"Donald Trump is the best president the left has ever had"

[robkelk]

CBC Op-ed: Donald Trump is the best president the left has ever had

Not to commiserate over what a pig the man is (calling someone a pig is presidential language now, so that's fair ball, right?). That's just easy. What's fascinating is the reaction when you advance the argument that Trump, judged solely on his actions, is the most left-wing president any of us has ever seen.

By people "on the left," incidentally, I don't mean small-l, bourgeois, reflexive urban liberals. I mean committed progressives; people who believe in collectivism over rugged individualism, in the replacement of social hierarchy with social equality, who advocate wealth redistribution and robust government intervention to restrain the predations of the market. Generally, these people also oppose government austerity and militarism and globalization.

They are generally well educated and serious. And they can be irritatingly self-righteous. Which is why it's such fun to point out that Trump has often been their objective ally.

tl;dr: Progressives believe in using tariffs to protect union jobs, lowering taxes (and keeping interest rates low) to stimulate the economy, and avoiding spending blood and treasure on being the world's police - all things Trump has done. As for his personality... well, we have a trope for that.

[Labster]

Yes, because Trump's billionaire cabinet does so well at protecting union jobs, wealth redistribution, and not creating new branches of the military, and even paying members of its own government

Nah, this Macdonald guy doesn't get it. Trump says some things that the populist-progressives like, and then doesn't really follow through. And like I just alluded to, he's conflating populism with progressivism. Populists are not the left.

Progressives want racial equality; Trump promotes racism. Progressives want free trade and freedom of movement; Trump builds walls. Progressives want a working social safety net; Trump removes the safety net for government employees. Progressives want a progressive tax structure; Trump approved a tax package that increased taxes on the middle class while cutting them for the rich. Progressives want to protect the environment; Trump has revoked national monuments.

The guy doesn't take social justice, economic justice, or environmental justice seriously at all. That's the heart of progressivism.

[Black Aeronaut]

I’m with labster on this one. Reality? Well, I don’t know the guy at all, but he sounds like the sort of person to hang a troll-face portrait in his office with the caption, “U mad bro?”

[classicdrogn]

Yes bro, I mad. It's like a jimmy stampede over here.

[Black Aeronaut]