Donald Trump is not normally thought of as a consensus builder, but in some ways that is exactly what he is. Many of Trump's most ardent supporters and enemies Both believe that he is the leader of a political movement with a clear and defined set of principles and objectives. They differ only on whether that agenda is good or bad.
The tendency to portray Trump as a tool of the ideological right plays into the hands of both sides. The right needs to believe that Trump is a warrior for its causes in order to justify its support for him, and the left wants to believe the same in order to justify its opposition.
I'll admit that's not a far-fetched vision. That's certainly how he presented himself in 2016, when he promised in many ways to be an instrument of the Republican base's will. He even brilliantly accepted a List of possible Supreme Court appointments compiled by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society to reassure conservatives skeptical that he would serve them. And since leaving office, Trump has been frequently criticized. said on the right groups who remains its faithful champion. So perhaps people cannot be blamed for believing him.
Or maybe so. While the idea that Trump is an ideological conservative is not far-fetched, it is outdated. It is true that if Trump is re-elected, he will do things that will please the Republican Party and conservatives, but let us not understand causality the other way around: his supporters will like what he does (and his enemies will hate him) because Trump did it. They will find the arguments later.
The attempt by right-wing apologists to construct an intellectually consistent Trumpism is one of the Older stories of the Trump era. And time and again, Trump has ridiculed them for it.
Consider the recent humiliation of Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation. Roberts has worked untiringly to turn the historic think tank into the ideological vanguard of Trumpism. Along with a who's who of former Trump administration officials and conservative groups, he launched Project 2025 as a playbook for another Trump term and as an instruction manual for the true believers the group is selecting to serve in the administration.
Last week, on MAGA thug Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Roberts told a guest host (Bannon is serving time in federal prison) that he is leading a “second American revolution” that “will remain bloodless if the left allows it.” This typically foolish radical stance sparked a wave of legitimate criticism, which rankled Trump.
“I don’t know anything about Project 2025,” the former president told Truth Social. “I have no idea who is behind this. I don’t agree with some of the things they are saying and some of the things they are saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Whatever they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”
It doesn't matter that this is a demonstrably bold lieProject 2025 has enough ties to Trump that it could easily rent space at Mar-a-Lago. The point is that Trump rewarded Roberts for her efforts by publicly disavowing them.
Or consider the success of Trump's campaign in softening The GOP's position on abortion. For years, staunch opponents of abortion rights justified their support for Trump with the belief that he would champion their cause. Their gamble paid off when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But now abortion is a political issue for Trump, so he has changed his position again. once An advocate of punishing women who have abortions and banning the procedure nationwide says the issue should be left entirely to the states and that the abortion pill mifepristone should remain legal nationwide.
Trump's top running mate candidates responded: Changing Their positions do, too. “I think our platform has to reflect our candidate,” anti-abortion Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida explained over the weekend. It’s a tactically defensible position, but it illuminates the absurdity of claiming the party supports Trump because he reflects the party. The only platform Trump cares about is the one he stands for.
Trump has always wanted the party to be his Narcissus pond, reflecting his personal glory and dominion. That’s why he supported candidates who clung to his lie that the 2020 election was stolen, preferring the party to lose with loyalists than win with truth-tellers. That’s why he supported candidates who clung to his lie that the 2020 election was stolen, preferring the party to lose with loyalists than win with truth-tellers. no more worries about the Federalist Society, which produced judges who rejected his false election claims. Oh, and last month, the guy who infamously called for a ban on Muslim immigration said he wants to give every foreign-born American college graduate a scholarship. green card.
The problem with the search for an intellectually serious Trumpism is that Trump has no use for ideas, except as a resource for his ambition. The instrumentalism that paved the way for Trump was intended to make him a tool of the right, but instead made many right-wingers look like tools.
