What would Trump do in a second term?

More nationalism. More debt. More Trump.

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Did Donald Trump take over the Republican Party, or was it the other way around? Yes, Trump's multi-front trade war was a violent break from GOP economic orthodoxy. But in many other ways on policy, the president has been a traditional Republican. He's cut taxes for rich people and corporations. He's slashed regulations. And he's appointed conservative federal judges. Even the twist-and-turns of his protectionist trade policies have seemed closely attuned to the reactions of the donor base as expressed through the stock market.

President Trump's State of the Union address, however, suggests a second term might contain far less deference to traditional party priorities — and the desires of business and wealthy donors. While it wasn't a speech heavy on new policy initiatives, the absence of much talk about taxes is noteworthy. Tax cuts have been the raison d'etre of the modern GOP. And every tax cut, once passed, has merely set the stage for the next round of rate reductions. In President Reagan's re-election year SOTU in 1984, he not only praised at length the results of his sweeping 1981 tax cuts, but promised even more dramatic tax reform in the years ahead.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
James Pethokoukis

James Pethokoukis is the DeWitt Wallace Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he runs the AEIdeas blog. He has also written for The New York Times, National Review, Commentary, The Weekly Standard, and other places.