President Donald Trump is no Ronald Reagan, says conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg.
“In Ronald Reagan’s first term, many movement conservatives were frustrated by what they perceived as the Gipper’s drift toward centrism. They blamed moderates in the administration. ‘Let Reagan be Reagan’ became a rallying cry on the right,” said Goldberg.
The argument from Trump’s first term was that he was similarly held back by his own people, who prevented him from following some of his more extremist inclinations. Those people do not exist in Trump’s second term, however, and "Trump being Trump" is doing nothing to bring MAGA together.
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Immigration hawks are panicking over the president’s plan to exclude farm and hotel workers should from his deportation schemes, said Goldberg. Trump is upsetting nationalist China hawks by exempting some Chinese products from import restrictions and by refusing to enforce a congressionally-passed law to shutter China’s TikTok app.
Meanwhile, Trump has upset some by about-facing on one of MAGA’s biggest targets: Jeffrey Epstein.
People are going to get disappointed, said Goldberg, because “Reaganism is a philosophical approach,” but what defines Trump’s philosophy is following his instincts, “which are most powerfully informed” by his own ego, professional wrestling, reality TV and prosperity gospel.
Worse, whatever philosophy you could call Trump’s “bull-in-a-china shop” method is easily manipulated by people who know Trump’s delicate ego is a handle, says Goldberg.
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“… [W]hat adds to MAGA’s frustration is that anyone can see and copy the bull-handling techniques that are most likely to work. Compliment him, call him ‘daddy,’ celebrate his genius and expertise, and you too can manipulate him with at least moderate success."
It’s a movement defined not by philosophy, like Reagan’s school of conservative thought but by loyalty to a mercurial personality, said Goldberg.
“And it is bound to split apart once that personality leaves the stage — if not sooner,” Goldberg warned.
Read the full Dispatch report at this link.