(01-18-2022, 10:11 PM)mikesez Wrote:

(01-18-2022, 09:13 PM)EricC85 Wrote: That’s the way I see it, Trump never represented the right very well. I argued with my Dad who until recently was a very strong Trump supporter there is a philosophical fault with Trump. Unlike conservatives he does not believe government is the problem, he simply believes the wrong people where in charge of it. Trump entire political ideology is based upon if the right people are in charge government can be efficient and solve most problems.

Conservatives might say that a government run by liberals is a problem, but they wouldn't say government in general is the problem.  I know Reagan said that, more or less, but it's a stupid thing to say.  No government, no society.  All societies have governments.  They all have people who rule and processes for selecting new people and making new rules.  Even a very small government helps people in small ways.

A smart political ideology says, government is only a problem if it has bad laws or bad policies.  Conservatives want laws and policies that uphold tradition, liberals want laws and policies that change rapidly, usually in a quest for some utopia.  But the smart ones in both camps are playing in that arena, law and policy.

A naive political ideology says, we just need the right people in charge.  This is where you say Trump was before he ran for President.  And maybe that was true.  It's naive because people die and retire and no one will ever have that much control over who replaces them.  The best people will quickly give way to the worst, unless someone has cemented laws and policies that plan for the worst and minimize the damage they can do.

The worst are the ones with no ideology at all except their own appetite for power and glory.  This is the man Trump proved to be as President. It's why he never found the "right people" to be his VP, his Atty General, even his press secretary.  Not that he picked bad people, but he didn't evaluate them on any criteria other than loyalty to him personally. He could have picked people based on them having a common vision of policy, but he didn't. He could have picked experts and left them alone, but he didn't.  He picked snivellers and constantly brought them to account publicly over whether they were snivelling enough. It's also why he insisted the election would be fraudulent before it even happened.

Not that Biden does much better.  The Democratic Party's presidents, since Clinton, have used the Cabinet variously to store rivals and throw bones to minority demographics in their coalition. They don't look at common vision or expertise much either. But at least they let their people try to do their jobs without constant interference from Twitter.

That is so true.  Especially the bolded part.  Trump's "ideology" is narcissism.  He loves people who praise him.  That's how you get on his good side, or get a job in his administration.  That's why most of his adherents aren't really Republicans.  They're better labeled as Trumpists.  Whatever Trump says is what they believe.  Whatever is good for Trump is what they want.  If Trump loses, it's because someone cheated.

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