PrintTrump Plays the Long Game
Only two presidents sought to downsize government. Trump follows Reagan’s lead. William F. Buckley Jr. described Reagan as essentially an anarchist in his opposition to bureaucracy. Reagan declared “the best view of government is in the rear view mirror.” “A government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth.” Buckley’s 1980 Reagan interview highlights Reagan’s dedication to constitutionalism, federalism, and minimal government.
The government Reagan opposed differs from that of today. After 20 years of the Clinton, Obama, and Biden administrations, the nation (and the civilization it commands) is confronted with an existential crisis due to unsustainable debt, alongside enemies foreign and domestic collaborating, e.g., China funding Hamas protests, Qatar bankrolling American universities, or Iran directing the October 7 attack on our regional proxy. Or the COVID coalition: globalist oligarchs, WHO, WEF, CCP, and the pharmaceutical-industrial-intelligence-media complex.
May 25 witnessed the unprecedented appearance of a president before the Libertarian National Convention. Jeers and cheers greeted Trump. Those booing highlighted the cultlike irrationality of many libertarians, in contrast to the minimalist government focus of America’s founders. Cultist libertarians reside in an adolescent fantasyland, losing relevance annually. Especially this year, when they nominated a wokester, gay activist, 2012 Obama fundraiser, Gaza genocide protester, open borders advocate favoring closing all overseas military bases. Trump mentioned his 91 indictments to underscore his libertarian street cred. By the end of his speech, many attendees seemed supportive. He is the first nominee of one party to seek another’s nomination, continuing assembling his diverse coalition.
In 2018 leftists complained that Trump’s “Secretary of Energy is someone who once campaigned to get rid of the Energy Department; the Secretary of Education has advocated against the public schools system; the Environmental Protection Agency director has a record of repeatedly suing the EPA.” Trump promised libertarians he would eradicate the Department of Education. Fiscal considerations now leave little other option. Interest on the debt is driving policy. Soliciting libertarian voters was an appeal to the broad American center. That center is fleeing failed Uniparty/oligarchic policies of the past, toward a fusion of populism and free markets.
Trump represents Reagan 2.0 but in a nation which has shifted more socialist. Reagan was a strict conservative populist. Trump tilts more liberal while retaining Reagan’s aversion to bureaucracy. Reagan opposed inflation, reckless debt, and overbearing government. Trump reflects an electorate corrupted by subsequent decades of hyperinflation and government overreach. Democracies rarely reward budget curtailments. Trump might appear a budget hawk compared to Biden’s reckless spending, but is no Reagan. Our times permit no other possibility. Market forces will soon ensure a great deflation sweeping away a century’s debt excesses -- along with the accompanying corruption.
We are witnessing the rapid ending of politics. The Democrats’ captive audience of minorities, unions, Jews, and cisgenderists are fleeing to MAGA sanity. GOP RINOs are systematically being purged. Neocon warhawks, who fled the Democrats when they became too dovish, have scurried back to the Uniparty to advocate incessant wars. Trump is crafting a new political landscape from the smoldering ruins of three political parties. Demand for competent governance replaces partisanship.
As Roger Simon noted, Trump ended identity politics -- something long overdue thanks to inevitable contradictions. We are exhausted from infighting and seek comity, a truce between factions. Political labels and parties have lost any relevance or meaning.
Strange bedfellows occupy Trump’s king-size bed. Ranging from frat boys to Silicon Valley tech titans, South Bronx residents, soccer moms, evangelicals, white males, rappers, female athletes, Jersey shore deplorables, farmers, and union members -- along with libertarians -- they represent a political realignment destined to endure for decades. Realignments occur when societies stray too close to an existential cliff. New York City was bankrupt, crime-ridden, and deserted by anyone able to flee. Guiliani arrived in 1994, proving a Republican was electable and the city reformable.
History has witnessed wholesale reformations numerous times, once during each civilization's evolution. Societies begin from tribes and warlords, proceed through feudalism, monarchies, and contending nations. They eventually consolidate into an empire uniting great cities once widespread warfare concludes. Oligarchic control and corruption then become endemic, triggering a crisis. A populist leader arises, instituting a constitutional reformation.
Optimates and populares vied for power during Rome’s republic. When the republic descended into civil war, Augustus vanquished the corrupt oligarchs and founded the empire. The emperor was the only one who mattered for the duration of Rome’s tenure. Partisanship ceased. Trump’s analog appears at the same point in each civilization. Augustus made Rome great again, crafting a framework enabling it to flourish additional centuries under imperial administration rather than avaricious infighting. Trump’s historical destiny is identical.
A century ago, German historian Oswald Spengler foresaw our current predicament and realized an unstoppable populist force would arise. A final battle would develop between populists and the “dictatorship of money,” fascism/corporatism by another name. Money’s forces would array against patriots defending the rule of law. Vastly outnumbered, Money would be vanquished. America resulted from tyranny, especially the economic variety. MAGAism opposes a tyrannical plutocracy.
Patriotism -- survival of the entire nation -- is the only power sufficient to vanquish oligarchic avarice. This battle occurs in every civilization once corruption approaches existential levels. Reform only occurs when the existential envelope’s limits are tested. A fission precedes creation of sufficient political critical mass to produce the necessary fusion. The old regime and its media janitors have collapsed under the weight of their corruption. Everyone now knows the score. Glasnost precedes perestroika.
When Trump descended the escalator in 2015, you would have been institutionalized if predicting that Bill Ackman, Roseanne Barr, Tucker Carlson (“I hate him passionately.” A “demonic force” and a “destroyer.”), 50 Cent, Ice Cube, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, Professor Snoop Dogg, Larry Ellison, Dr. Waka Flocka Flame, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk, Tim Pool, Dennis Quaid, Kid Rock, Joe Rogan, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, Mike Tyson, Goya Foods CEO Bob Unanue, Dr. Jefferson Van Drew, and Lil Wayne would support him. Original rabid NeverTrumper Ben Shapiro now fundraises for Trump. Imagine how many secretly support Trump.
2,500 years ago, Heraclitus maintained “war is the father of all and king of all.” Wars now drive events. Our Ukraine proxy war splits the Right, while Iran’s proxy Hamas’ attack on Israel splits the Left, as does our border invasion. We’ll see if China attacks Taiwan during Biden’s regency. None of these wars would have occurred under Trump. The worse conditions become, the greater his landslide. Desperate lawfare against him and his supporters, open borders, increasing crime, and intractable inflation now propel events.
Democrats never fully recovered after firing on Fort Sumter. Attacking Trump was their final act before the political graveyard. Alvin Bragg and Juan Merchan (the eye liner model) set GOP fundraising records. $400 million and counting. A peaceful revolution coalesces as the world’s most senescent political party prepares to sink beneath history’s waves. Stadiums can no longer contain Trump’s rallies. The outer-borough born emperor enters the arena, triumphant.
Douglas Schwartz blogs on politics, history, and economics at The Great Class War.
