I’ll start by shattering the myth known as Trumpism. Or at least try to.
Here are a few facts. Trumpism has not expanded the Republican Party. Neither does it have a bright political future in the absence of Donald Trump himself. Trumpism as a political phenomenon is not “bigger” than Trump himself, as one scribe said. Trumpism consisted of only one successful issue, a clampdown on illegal immigration. And Trumpism did zilch for conservatives.
Trumpism has twin boosters, the Democratic Left and the media. For them, Trump was the perfect enemy to blame on conservatives and Republicans. He was the perfect poison to spread around. But once he lost the White House, and especially after the Jan. 6 uproar at the Capitol, he was less useful. So, they turned to Trumpism as Trump’s legacy as the main weapon for zinging Republicans.
But it didn’t amount to much of a tool for winning votes. It failed to blot out the conservative agenda that Republicans had been attached to since the Reagan era. Indeed, Trump had grabbed that popular set of right-wing issues when he was elected in 2016.
As for Trumpism, we need to rethink it. And use it as a way to see Trump as unique — that is, a full-blown, one-of-a-kind leader, a one-man band. His attraction is primarily based on who he is, Trump the person, the man, the character. Issues are secondary. So is the fact he ran as a Republican. Heading a Trump Party is more his style but isn’t available.
“Right after the Capitol riot, there was talk in Republican Party circles about building upon the successful MAGA agenda, but by engineering a Trump transition to a senior statesman role,” Victor Davis Hanson wrote. “The new standard bearer then supposedly would lack Trump’s off-putting manner that alienated swing voters.”
That wouldn’t have worked. No one could have replaced Trump effectively. No one had to. Trump revived his appeal with a 90-minute speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, where he brought up the subject of Trumpism. “I’m hearing that term more and more,” he said. He seemed to like it.
Trump sugarcoated Trumpism and defined it in a helpful way for his purposes. In his view, it consists of “great trade deals,” low taxes, and deregulation, immigrants admitted to the country based on merit, strong borders, no riots, the Second Amendment, a strong military, and standing up to China. In other words, his successes are Trumpism.
That hardly distinguishes him from other leaders. It doesn’t stamp him as unique or out of the ordinary for a president. But alas, his personality does. As president, Trump was fanatical about being the center of attention, all day, every day. His aides concentrated on creating opportunities for him to get attention and praise. Neither is he capable of admitting a mistake or a failure.
As a candidate in 2016, Trump concentrated on two issues, immigration and trade, and little else. It was a skimpy agenda. As president, he succeeded in blocking the flow of illegal immigrants as it hadn’t been for decades, though the wall he proposed on the southern border was only partially completed.
Trade is another story entirely. He broke with the traditional Republican policy of free trade and imposed tariffs on China. His protectionist policy “reduced economic growth and failed to deliver Michigan, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin in the 2020 election,” former Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas and Sen. Pat Toomey wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “Protectionism failed both as economic policy and political strategy.” Trump has never admitted either.
But it was Trump’s written responses to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and columnist Karl Rove of the Wall Street Journal that were wild and woolly. Weeks from leaving the White House, he wasn’t required to wage an argument. He attacked McConnell and Rove in very personal terms.
This was surprising for a former president, one eager to take control of the GOP and who seems likely to seek the presidential nomination in 2024. McConnell, the most influential Senate leader in the past two decades, criticized Trump for “disgraceful dereliction of duty” for stirring the attack on the Capitol and then failing to halt it. He is Trump’s enemy No. 1 in the GOP. Trump fired back with a 600-word screed in which he called McConnell a “political hack,” saying, “If Republican senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again.”
Trump was mad that Rove had found his CPAC speech unimpressive. He made a mistake in calling Rove a “RINO,” Republican in Name Only, and said he “has been losing for years.” That also wasn’t true.
These Trump blasts rise to the top of the list of Trumpisms. Only Trump can top them.
Fred Barnes is a Washington Examiner senior columnist.
