For at least 35 years, President Ronald Reagan was the most influential figure in the Republican Party. Reagan left the White House in January 1987, and he died in 2004 at the age of 93. Yet long after his death, Republicans declared that they were "Reagan conservatives."
But Reagan's influence on the GOP began to decline when Donald Trump won the 2016 election, and these days, Trump is, hands down, the dominant and most influential figure in the Republican Party.
In an opinion column/essay published on April 21, the New York Times' Thomas B. Edsall argues that Trump's influence is "enormous" — but not in a good way.
"The damage President Trump has inflicted on the United States and the world is so enormous and wide-ranging that it is hard to grasp," Edsall explains. "It runs the gamut from public and private institutions to core democratic customs and traditions, from the legal system to universities, from innocent targets of fraud to those duped into believing vaccines do more harm than good…. Projections suggest there will be millions of dead men, women and children as a result of his budget cuts, which were made without direct congressional approval."
Edsall continues, "A study published in The Lancet, the London-based medical journal, found that Trump Administration cuts in USAID funding 'would result in approximately 1,776,539 all-age deaths and 689,900 deaths in children younger than 5 years' in 2025 alone…. There are the fraud victims who will never get court-ordered restitution because Trump pardoned the guilty…. America can thank the president for environmental deregulation that could sicken and kill people by the tens or even hundreds of thousands."
The Times columnist notes that according to Associated Press (AP) research published in 2025, the Trump Administration eliminated or weakened Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that were saving "more than 30,000 lives annually."
"At the same time," Edsall laments, "the (Trump) Administration has been canceling funding for lifesaving scientific and medical research. In November, JAMA Internal Medicine published 'Clinical Trials Affected by Research Grant Terminations at the National Institutes of Health.' It said that 'in the first half of 2025, the NIH terminated grants supporting 383 unique clinical trials, affecting 74,311 individuals'…. In their steadfast disregard for scientific study, Trump and his appointees have purposely elevated unfounded fears of vaccines, effectively guaranteeing more childhood illness and infection epidemics."
Edsall adds, "In addition to policies inducing sickness and death, Trump has undermined America’s ability to compete with China on clean energy…. Trump's threats to pull out of NATO, his tariffs, not to mention his endless carping against and routine faulting of European leaders, have alienated allies who have stood with us for more than seven decades. Over the Trump years, European views of America have nose-dived."
If a Democratic president, "followed Trump's example," Edsall argues, "Republicans in Congress…. would rise in fury."
"By eroding America's government credibility and soft power, (University of Michigan professor Donald) Moynihan concluded, 'Trump can be both a hugely consequential president and a deeply damaging one,'" Edsall writes. "All of which points to one more indelible bequeathal: the stain on America left by the record. Voters in this country twice elected a president with no ethics, no empathy and no end to his narcissism."