You might call President Trump brilliant or lucky, playing 5-D chess or playing checkers, most worthy or most unworthy, but definitely don’t call him conservative.
This is more of an observation than a criticism because I don’t really hear Trump calling himself conservative…and I’m not conservative. But I do have a particular set of values that makes it rather easy to predict where I’ll be on an issue: Nearly without fail (and I hope that “nearly” isn’t even necessary there), I take the position that maximizes individual liberty.
Other people have different values and I’m not saying that mine are better. But mine — like most people who are one flavor of another of libertarian (or Objectivist) — are consistent.
The only thing consistent about Trump is that he is — intentionally — unpredictable because he’s not operating from any actual principle. “Make America Great Again” is a nice slogan but it’s not a principle. And a principle is not the same as a goal, at least as I intend the term. A principle represents something you think is good and true, and it’s something at least a bit more than a goal. It’s a way of being.
The political left tends to have goals but not principles. For example, Bernie Sanders supports income redistribution. I’ve never heard mention of anything short of murder that he wouldn’t be willing to entertain to reach that goal.
Again, I realize others may frame this differently.
Donald Trump has zero principles that I can discern. He has a few beliefs. And he certainly has goals. I can think of two things that strike me as true beliefs of his: first, he doesn’t like or trust international trade…which seems to be a subset of not liking or trusting any international involvement. And second (and I realize this seems like an extension of the first but I think it’s more than that), he hates war — a sentiment I very much appreciate; Trump is by far the most anti-war president of my lifetime. To be fair, that may actually drift into being a principle: war is bad and to be avoided.
He has quite a few goals. Of course, he wants to implement policies that fulfill his beliefs: to attack free trade and to try to stop (and not start) wars. Beyond that his goals mostly revolve around self-aggrandizement with a thin veneer of patriotism. If you buy enough of his shit-coin you can go to dinner at his golf club near DC. If your country was invaded by an implacable enemy of the United States, he might try to help pursue America’s interests if you say thank you enough times in public. If you’re a dictator but you pander to his ego, he’ll brag about how you and he get along so well and have a great relationship.
In short, Trump is a populist. With the exception of his precious few beliefs, he, like all populists, holds his finger to the wind and embarks on what he thinks will gain him accolades. Populists get plenty of things right, actually, and also plenty of things wrong, and it’s all by accident.
I need to reiterate something here: While I don’t like or trust populists, I don’t disdain them nearly the way I disdain raging hypocrites. Donald Trump really doesn’t claim to be a conservative. Heck, he barely claims to be a Republican (because he barely is). In that sense he’s much better than people like Josh Hawley or even JD Vance who are populists in conservative clothing, which is to say they’re hypocrites.
Trump decided to prove that again on Thursday when he apparently urged Congress to raise taxes on high earners to fund his ridiculous vote-buying efforts known as “no tax on tips” and “no tax on overtime” and “no tax on Social Security.”
The Social Security thing is an interesting one because it does seem a little stupid to pay tax on something you’re collecting from the government. Maybe there should be no tax but benefits should be lower. Still, even there, folks whose only income is social security are paying little to no income tax.
And the other two items are just nuts.
Re no tax on tips:
First, most people who earn tips are not in a high tax bracket so sure they pay something but as a percentage it’s not much.
Second, why should someone whose wages happen to come in that form have less of a burden to help cover our national deficit and debt than someone whose wages come in a W-2 or 1099 or K-1? What made them special? The answer is that there are lots of those people in Nevada and Trump wants them to vote for Republicans (at least for now.)
Third, this will encourage any business that has employees who plausibly can receive tips to reclassify earnings as tips and reduce salary or at least not give raises, thus transferring what should be the responsibility of the employer to provide a competitive wage (defined as a wage that someone is actually willing to work for, not some “living wage” nonsense) on to the backs of taxpayers. It’s outrageous.
Re no tax on overtime
A slightly modified version of all three of the above points applies here too
Here’s a principle of mine: Tax cuts should go to people who pay taxes, and generally in proportion to the share of taxes that they pay.
What Trump is proposing isn’t a tax cut. It’s vote buying, taking from the most successful and, presumably, productive members of society, disincentivizing them from working harder, creating more jobs and national wealth, and giving to waitresses and baristas and blackjack dealers.
It’s anything but conservative. No Republican should support it but you can bet that Josh Hawley will and JD Vance would have if he were still in the Senate.
But this is an interesting spot for Republicans. To the extent that the GOP hasn’t been complete absorbed by Trumpism and MAGA, they have a vestige of a brand to protect. And that brand most certainly does not include raising taxes on high earners to almost 40% in order to lower taxes on people who are probably in the 22% bracket (and maybe the 12% bracket) and who probably have an effective rate in the single digits. Seriously…there are people, including a Republican president who think that income tax alone (because there’s also payroll tax and sales taxes and property taxes and on and on and on) should pilfer 40% of somebody’s income. These are policies that, if the people want them, they’ll elect Democrats to enact.
Which brings me to my last point: Americans value authenticity. There’s a reason that one of Coca Cola’s hugely successful tag lines was “It’s the real thing.” (And there’s a reason that New Coke failed so badly; it wasn’t the real thing.)
If Republicans act like Democrats-lite, voters will vote for Democrats; they want the real thing. Trump’s populist gambit might make him more popular with unionized workers in Nevada — who will never have the opportunity to vote for him again — but is acid poured on what little remains of the foundation of the Republican Party.
So you can call Trump a lot of things, but don’t call him conservative.
I tried hard to find something here that I disagreed with, with no success. Great summary of our fearless leader. Thanks.