Trump rejects traditional conservatism, embraces a Republican version of socialism

Republicans have denounced Democrats as socialists and communists since the 1930s. President Trump has frequently joined the chorus, such as when he said in 2019: “A vote for any Democrat in 2020 is a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American Dream.”

Yet despite his hyperbolic rhetoric, Trump has abandoned key conservative principles that Republicans have long espoused and instead adopted some socialist positions.

Today’s Republican Party has been hijacked and transformed by Trump.

For generations, Republicans have advocated for small government, free market capitalism with minimal government interference, free trade and low taxes. Republican President Ronald Reagan summarized this philosophy when he said in his 1981 Inaugural Address that “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

But Trump has expanded presidential powers in ways that would appall Reagan, threatening our freedoms, interfering in businesses and the free market in an unprecedented manner, and imposing tariffs that are the antithesis of free trade and function as a regressive national sales tax on Americans.

Trump has used his position as president to supersize government to satisfy his thirst for power, fame and greater wealth. He has weaponized government to harm individuals, groups and nations he opposes; dominate the news to satisfy his gigantic ego; and monetize the presidency.

America’s founders feared a leader like Trump becoming a king, and so approved a Constitution that divided power between three co-equal branches of government: the presidency, Congress........

© The Hill