Is Trump a freaking populist?

Question

Some clueless people think he is but how the heck Trump is a populist when he gave tax cuts to the top 1% and appointed Wall Street executives to his administration? Also, he has not stop the wars

A real populist would give everyone healthcare, end the wars, bring back the jobs, fix the infrastructure, make drugs legal, etc

A. Yes he is a populist

B. He is not, he is another establishment hack

Select age and gender to cast your vote:

GirlGuy

Updates:

1 mo

A real populist is someone like AOC or Beanie

Answer 1

nightdrot | 2.5K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.

Influencer

Yes he is. One policy being hardly definitive of the whole man. Indeed, in any case, Mr. Biden's tax increase is as likely to be beneficial to the "swamp" - as those with money and influence are pejoratively referred - as Mr. Trump's tax cut.

First, to start, Mr. Trump's policies are no more pure in a complicated political system than would be their opposite. Tax cuts are a hardly perennial in the GOP - as are tax increases in the Democratic party - and are the "price of admission" so to speak. It also being added, in total fairness, that Mr. Trump's tax cuts were "across the board" - that is went to all tax brackets.

The presumptions of its' elitism from its' opponents being that a 7% tax cut for a person making $1000 will be smaller in the amount it returns than 7% of $10,000. True enough, but it not being totally clear where the line of populism is then drawn. Everyone got the same percentage, the net amount varying only based on what the person was making at the time the cut was implemented.

This then gets into the kinds of hair splitting that preoccupies the dogmatic. It begging the more important question of whether or not the policy worked. It also being a question of defining what "worked" means. After all, in fairness, pre-pandemic, Mr. Trump can make a fair claim that the economy did very well after his tax cuts were implemented.

Neither side complained about the low unemployment rates - and the real issue - the national debt - is ignored by bipartisan consensus. The generations yet to be born paying the price of both party's generosity - be it lower taxes or increased government programs. In this, neither party is terribly populist - except in the sense that it is popular to spend what one does not have.

In any case, here is the funny part. Mr. Biden has proposed a tax increase for those making more than $400,000 a year. To the cheers - it may have been noticed - of Silicon Valley, the financial services and insurance sectors and the well to do. Indeed, it seems to have escaped everyone's notice that the higher a person's income, the more likely it is that they voted for Mr. Biden and thus his tax increase.

No one seems to have asked why that would be. Indeed, it would seem that the turkey voted for Thanksgiving based on this analysis.

The point being that the rich have the accountants, lawyers and lobbyists to navigate and - as necessary - influence the regulatory state. To wit, on paper, they may pay the increased tax. In fact, they probably will not - or at least will pay less of it that a "back of the envelope" calculation might suggest in the abstract. Also making up the difference in increased government spending on the services to which government will turn to implement the increased spending programs that the Democrats will now propose.

Thus, for example, increased public works programs will be paid for by government tax dollars. Those tax dollars will go to contracts with construction firms that will sign contracts to implement the government paid for construction programs. Similarly, accountants and financial services firms will charge their clients more to study and help their client shelter as much of their income as possible. Thus in two ways will the Biden tax increase and attendant government programs cycle the money back to the wealthy and their businesses.

CONT.

nightdrot

1 mo
Who will pay more? The small and medium sized businesses who do not have the legal, accounting and lobbying assets to navigate the regulatory state. The small business that makes a $400,000 profit does not take most of that for living high off the hog - but rather plows it back into its business. Thus will it now have less to invest back into itself.

Thus why the GOP has become the party of small and medium sized business and the Democrats the party of big business. Populism, it being added, having no consistent policies but is rather a mishmash of programs from all sides. Thus did Mr. Trump, for example, just impose strict regulations on big pharma limiting what it can charge to consumers to what they charge in highly regulated Europe.

You want populism? Now THAT'S populism.
nightdrot

1 mo
P. S. One thing that populists - and some liberals - never seem to quite catch up with. The more complex things that you want government to do, the more dependent on experts, politicians, unelected bureaucrats, big business - in a word "elites" - the society becomes.
nightdrot

1 mo
P. P. S. One other point. You write: "A real populist would give everyone healthcare, end the wars, bring back the jobs, fix the infrastructure, make drugs legal, etc."

Actually no. Populism is NOT a schematic philosophy and as such has no coherent policy agenda. Rather it tends to a mishmash of policies drawn from both conservative and liberal - as Americans define those terms - schools.

Thus, populists distrust government. This sitting ill with the likes of Senator Sanders. Populists also distrust business - this sitting ill with some wings of the Republican side of the aisle.

In any case, as I noted above with Mr. Trump's executive order impacting "big pharma" there is no consistent policy agenda. Rather merely a series of responses loses tied together by whoever the "bad guys of the hour" happen to be.

Today it is big pharma and Mr. Trump has played to that.

In any case, you have defined populism according to your own preferences instead of with reference to its philosophical and historical pedigree. It being notable that William Jennings Bryan - perhaps America's most famous populist - attacked the big banks and supported a minimalist government at the same time.

Suffice to say that he does not fit comfortably into populism as you have defined it. A strange classification for the man who came to embody American populism.

Answer 2

nightdrot

Who will pay more? The small and medium sized businesses who do not have the legal, accounting and lobbying assets to navigate the regulatory state. The small business that makes a $400,000 profit does not take most of that for living high off the hog - but rather plows it back into its business. Thus will it now have less to invest back into itself.

Thus why the GOP has become the party of small and medium sized business and the Democrats the party of big business. Populism, it being added, having no consistent policies but is rather a mishmash of programs from all sides. Thus did Mr. Trump, for example, just impose strict regulations on big pharma limiting what it can charge to consumers to what they charge in highly regulated Europe.

You want populism? Now THAT'S populism.

Answer 3

nightdrot

P. S. One thing that populists - and some liberals - never seem to quite catch up with. The more complex things that you want government to do, the more dependent on experts, politicians, unelected bureaucrats, big business - in a word "elites" - the society becomes.

Answer 4

nightdrot

P. P. S. One other point. You write: "A real populist would give everyone healthcare, end the wars, bring back the jobs, fix the infrastructure, make drugs legal, etc."

Actually no. Populism is NOT a schematic philosophy and as such has no coherent policy agenda. Rather it tends to a mishmash of policies drawn from both conservative and liberal - as Americans define those terms - schools.

Thus, populists distrust government. This sitting ill with the likes of Senator Sanders. Populists also distrust business - this sitting ill with some wings of the Republican side of the aisle.

In any case, as I noted above with Mr. Trump's executive order impacting "big pharma" there is no consistent policy agenda. Rather merely a series of responses loses tied together by whoever the "bad guys of the hour" happen to be.

Today it is big pharma and Mr. Trump has played to that.

In any case, you have defined populism according to your own preferences instead of with reference to its philosophical and historical pedigree. It being notable that William Jennings Bryan - perhaps America's most famous populist - attacked the big banks and supported a minimalist government at the same time.

Suffice to say that he does not fit comfortably into populism as you have defined it. A strange classification for the man who came to embody American populism.

Answer 5

goaded | 1.7K opinions shared on Society & Politics topic.

Guru

He plays one on TV.

NorthwestRider

1 mo
Yep he does and he thinks he is smart lol

Is Trump a freaking populist?

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