Jonah Goldberg: Trumpism has no ideology beyond Trump. By JONAH GOLDBERG
Excerpt: Intellectuals and ideologically committed journalists on the left and right have a natural tendency to, and interest in, seeing events through the prism of ideas. Trump presents an insurmountable challenge to such approaches because, by his own admission, he doesn’t consult any serious and coherent body of ideas for his decisions. He trusts his instincts. Trump has said countless times that he thinks his gut is a better guide than the brains of his advisers. He routinely argues that the Presidents and policymakers who came before him were all fools and weaklings. That’s narcissism, not ideology, talking. Even the “ideas” that he has championed consistently — despite countervailing evidence and expertise — have no solid intellectual basis. He dislikes regulations because, as a businessman, they got in his way. He dislikes trade because he has a childish, narrow understanding of what “winning” means. Foreigners are ripping us off. Other countries are laughing at us. He doesn’t actually care about, let alone understand, the arguments suggesting that protectionism can work. Indeed, he reportedly issued his recent diktat on steel tariffs in a fit of pique over negative media coverage and the investigation into Russian election interference. His administration was wholly unprepared for the announcement.
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