The Fight to Define Trumpism
Like pornography, we feel that we know Trumpism when we see it, yet after a decade, it’s still remarkably hard to define.
Key points
- Trump has a few consistent political instincts—above all, protectionism and hostility toward immigration and immigrants—but he has never felt bound by the principles of Trumpism, however defined.
- That blurriness has been an opportunity for political entrepreneurs who have tried, one after another, to shape Trumpism in the image of their own ideological beliefs.
- So it’s only now, as Trumpism seems to be fading as a political force, that its true meaning can be seen clearly.
The winner in the fight to define it is the last Trumpist standing: Stephen Miller, the new White House chief of staff.
President, my absolute loyalty, my unwavering commitment, and my total devotion to your success and the success of this country.” This brief statement encapsulates the two principles of Trumpism as Miller has been formulating it for the past decade, as Trump’s speechwriter and surrogate.
Additional details
- Trump has certainly been transformative, so it stands to reason that there is such a thing as Trumpism.
- But every version of Trumpism has eventually foundered on the rock of its namesake.
- Presidents are transformative when they stand for an idea: Ronald Reagan was personally popular, but what made him historic was the reorientation of American politics toward Reaganism, an assertive brand of small-government, big-stick conservatism.
- The bidders have included economic nationalists such as Senator Josh Hawley and the economist Oren Cass, who saw Trump shifting the GOP away from free trade and corporate interests; “America First” isolationists such as J.
- Just as Karl Marx insisted that he was not a Marxist, so Trump has never been a Trumpist—the former because no one understood his theories of politics as well as he did himself; the latter because he has never had a theory of politics.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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