Trump Isn't Really a Republican, Is He?

Donald Trump has spent more of his adult life as a Democrat than as a Republican. He has, however, spent all of his adult life brazenly promoting one Donald Trump. Even now, having won the presidency a second time, he sell Trump-crypto coins, and one crypto coin for his wife as well. He recently worked out a $40 million dollar deal with Amazon to produce a documentary of Melania. The Trump bibles, watches and sneakers, I believe, are still for sale. This brazen entrepreneurship, after election as president, is unbecoming and unique among all presidents, Democrat or Republican.

Aside from his uniqueness among all presidents as an unabashed financial self promoter, our current commander in chief has a singular penchant for antagonizing our friends. True, he got Colombia to move on the migrant issue with tariff threats; ditto Mexico and Canada. His threats against Panama to retake its Canal ended Panama’s Belt and Road relationship with China. Yes, results were achieved, but at what cost to long term good will? Bullying friends is unbecoming for the greatest world power. The common factor in all the above transactions is that Trump was front and center, in the open, brazen and loud. He commanded the stage. That is a presidential style unseen among any former Republican president. And nearly all Democrats, except perhaps Andrew Jackson, some 200 years ago.

In your face diplomacy from top down is a unique, and perhaps dangerous, hallmark of #47. J.D. Vance publicly dressed down Europe’s leaders- not that it wasn’t needed. But such a loud wake up call could have been preceded by some quiet discussions among friends. If the intention was to shock and stun, that sure worked. This tactic also produces real ill will, which may come back to bite us.

Republican presidents, at least since the post World War II era, have been free traders, seeking global trade unburdened by tariffs. Yet tariffs are Trump’s priority tool to obtain what he believes to be a “better deal” for America. Trump is willing to risk overturning global, intertwined economic trading relationships among its many trading partners on the chance of bringing manufacturing back to America. He sounds more like the Democrat he was, bringing many lost jobs back home. However, change continues, trading patterns have been established, companies and customers have grown accustomed to the economic order. Since we by far have the largest trade deficits, Trump believes tariffs work only in our favor. The risk is that he overlooks the multiple effects of his punching his allies in the eye, and then loading on tariffs on top of diplomatic insults; our allies will look elsewhere, and we risk isolation. Trump takes business risks in negotiating his deals for his company. But should he take such risks when he is dealing not with business competitors, but with sovereign states, each of which also has national pride?

As president, Trump has an obligation to seek a win-win relationship with allies. He will make a grave error if he thinks a scenario where the USA wins-allies lose is a good strategy. As world leader, we are in a position where we are both envied for our accomplishments, and disliked at the same time as an overreaching bully. Yes, we are currently atop the other nations of the world economically, but every kid knows that the “king of the hill” has only one direction to go.

The turn on Ukraine is a head scratcher. Is Trump siding up to Russia purposefully, to obtain a fair and reasonable settlement? It looks now as if Trump is parroting Putin’s talking points, to wit; the war is Ukraine’s fault; Zelenskyy is very unpopular and should hold elections; Ukraine wasted much of our aid. If the USA abandons Ukraine, and let’s Putin keep all of his ill-gotten gains, this will return to haunt Trump, and more importantly, our standing not only among our European friends, but among China and our competitors and enemies. Everyone agrees this three year war is horrible and must end, sooner than later. If it continues, and Putin continues to make slow but sure gains, any settlement next year or in two years will be worse for Ukraine. Raegan and prior Republican presidents would have hit Russia with the toughest sanctions possible; stopped its lucrative gas/oil sales as much as possible; make it the world’s pariah for initiating a completely unjust war , and give Ukraine all the weapons it needs to make a good fight, causing Putin to cry uncle. Trump on the Ukraine issue is no Raegan or Bush Sr. Trump is again proving to be no Republican on Ukraine.

Republican presidents have for the most part, been fiscally conservative. But in forming DOGE on his own, without Congressional sanction or law, Trump is meandering very close to a constitutional line. The president is in charge of and has responsibility for the proper functioning of all the federal agencies, from State and Defense, to Commerce, Transportation and Agriculture, etc. But to the extent that the agencies are created by statute, Congress should approve any gutting of existing programs and wholesale transformation of the various federal agencies. To avoid a constitutional conflict, Trump should have Congressional approval and oversight of the DOGE activities. In moving so quickly, and alone as chief executive under Article 2, Trump is surely departing from procedures practiced by presidents past.

Perhaps the most telling fact to show that Trump is not truly a Republican are his Republican enemies. The Bushes, the Cheneys, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, conservatives like George Conway and Bill Kristol, now Mitch McConnell, and Alaska Senator Markowski, all dislike him and believe him to be a danger to world order. Trump is mercurial, entirely unpredictable, with no real ideology, no moral compass. Get the deal done, make a win for the USA seems to be the credo.

Raegan believed that government dependency was a ruinous thing, to be avoided. It took the spirit out of a person, who was not independent and earning his/her own way. This is where he departed from Tip O’Neill and his Democrat friends. They believe that government is a force for good, and should give a helping hand to the “needy”. Of course the “needy” has now expanded to the 50 million or so people on Medicaid; and a similar number in the SNAP program. Trump has abandoned this underlying difference in traditional Republican and Democrat thinking. He is on a magic carpet ride of his own imagining, and we are now going along, like it or not.