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Let's stop calling Donald Trump a "populist." Unless one is using that term to mean simply a stoker of white racial resentment--in which case, there are better, more accurate terms available--his so-called populism is purely theatrical. /1
Is it typical of populists to claim that they are more "elite" than other people? /2
newsweek.com/donald-trump-l…
newsweek.com/donald-trump-l…
Despite some obviously unserious feints away from GOP orthodoxy, Trump ran as a conventional Republican on most of the issues that truly matter to the GOP elite. On the issue of tax cuts for the rich and repeal of ACA, he was right there with Paul Ryan all along. /3
An analysis of his campaign tax plan from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center said "the largest benefits, in dollar and percentage terms, would go to the highest income households." The actual tax cut did exactly this, without any of the promised benefits./4
taxpolicycenter.org/publications/a…
taxpolicycenter.org/publications/a…
Although Trump promised that he would provide "great" health care, his main message, exactly like the rest of the GOP, was and remains repeal of ACA with no replacement plan whatsoever. /5
I urge anyone who believed the ridiculous claim that Trump was "outflanking" Clinton from the left because he sometimes claimed to support universal health care to watch this clip of him explaining his "plan" during a 2016 debate. /6
Trump is the master of faux populism (pretending to love coal miners, literally hugging the flag) but his corrupt, self-dealing administration has done very little to help working-class people and a tremendous amount to help the wealthy and powerful. /7
To take 1 example, look what he has done to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the brainchild of @SenWarren, which truly can be said to have had a populist mission, to protect people from being fleeced by banks and other financial institutions. /8
nytimes.com/2019/04/16/mag…
nytimes.com/2019/04/16/mag…
It's interesting to look at the transcript of Jason Miller's appearance with Chuck Todd on 10/28/16, just before the election. What is his closing argument: "Trump is consistently been driving the message on repealing Obamacare, about cutting taxes." /9
msnbc.com/transcripts/mt…
msnbc.com/transcripts/mt…
Here's Republican eminence grise, James Baker III, not anyone's idea of a Populist, on Morning Joe in June 2017: "I have to confess that I voted for Donald Trump because I'm a Republican and I'm a conservative.." /10
