Commentary
Get used to it. Trumpism is here to stay, whether the 45th president decides to run for reelection in 2024 or not.
The principles of Trumpism really aren’t new, it just took Donald Trump to salvage them from a feckless establishment Republican Party.
I touched on the key elements of Trumpism in my March 1, 2021 blog, in which I recounted Trump’s CPAC speech when he said that liked it, but didn’t come up with it originally.
Trumpism refers to lower taxes, less regulation, strong borders, law enforcement, a strong defense, patriotism, support of the First and Second Amendments, and an adherence to the Constitutions as written.
It is anti-establishment, because of its ineffectiveness, and it requires a dedication to further drain the swamp and to promote America First over globalism.
Opposition to Trumpism
“The experiment of Trumpism proved a political failure,” wrote the Washington Examiner’s Tiana Lowe, “with the Republican Party losing its control of the White House and both chambers of Congress while achieving few legislative gains. Examiner management should have her political credentials checked.
Despite the fact that Republicans won all of its 27 House races, and picked up seven more who were in districts leaning or likely to go Democrat, Lowe declared Kevin McCarthy “unfit to continue to serve as the minority leader.” Lowe sees Liz Cheney as his replacement, claiming she “has already proved that her political instincts are those the party needs.”
Wyoming’s 74-member Republican central committee voted unanimously to censure Cheney for her position taken to impeach Trump. While she still clings to her conference leadership person, she will not be a force in the future.
While the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board stated that “Mr. Trump may run again, but won’t win another national election,“ board member and Journal columnist Daniel Henninger appeared a bit conflicted, devoting most of his Thursday column fairly defining Trumpism.
Henninger questions whether Trumpism is separable from Donald Trump. Can his goals be achieved without the personification of Trump himself?
MY VIEW – Of course, only the former president knows his intentions for 2024, but among the names currently being mentioned as possible candidates – Ron DeSantis, Kristi Noem, Marco Rubio and Mike Pompeo – all of them are Trump movement individuals who could support the principles of Trumpism.
Positive Thoughts on Trumpism
“The Republican Party has a choice to make after Trump,” wrote Bonchie in Red State. “They can choose to learn from the last four years, improve on the good, and offer up a new generation of top leadership that understands what the voters want. Conversely, they can offer up Liz Cheney and others like her. If they do the latter, they can kiss any chances of resurgence in 2022 and beyond goodbye.”
I agree with Bonchie … without Trump, we have to offer voters an alternative, but that alternative better be someone who will get in the ring and throw some punches in a way that rallies GOP voters” … like Trump (my words.)
“The continuation of Trumpism politics by a younger conservative could render moot the question of whether Trump himself is on stage,” GOP strategist Alex Conant recently told Reuters, adding that If that person is better at organizing the party, he or she could succeed in a power grab where Trump failed.
At the Heart of Trumpism
I first began to understand Trumpism a couple years into his presidency when Michael Anton, a research fellow at Hillsdale College wrote, “The Trump Doctrine.” While it is primarily centered on his foreign policy, Anton referred to the Doctrine as “principled realism.”
Principled realism is behind the birth of America First that eventually found its place in the heart of Trumpism. America First, Anton noted, was “much maligned” abroad when it was first introduced in Trump’s foreign policy. Speaking at the United Nations in 2019, he made his thoughts known.
“Like my beloved country, each nation represented in this hall, has a cherished history, culture and heritage, that is worth defending and celebrating, and which gives us our singular potential and strength.
America first means “standing up for one’s own,” noted Anton. “For too long, U.S. foreign policy has aimed to the opposite.”
It wasn’t long before Trumpism and America First was woven into everything the administration tackled in issues at home, especially those concerning the forgotten middle-class, immigration on merit, providing a level playing field in international trade, rebuilding our military and the VA.
Trumpism Without Trump?
After the national outrage over Trump on January 6, 2021, 95 percent of Republican House members voted against his impeachment and 86 percent of Republican senators voted to acquit him.
”The 74-year-old ex-president acted like he was just 60 at the CPAC event, while the 78-ydear-old Biden increasingly appears bewildered, and more like his in his 80s,” noted Victor Davis-Hanson in the Daily Caller.
“Party insiders may dream of Trumpism without Trump, fearing that he could never win a majority of voters,” writes Davis Hanson. “They may be right. But then again, who has been right about Donald Trump’s final demise in the last five years.”
Trumpism trumps progressivism, liberalism, and socialism. Stand up for it.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
