Going into the presidential race, last year, Donald Trump was far from a typical Republican.
His rich man braggadocio, his prior support for abortion, and much else, put him culturally at odds with the social conservative wing of the GOP. He dared heap scorn on neoconservative foreign policy strategy, sacrosanct since Reagan on the right. He has supported many Democratic programs, not the least of which is the Gephardtian protectionism that pulled in so many moderate Democrats.
Besides, as he has famously stated, Democrats loved him, asked him for money, and (not coincidentally) gave him praise … right up until he started his campaign under the Republican banner. Then he was excoriated as sexist, racist, xenophobic, Ugly Americanist. Ivanka, his eldest daughter — extraordinarily close to him — was a registered as a Democrat recently enough that she couldn’t even vote for him in the primary.
Ideologically, he has been all over the map.
So one might reasonably think he would govern as a centrist. A non-humble Jimmy Carter retread, perhaps.
But he has assembled the most conservative cabinet in our lifetime. Far more conservative than Ronald Reagan’s. Predictably, Democrats are freaking out.
Why the move “rightward”?
Well, if all the Democratic leadership plus most of the moderate Republican leadership have come out strongly against you — in high moral dudgeon — what point is there to appease them?
The cost of the Trump anathematization strategy may become all too clear in Trump’s first Hundred Days.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
3 replies on “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to a Reform”
Several questions, Mr. Jacob… What are you talking about here? Your opinion is what seems all over the map. Why would anyone want a Jimmy Carter ‘anything’? The establishment Republicans and the progressive Democrats are Trumps biggest enemies. That is the same status they share with me, personally and with many others in this country. We see them for what they are… They have to be dealt with…they have to go.
Drifter — Well, I must not have stated it well, but I’m not seeking a “Jimmy Carter anything” in Mr. Trump. I did expect his administration to be more centrist, but that’s not what I want, just what I expected. So I’m pleasantly surprised to be liking many of his picks very much. Others not so much.
I’m glad for DeVos at Education, Pruitt at EPA, Price at HHS, Carson at HUD, Pudner at Labor. I’m glad he’s picking different sorts of people, including CEOs. Sen. Sessions at Justice is a pick I don’t like.
My point is that by demonizing Trump, the Dems and establishment Rs and the MSM have made it easier for him to pick a more conservative cabinet.
your “like list” is similar to mine; even Perry seems a good move. All of them are critics of the statist quo, and most would abolish the depts they would run if they could. The “outsider” aspects of each are encouraging for govt shrinking at least a little.