s ultimate objectives have finally become clear; he wants to be William McKinley. After he gets around the 22nd Amendment, retakes the Panama Canal, and annexes Greenland, will he try to repeal the income tax?