Chapter 3
Study Guide by James R. Martin, Ph.D., CMA
Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida
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Chapter 3: Fake Views
The author begins this chapter with a discussion of the president's inability to stick with one view on any topic. He flip-flops on everything. Trump cannot pass "the fact-problem test." The test is whether or not voters could identify the president's position on an issue if you gave them three choices a., b., or c. The author says Ronald Reagan was a high scorer. Suppose the issues are healthcare, abortion, trade with China, and guns. Donald Trump has flip-flopped on all of these issues. At first the president called for a full repeal of Obamacare. But then he said he wanted to keep parts of it. In the past he has said he was pro-choice, but now he is pro-life, and he has said there should be some form of punishment for women who have abortions. Trump said China was a currency manipulator. Then he said they were not currency manipulators. Then he changed it again and said they were. He ranted that gun legislation was not the answer. Then he toyed with the idea of supporting gun legislation. Then after a National Rifle Association complaint, he backed off, but tweeted about it again after shootings in Ohio and Texas. Trump never lands on a final position. Should we care if the president doesn't really stand for anything?
The republican party is supposed to be the party of principles, a party that sticks to its ideals. But Trump's approach is to throw policy ideas at the wall and "see what sticks." Of course most politicians change their position on policy questions to stay on the right side of the issues. But Trump changes his views on a regular basis without explanation. He has fooled republicans into believing he is a conservative. But he is not a conservative, and he is not loyal to conservative causes. Trump is more of a political opportunist. Now you may be thinking, that the president has appointed some conservative judges, cut some regulations to help American businesses, and cut taxes. But most of the credit for these conservative victories belongs to Republicans in Congress and top aides who persuaded him to support those programs.
In 2016 House Speaker Paul Ryan was unsure whether Trump was a conservative and wanted to develop a GOP agenda that would show the candidate what the Republican Party stands for. Ryan called it "the Trump inoculation plan." The party stands for limited federal government (except for trade and national defense), and freedom of the people to conduct their lives however they desire, as long as they don't violate someone else's liberty. Most of the power should be held by the states, not by the federal government. Ryan and other republican leaders were concerned whether Trump supported, or even understood the conservative movement. Why? Trump has changed his political party registration five time in the last three decades, from the Independence Party, to the Democratic Party, to the Republican Party, to independent, and back to Republican. Trump identified as a conservative when it became politically convenient for him to do so. Ryan released his platform designed to lock the nominee into accepting Republican positions, but Trump ignored it.
The Wolf in Elephant's Clothing
Trump's actions on the size of government, national defense, and economic policy have had the most notable negative effects on the Republican Party and the country.
Big, Beautiful Government: Trump is the king of big government which has ballooned since he was elected. When Obama left office in 2016, the US federal budget deficit was $587 billion, down from $1.4 trillion when he took office in 2009. The author gives credit for this to congressional Tea Party Republicans who passed the Budget Control Act. During his presidential campaign Trump said he would eliminate America's debt during his time in office. But Donald Trump is not interested in reducing the debt. Since Trump became president, the US debt has increased by trillions to an all-time total high of $22 trillion. According to one estimate, it would cost each taxpayer in the United States $400,000 to pay off the debt. Donald Trump has America on the road to bankruptcy. His response to this realization is, "Yeah, but I won't be here."
Indefensible Defense: Trump refers to military leaders as "his generals," and believes he can move them around like knights on a chess board. Many are appalled at Trump's leadership of the armed forces. The president has damaged our security with his terrible foreign policy choices. At first, Trump was eager to meet with Iran's leaders, something a US president has never done for good reason. Iran's government is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would send the wrong message that the US was embracing a brutal regime rather than opposing it. But then Trump changed his mind and wanted a super-muscular response after Iran shot down an American surveillance drone in June 2019. He called for a military strike, but changed his mind again when warplanes were ten minutes from the target. When Trump's flip-flopping is about air strikes, it's terrifying and poses a danger to our military and our national security.
Homeland Security: The Wall is Trump's biggest non sequitur. During his campaign Trump vowed that he would build "a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them inexpensively... And I will have Mexico pay for that wall." At first the wall would be made of hardened concrete, rebar and steel, then solar powered to create clean electricity, then a steel wall with openings, then artistically designed steel slats, then a steel wall or it could be a steel fence, then an all concrete wall, then a steel barrier, then a high steel and concrete wall. Trump said construction was under way, then the Democrats were stopping the wall, then Congress needed to act, then so much wall was being built, then the courts were standing in the way, then he could build it alone and we'll have the whole border up by the end of 2020.
The truth is that Trump has barely built any wall and experts say it won't work anyway. Wall or no wall, migrants can still come to the US border and file for protected status. Then they're let into the US for years while their cases are reviewed. When he should have been trying to fix the broken immigration system, his favorite pastime has been a construction project. In the process he has obliterated America's reputation as a nation of immigrants. Donald Trump is anti-immigrant. He has reduced the number of foreign refugees to a historic low, and announced a host of restrictions on potential new immigrants, including a wealth test. We cannot preserve our country by slamming the door in the faces of those who aspire to join our nation. The United States can have an open door without open borders.
Trading Away Principles
Republicans have long stood for free trade, but Trump is a determined protectionist who has created trade barriers he justifies by an infantile view of economics that's been discredited for hundreds of years. Trump believes that other countries pay for the tariffs and that the extra revenue will make us rich. What really happens is that the extra cost created by a tariff (tax) is passed on to consumers who buy the products subject to the tariff. American companies who also make those products may gain, but many other companies will lose because the increased prices of products subject to the tariff (tax) cannot be spent on their products simply because consumers have less to spend. Any new jobs that are created as a result of the tariffs are paid for by the consumers who pay the higher prices caused by the tariffs. The economic reality is obvious. Tariffs don't work, they are just another massive tax on the American people.
Trump doesn't see it and it gets worse. For example he tweeted "Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China." Although Trump acts like a dictator, that's not how our democratic system works. He is living in a Twilight Zone. It is time for republicans to see the light. The president's economic policies are contrary to conservative principles, and bad for Americans.
Party's Over
Since Donald Trump was elected in 2016, the Republican party has become less fiscally conservative, more divisive, more anti-immigrant, and less relevant to the American people. This has happened because Trump is disloyal to his family, disloyal to his business contractors, and customers, and disloyal to his political party and the American people. We elected a man who paid hush money to a porn star he'd been having sex with while married to his third wife who had just given birth to their son. We elected a man who's been involved in 3,500 law suits by stiffed contractors, unpaid employees, and a variety of plaintiffs with broken agreements. We have elected a man who has no real party affiliation, and no real conservative principles. Trump represents a long term treat to the Republican Party and what it stands for. If Republicans believe that president Trump's handling of our core issues is acceptable, there is nothing left of the party but its name. But the president's betrayal of the conservative faith is not the worst of it. Trump is using the government to take a wrecking ball to something more fundamental, which leads us to the next chapter.
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Go to the next Chapter. Chapter 4: Assault on Democracy. (Summary).
Related summaries:
Crossan, M., W. Furlong and R. D. Austin. 2022. Make leader character your competitive edge. MIT Sloan Management Review (Fall): 1-12. This article includes a leader character framework. (Summary).
Hornsey, M. J. and K. S. Fielding. 2017. Attitude roots and Jiu Jitsu persuasion: Understanding and overcoming the motivated rejection of science. American Psychologist 72(5): 459-473. (Summary).
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Policies of a Second Trump Presidency.
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Summary of Trump's Seven Part Plan to Overturn the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Summary of what Trump is and what he is not.
Rosenfeld, G. D. (Editor) and J. Ward (Editor). 2023. Fascism in America: Past and Present. Cambridge University Press. (Summary).
Unger, C. 2018. House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia. Dutton. (Note).
