In the second month of Donald Trump’s presidency, it is crystal clear that he is nothing more than a standard conservative, one with a unique personality but a standard conservative nonetheless.
Consider the drug war. After decades of manifest failure, death, destructiveness, and loss of liberty among the American people, what does Trump want to do with the drug war? Why, he wants to ramp it up and wage it even more fiercely.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
He wants to beef up the military with even more money, notwithstanding two facts: (1) the military establishment already receives federal largess that exceeds the amounts spent on the military in the next seven countries combined, and (2) the military has gotten the United States embroiled in forever wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Trump also wants to further militarize American society with grand and glorious military parades, just like they did in the Soviet Union.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
Trump intends to embark on a massive nationwide infrastructure project. He thinks that public works are a way to “invest” in America and bring jobs to communities across the land.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
Trump is committed to saving Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
Trump is going to keep America embroiled in the forever wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. He thinks it’s critical to America’s “national security” to go after ISIS.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
He is going to keep intact the military’s overseas empire of bases, along with its thousands of domestic military installations.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
He’s going to keep the federal government embroiled in housing, education, and welfare.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
He’s committed to the Federal Reserve, the engine of inflation in America since the Fed’s founding in 1913.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
He’s committed to federal deficit spending, asserting that “growth” will bring in sufficient tax revenues to cover his grandiose, big-spending plans.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
He favors trade restriction, tariffs, sanctions, embargoes, protectionism, and trade wars.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
He favors immigration controls and the fierce war on illegal immigrants that has now been going on for decades.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
He believes in the NSA, the CIA, the military-industrial complex, NATO, and the parts of the Cold War-era national-security state.
What conservative doesn’t love that?
The only reason some conservatives are opposed to Trump is that they don’t like him as a person. Notwithstanding his personality, however, the fact is that Trump embraces all the principles of standard conservatism — i.e., the principles of socialism, fascism, interventionism, and imperialism.