Trump has also changed the character and composition of the GOP, making it more of a working- and middle-class party. Where George H.W. Bush sought to build a “New World Order” with America as global hegemon and George W. Bush preached a global crusade for democracy “to end tyranny in our world,” Trump is all-in on “America first.” Bush transnationalism belongs to yesterday.
As Donald Trump is about to be nominated for a second term, how his presidency has already altered the orientation of his party is on display.
Under Trump, the GOP ceased to be a party of small government whose yardstick of success was how close it came to a balanced budget.
Trump signed on this spring to $3 trillion in deficit spending to rescue the economy from a depression into which the government had shoved it to control the spread of the coronavirus. He is prepared to spend a trillion dollars more.
By opening new lands and seas to exploration, building pipelines, permitting fracking and slashing regulations, Trump has brought the U.S. to an energy independence which other presidents only promised. ….