Is Trumpism a real ideology? Conservatives debate its future

We briefly call the set of positions, policies and preferences adopted by the US president “Trumpism”.

But does all this amount to a coherent philosophy that future Republicans can implement after Donald Trump leaves office?

So where does this leave conservatism? Trump has never acted like a classic conservative, which has deeply divided the movement.

There are those who have quietly abandoned their previous views and support almost everything Trump does, from tariffs to deportations to the war in Iran.

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And there are those who have given up on Trump from the beginning, those who believe he has betrayed conservatives, and those who tend to be at the forefront of cable commentary, so the programs can boast of having Republican pundits (who hate Trump).

Some on the right bring with them a ferocity that dwarfs the attacks of liberal critics. After denying yesterday that the Iranians were in talks with the White House, Fox News contributor and former Wall Street Journal editor Gerard Baker said the “disturbing reality” is that Americans should “suspect the enemy’s version of events to be more accurate than ours.” We became Baghdad Bob.”

Speaking to reporters before leaving Palm Beach yesterday, Trump said, “My life is a deal. That’s all I do.”

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The context was what he insisted was in negotiations with Iran, but the statement certainly applies to his business pursuits and political career as well.

I’ve known Trump since 1987, and I can tell you that he’s basically doing everything that works right now. If this is inconsistent with where it was the previous day, week, or month, so be it. Let the pontificators argue about this.

Trump is immune to withering criticism about flip-flops because he sees each day as a clean slate, where his allies may be the same people he once angrily criticized and his enemies may be his former loyalists.

The hot debate in the media right now is what will happen after the end of President Donald Trump’s term and whether his replacement (JD Vance, Marco Rubio or someone else) is married to his own brand of conservatism. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

For example, the president’s first-term stance, supported by Congress, was that TikTok posed a threat to national security due to its Chinese ownership and should be banned unless it was sold to an American company.

When I asked him about this before the election, Trump, who benefited greatly from the use of TikTok in his campaign, said that he was no longer in favor of the ban. He said this was because TikTok’s removal helped Facebook, and he saw it as a bigger threat to Mark Zuckerberg’s empire.

It’s not a very convincing explanation, but that was it then, and this is it now, with the president.

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Regardless, a deal was finally reached this year to sell the wildly popular app to a joint venture in which American investors have majority control.

The media is currently debating what will come after Trump and whether future Republicans (JD Vance, Marco Rubio, whoever) should follow his plan. This resonates especially because the First America candidate who fights against foreign wars has radically changed his approach by attacking Iran.

Atlantic writer Pete WehnerHis area of ​​expertise is Christian ethics, he says in 2016 that he is a lifelong Republican and has served under Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush and George W. Bush.

In a New York Times op-ed, he said Trump would “threaten the future of the Republican Party,” seeking to “feed and encourage the ugliest passions within the GOP by dousing the embers of hatred with kerosene.”

Among Republicans, including evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, the president “rewired the moral circuits… And killed American conservatism in the process. MAGA is not just against conservatism, it is at war with it.”

But look at Trump’s record. He closed the southern border, which was extremely porous during the Joe Biden era. He launched a mass deportation program targeting illegal immigrants, one of the right’s main targets. He lowered taxes, and if the benefits go to the rich, that’s what Republicans always do. It reduced regulations at places like the EPA. Despite DOGE’s mixed record, it has reduced the size of the federal government by at least 300,000 people, or 10 percent. And Roe v. He was also responsible for breaking the Wade case.

From easing tax burdens to restricting abortion to shrinking government, isn’t this all in line with conservative principles?

That doesn’t mean that all of these initiatives were handled well (see ICE’s excesses and the killing of two Americans) or that they were smart decisions. But they are not exactly at war with the conservative agenda of the past.

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And then there’s all the other stuff, some of which breaks with fiscal orthodoxy, including the promise to protect Social Security and Medicare.

Wehner acknowledges that many Republicans voted for Trump because they were struggling financially (and, I would add, because they felt marginalized by mainstream culture). “The essence of the MAGA project and Trumpism is disruption and destruction, the delegitimization and destruction of institutions, and the brutalization of dissidents… The MAGA movement is a betrayal of the fractious tradition of conservatism” and “a disfiguring of the Republican Party,” he twists the knife.

“The MAGA movement represents a betrayal of the fractious tradition of conservatism,” says Atlantic writer Pete Wehner. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Jonah Goldberg, co-founder of Dispatch, which has found success as a conservative, anti-Trump site, scoffs at such pointed analysis.

“Trump has no ‘ideology,’” Goldberg writes. “He’s got a few ideas. Here’s one that sticks out to me: Buy the oil, tariffs are affordable Viagra, power is good, never apologize, women don’t resist when celebrities grab their privates, ‘good genes’ are a big deal, allies are whiny idiots, lots of romantic belief in the superiority of their instincts…”

These “instinctive drives” and “emotions,” he says, can be transformed into an ideology. “But building a real ideology requires thinking about how your various commitments might conflict, where the compromises are, what the edge cases might be, etc.”

According to Jonah, it’s a matter of psychology. “But Trumpism is just Trump’s psychology, the psychology of many of its supporters. “If Trump supports this, it must be true.”

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I would point out that our politics is so polarized that many liberals engage in similar behavior, demonizing their opponents, toeing the party line, and never giving credit to the other side.

Iran has been the world’s leading terrorist state since 1979, but while raising questions about Congressional approval, nearly all Democrats have nothing positive to say about the attack on Iran.

Chuck Schumer repeatedly refused to admit to Joe Scarborough on “Morning Joe” yesterday that the U.S. destroying Iran’s military was a good thing. It just kept deviating.

John Fetterman, one notable dissident, told CBS that what the president has accomplished in Iran is “remarkable.” And the senator said on a podcast that “our party is run by TDS,” aka Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., argued that “his party is run by TDS.” (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

Of course, Democrats don’t seem committed to a single ideology, with undeniable divisions over Israel, pronouns, transgender issues, old police defunding rhetoric ranging from more moderate lawmakers to the Squad. Moreover, they do not have a leader ready to condemn them and support their primary rivals, so there is little penalty for moving off the reservation.

Gavin Newsom, a left-leaning man, has trouble with progressives in his party because he fights labor initiatives, supports housing deregulation, vetoes a bill that would allow universities to favor slave descendants and opposes transgender women playing in men’s sports.

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There is no single answer to the future legacy of Trumpism. This depends on the popularity of the president, the economic outlook, and how one views Iran in 2028. Trump, who signed the agreement, is a unique figure, impossible to imitate.

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But one thing is certain: the Republican Party will never return to Paul Ryan’s green-visored stinginess, Bush’s 43 compassionate conservatism, Bush’s 41 embrace of NATO, or Ronald Reagan’s bipartisan friendship with Tip O’Neill.

The next term may be uncertain, but Donald Trump has transformed the GOP forever.