President Trump won the election by rejecting GOP orthodoxy. Now he's embracing it.

Too bad, Trump voters

Peas in a pod.
(Image credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump had many advantages in the presidential election, from the divided field to the incompetence of his primary and general election opponents. But unquestionably his greatest positive advantage was how he ditched traditional Republican notions on social programs.

Republicans have traditionally said that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid need to be cut, citing a supposed national debt crisis. This was a tough line to sell — first because that argument is duplicitous claptrap, but more importantly, because all those programs are quite popular, particularly among enrollees.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.