Donald Trump’s agenda and policy stances has caused a shift in the Republican party towards the far right. Throughout his campaign he continually too more and more nationalist stances. What was really interesting about this was, while receiving push back from the Republican party, the Republican party slowly but steadily both the constituency and officials began to follow his issue stances.
Trump’s issues
Throughout the campaign, Trump pushed anti-immigration and anti-trade agendas. One of Trump’s most famous policy stance is his push for a wall on the southern border. This was one of his first major policy platforms, and it really help set the tone for a much more nationalist campaign than many were expecting. Another one of Trump’s nationalist policy stance, is his stance on the middle east. During the campaign, while speaking at Fort Dodge, Trump in regards to the middle east he would, “Bomb the shit out of ‘em. i would just come those suckers.” This is a staunch uptick to what we were used to in Obama and even Bush. The final major nationalist policy stance that Trump has, is in regards to trade. He is for leaving NAFTA and PTT. His goal is to make sure America is buying American instead of outsourcing jobs.
Traditional Republican Stance
Republicans, in general, are traditionally in favor for as little government involvement as possible in the private sector economy, a reformed immigration platform with strong borders, and a strong military however not an over reaching military. Their views are fairly similar to Trump in regards to immigration and military, however Republican views are much less intense an absolute. In regards to trade, Trump’s views differ greatly from the traditional Republican establishment. Republicans are for as unregulated of a free market as possible, while Trump wants to heavily regulate and tax international trade.
A Republican Shift
Throughout primary season, many Republican establishment members tried to distance themselves from Trump because of their ideological differences. However, after the Republican constituency continued to support Trump, and he gained the party nomination, the establishment began to shift in their views and support for Trump. For example, under Obama, Mitch McConnell wouldn't support Syrian intervention, but under Trump, Mitch McConnell has already tweeted his support for the Syrian missile strike. Now the question remains as to whether this is a strictly partisan response and an attempt to preserve a future with in the party or if it is a genuine shift in feelings toward a very serious international relations issue.
The media
With how Trump talks about the main stream media, it’s not a surprise that they aren't the nicest about his policy stances. After a quick NAFTA google news search, every respectable news source bashes it as a terrible idea. Searching for articles about “Syrian intervention”, only Fox news had support for the decision, and one could very easily lump Fox to the Republican establishment. I think that it’s the media who does most of the agenda in regards to Trump’s policy stances, because most of the time it is from a news source that we are getting the information about Trump’s issue. Since they are the source that means they have a chance to spin it and set it up however they like.
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Your entry took an interesting stance in that we all know Trump is an insanely aggressive candidate and you reminded us how forward he was during his campaign. I wonder every day how we came to elect someone who shouted, as you mentioned, "Bomb the shit out of 'em." His agenda in his first 100 days has stuck pretty true to his beliefs, even if he has been rejected by almost every decision he has attempted to make.
ReplyDeleteThere definitely seems to be a disconnect on trade within the Republican party. Like you said, Trump takes a non-traditional stance in his attempts to limit free trade in order to save American jobs. Strangely enough, jobs are a huge reason the party favors trade agreements...Seems like there's a lot they need to sort out on that topic.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Trump's stance on trade and taxation is very efferent from the tradition conservative stance of a free market economy. He has been gaining more republican support as time goes on, but in the beginning it looked as the only followers of his were the far right. His stance on immigration was something that I think a lot of extreme right conservatives gravitated to which helped him immensely.
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