David Brooks, conservative columnist for the New York Times, argued Friday that Donald Trump’s only path to the White House is to completely scrap the conventional political debate over size of government and assert an entirely different argument.
Brooks wrote Friday that the national dialogue is now over whether a country will be more open or closed to the world, and that the Republican nominee has begun to capitalize on this change.
“The old size-of-government question was growing increasingly archaic and obsolete,” he said. “In country after country the main battle lines of debate are evolving toward the open/closed framework… It’s significant that Trump gave his big anti-trade speech in the Pittsburgh area. That part of Western Pennsylvania illustrates in a very concrete way how the open/closed debate will play out.”
Trump earlier this week gave his most detailed policy speech yet on his policy proposals for the economy. The speech carried a theme he has hammered throughout his campaign, arguing that international trade deals have hurt American workers and that the U.S. is being taken advantage of by foreign countries with unfair labor laws.
He proposed higher taxes on foreign goods and said any cost increases would be offset by job creation in the U.S.
Trump’s speech followed Britain’s vote to secede from the European Union.
“In an age of anxiety, that closed posture might have a shot at winning,” Brooks wrote.
