The Daily Populous Wednesday May 1st, 2024 evening edition
Authored by newrepublic.com and submitted by Quirkie

But so I think, I think it would be, I think it would be very, very, I think we’d have a very, very solid, we would continue what we’re doing, we’d solidify what we’ve done, and we have other things on our plate that we want to get done.

The GOP, you may recall, didn’t bother to produce a party platform in 2020, quite obviously because Trump and his handlers had no clue what it should say. Instead, the Republican National Committee produced a vaguely Stalinist statement saying its positions would be whatever Trump decided them to be at some future date. Trump has now had four years to think about it and he still doesn’t know what he wants to do if reelected president. Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara, who is now co-chair of the Republican National Committee, was asked last month whether there will be a party platform in 2024. Her reply was a vague, “Yeah, I think so.” That sounds to me like a soft “no.”

I’m not saying Trump will do nothing if elected. The Heritage Foundation, among others, has stepped in to fill the void with its Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership, which delivers to Heritage’s corporate and other wealthy donors the promise of tax cuts and stymied regulation. Mandate calls for a regressive tax code with two marginal rates at 15 and 30 percent, a reduction of the corporate tax from 21 percent to 18 percent, and a reduction of the top capital gains rate from 20 percent to 15 percent. As for regulation, Mandate (echoing Steve Bannon) calls for “deconstructing the centralized administrative state,” code for “gum up the regulatory gears.” Trump will do everything he can to enact these policies, because (except on trade) he always does the business lobby’s bidding.

But even with his highly ideological staff and the Heritage Foundation pulling the marionette strings, Trump won’t likely get much done—not if his first administration is any guide. The Washington Monthly has posted a highly detailed series of essays (and a “presidential accomplishments index”) comparing Trump and Biden based entirely on the quantity of things they got done, setting aside the question of whether they were good or bad. It isn’t even close. In 14 out of 22 categories Biden accomplished more than Trump. Trump accomplished more than Biden in only three categories—taxes, courts, and social issues—all very much to the bad, of course. (The prospect that with a second term Trump may end up appointing more than half the Supreme Court is reason enough to race to the polls to vote Democratic.) Trump tied Biden in five categories—immigration, veterans, work and family, crime, and cannabis—but except for immigration, none of these represents a policy Trump is running on in 2024.

BillySlang on May 1st, 2024 at 11:26 UTC »

Saying the obvious part out loud, he’s running to stay out of prison and/or become king. He either gets what’s coming to him or we all suffer.

Tony2030 on May 1st, 2024 at 11:06 UTC »

I think the plan goes:

Hold rallies to tell everyone how good I'm doing.

Make money on my hotels and golf courses.

Repeat.

Travelerdude on May 1st, 2024 at 11:04 UTC »

Revenge. Purge. Turn his tax cuts permanent. Hand Taiwan to China. Hand Ukraine to Russia. Dismantle NATO. Steal. Pardon insurrectionists. Become America's first dictator. And then on day two...