In an article about ten days ago, Jonathan Chait looked at the evolving policy positions (not the legal foibles) of the Trump Administration and concluded that they could be reduced to George W. Bush plus white nationalism. I generally agree with Chait, but on this occasion, I think he was being overly simplistic, for the following reasons:
1. While Bush and Trump both believe in the robust use of American firepower for political reasons, their motives are completely different. The Bush democracy project for the Middle East is the antithesis of the Trump Sunni despot alliance, which is designed to keep the lid on liberalism as well as terrorism.
2. While the Bush and Trump tax cut plans had much in common, Bush never supported large-scale cuts to anti-poverty programs. Yes, Bush managed to maintain his support with the Reactionaries by presenting himself as the evangelical Great White Hope, and his economic agenda was extremely PBP-friendly, but he also had allies among the Christian Democrats. Everything about Trump is a rebuke to the CDs; the real question in the long run is whether they will remain in the GOP or not.
In short, for all of his failures and weaknesses, there was an idealism to Bush that is totally missing from Trump, who worships ego, power, and money, and who thinks ideals are for chumps.