TRUMP INAUGURAL ADDRESS: Brilliant, Populist, NOT Conservative
By Ben Shapiro
January 20, 2017
Friday, Donald J. Trump became President of the United States. His inaugural address was pure Trump: a populist brew of government interventionism, patriotic rhetoric, law and order toughness, protectionist economics, and isolationist foreign policy. It was politically brilliant, and it had little to do with conservatism.
Trump is Trump.
His supporters will cheer, of course, as they would at nearly anything he said. His critics will complain, of course, as they would at nearly anything he said. But if Trump’s inaugural address foretold any serious policy, he just presaged a major political realignment: a movement of the Republican Party away from the Reagan conservatism of the past – fiscal conservatism, social conservatism, foreign policy hawkishness – to Pat Buchananite populism. Trump’s philosophy – what we’ve seen of it, at least -- is absolutely antithetical to the idea of maintaining liberty at home through small government and abroad through alliances and muscular defense.
That will shake up both sides of the political aisle. It will also make conservative philosophy a stranger to the halls of power for the foreseeable future.
That doesn’t mean that we won’t see significant doses of conservative policy. Trump’s populism has crossover with some such policy, just as it does with Bernie Sanders’ democratic socialism. But it has no philosophical crossover with conservatism itself, because it is predicated on the notion that the government represents the dreams of the people, and the Great Leader represents their agent.
So, in no particular order, some thoughts.
1. The “Dark” Speech Was Politically Brilliant. Just as the media got Trump’s Republican National Convention address all wrong – they complained about its darkness and its gloom – they’ll get this one wrong, too. They’re all focusing in on the phrase “American carnage” from the speech, not realizing that Trump is doing something quite intelligent: he’s setting a backdrop for his performance as president. Barack Obama used George W. Bush as his foil for eight years, to great success. Trump is taking office proclaiming America a Mad Max-ian wasteland – a feeling many Americans share, particularly in his base – and thus setting himself up as the man of change.
2. Trump’s Definition of Enemies Is Smart. Trump also declared all the popular whipping boys his enemies: Washington D.C., the “establishment” (all of whom support him inside the Republican Party), foreign countries supposedly stealing our jobs and wealth. Trump understands innately that politics is the art of opposition, and he used his inaugural address to set himself in opposition to the enemies of the American people. The best line of Trump’s speech came early: “we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people.” This portion of the speech was tremendous:
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http://www.dailywire.com/news/12615/trump-inaugural-address-brilliant-populist-not-ben-shapiro
