He has a core guiding ideology of American exceptionalism and imperialism. America first. God bless America, specifically. Not that he understands any of this, most of it comes from intuition and having the worst scourge of mankind whispering policy pitches in his ears, but I’d say that much is very consistent. It’s just that it got so worse from one term to another that it looks like a departure - but to anyone paying attention to the things he tried in his first term, this is a continuation.
Edit: for instance, he signed the NAFTA deal he’s complaining about, but it wasn’t because he liked it, he signed because that’s the best his team was able to negotiate. They told him to sign, he signed it. But the same dumbasses that advocated for the tariffs back then, advocated for them again this time. So once again, he just nods and signs, as long as his team says the right MAGA words. The moderates were expelled from his team because Trump wants to be even MAGAy than before. It’s the same ideology, with less checks and balances.
I think that’s mostly narcissism. But moreover, right now he’s acting against American Empire. He’s taking actions to isolate and diminish the USA. By abandoning alliances the US worked so hard to build, Trump is handing power to authoritarian enemies such as Russia and China.
He has a core guiding ideology of American exceptionalism and imperialism. America first. God bless America, specifically. Not that he understands any of this, most of it comes from intuition and having the worst scourge of mankind whispering policy pitches in his ears, but I’d say that much is very consistent. It’s just that it got so worse from one term to another that it looks like a departure - but to anyone paying attention to the things he tried in his first term, this is a continuation.
Edit: for instance, he signed the NAFTA deal he’s complaining about, but it wasn’t because he liked it, he signed because that’s the best his team was able to negotiate. They told him to sign, he signed it. But the same dumbasses that advocated for the tariffs back then, advocated for them again this time. So once again, he just nods and signs, as long as his team says the right MAGA words. The moderates were expelled from his team because Trump wants to be even MAGAy than before. It’s the same ideology, with less checks and balances.
I think that’s mostly narcissism. But moreover, right now he’s acting against American Empire. He’s taking actions to isolate and diminish the USA. By abandoning alliances the US worked so hard to build, Trump is handing power to authoritarian enemies such as Russia and China.