Trump’s Credits and Debits
Give President Trump credit for resurrecting a concept of traditional American society as was universal prior to the Second World War. That included “love of country,” the good associated with freedom, entrepreneurship and concern that the government had become an instrument of control of “us.”
Disdain for what Woodrow Wilson developed by destroying “balance of power” and its replacement with “internationalism” that took priority over pursuit of the national interest is a part of President Trump’s worldview.
It helped that the President was afflicted by Dyslexia and has not read a book since he was a cadet at New York Military Academy. The world of half a century ago unimpeded by inquiry is the world of Donald Trump.
The clash of his world with the administrative state of the American government, the Internationalist ideology that has shaped administration of government of every President from FDR through “W,” and acceptance of wars as a fact of life, enlivens the Trump Administration.
The Debits we assign to this President are rooted in his defects of character, and self-centered concentration of his “person” that explain his failure to utilize the knowledge gained in government by former Reagan Administration appointees.
Apart from Donald Trump’s friendship with conservative “operator” Roger Stone, what we associate with Republican party principles and personnel is unknown to Trump. That explains the many wealthy appointees of his Administration and the profusion of Generals and Admirals he has appointed to civilian agencies including the Department of Education!
Without experienced personnel who understand the President’s concept of traditional society, the Trump Administration is a story of resignations, embarrassing pratfalls and most important, lost opportunity.
The greatest losses will be incurred after Trump leaves office because our “Two Party” system is experiencing signs of realignment.
Trump pointed the way to one direction our politics can take, but forces we associate with “globalism” counter Trump’s new nationalism and inward-looking feminism and identity politics contribute to our lack of certainty about the future of American politics.
If these were ordinary times, we could expect Vice President Mike Pence to succeed President Trump. There may not even be a viable Republican Party to nominate Trump’s Vice President as our politics experiences transformation into a new multi-party system composed of a “Woman’s Party,” a Black Lives Matter faction, a new national Conservative Party and, of course, Leftist factions we associate with Barack Obama, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and “Bernie.”
In that scenario, Donald Trump is a precursor of bad times to come.
