Quote (Black XistenZ @ Sep 10 2020 02:28pm)
Trump caused liberals, the mainstream media and the Democratic party to lose their mind, expose themselves and adopt insane, unpopular policies which will destroy them once Trump is gone and the general disdain for him doesnt keep centrist voters in their column anymore.
He has also exposed the corruption and spinelessness of the Republican party, and contributed to destroying them from within. Furthermore, he has spurred a purge of the shitty Bush-style neocons from the party, and he has spurred a realignment away from religiously motivated social conservatism toward a populism-fueled cultural conservatism. He almost single-handedly buried fiscal conservatism and forced the GOP to move more toward the center on economic policy.
He has pushed back the creeping takeover of the federal judiciary by liberal activist judges and radically cut down on the bloated federal bureaucracy Obama had created. He stopped attempts at reducing the wiggle room of national politics via international "soft law".
He has widened the overton window to the right on issues like immigration, national identity, free trade and China. Indirectly, his unpopularity has also helped voices on the left to successfully expand the overton window in the other direction. Taken together, this will vitalize American politics and the public discourse in the long run.
All in all, Trump has caused a lot of realignments that I, personally, find great. The long-term changes induced by him are great in their own right, and even better when compared to the horrendous alternatives of a Jeb Bush or Hilary Clinton presidency. His ineptitude at running the day-to-day business of an administration dont change this. I never cared too much about that stuff tbh. But maybe that's my privilege as a foreign voyeur who isnt directly affected by Trump's blunders in day-to-day business.
I don't think that's true, but let's assume it is... why is that a good thing? Why is the MSM and left-of-center political party losing their minds a good thing for America? I understand it might make you feel good... but how is it supposed to help the country? Trumpists seem to equate liberal tears with progress... to me it seems like a very immature way of looking at the situation.
He's definitely exposed how pathetic the Republican party is... but what's pathetic about them is how it has turned into a cult of personality around Trump. The people who actually hold him accountable in the Republican party are the ones you and the cult hate most. Also, Trump has elevated the hawkish wing of the party. He made Bolton NSA. He made Haley UN ambassador. There's plenty of Republicans left who are hawks... Haley, Rubio, Graham. They are fine to Republican voters if they bow down to the cult leader.
So, how exactly is that an improvement? It's not like he's spurred some Reagan type revolution in favor of populist-right policies. He's made those policies more palatable, but the hold he has on the party is because of his cult of personality. And a decent chunk of his support is due to his social conservatism. Sure, he'll pander to gay people in a video at the RNC, but the policy of his administration is socially conservative.
I think Trump's presidency is a missed opportunity for populists. He had a chance to actually be a populist... to withdraw from military conflicts, to pursue populist tax policy, to get an infrastructure bill done, to make consistent arguments that moved voters permanently away from establishment Republican views. But he's governed much like any Republican president would, apart from the trade war, the corruption, and the tweets.
This post was edited by IceMage on Sep 10 2020 05:55pm