Imaginary Donald Trump betrayed by real Donald Trump again

Ross Douthat has buyer’s remorse less than three months into Trump’s presidency, which seems to be based on the fact that he had no idea what he was buying:

That’s a very bad place to be for a president who has always depended on good economic vibes, and it’s happening against a backdrop of other wrong turns and disappointments. I wrote in December about the need for a fruitful balance between Trumpism’s populist and techno-libertarian factions, between the spirit of JD Vance and the spirit of Elon Musk. I was imagining, say, pro-family tax policy jointed to abundance-oriented deregulation — but instead, the balance so far consists of reckless trade war on the populist side and Musk’s crusade to reduce government head count without apparent regard to government capacity. It’s a synthesis of sorts, but not a happy one.

“I voted for Donald Trump because I thought he would implement Kamala Harris’s policy agenda.” (Ok, I assume by “abundance” he means something like “companies can put more mercury in the water” as opposed to “more infill to make housing more affordable” but still.)

It goes on like this:

Meanwhile everything the administration does, it does with a dose of tough-guy excess, as though determined to alienate any part of its coalition that isn’t fully committed to the MAGA cause. It’s not enough to pursue deportations; we need to deport people to a prison in El Salvador without convicting them of any crime. It’s not enough to ask our NATO allies to bear more burdens; the ask has to come with a snarl, a trade war and a fixation on Greenland. It’s not enough to purge D.E.I. programs; we have to hack away at scientific research and humanitarian aid as well.

“Don’t blame me, I voted for Mitt Romney.”

That means he has options now that he won’t have if things get worse; it means he can still pursue his preferred policies if he does so with less reckless disregard.

He can have tariffs; he just can’t have the tariffs of “Liberation Day,” with their scale and cackhanded design. He can have deportations; he just has to accept the limits imposed by moral decency and the Supreme Court. 

Whoa, what was that?

limits imposed by moral decency

I swear he’s talking about Donald Trump.

I mean, you have to be some level of delusional to think that Trump will turn the Republican Party into Christian Democrats or something but thinking that he’ll give you immigration enforcement without random cruelty — I’m really not sure what to tell you.

Maybe next Liz Breunig can take some of the time she spends wondering why liberals aren’t attending creepy white nationalist conferences and investigate what’s up with the post-Dobbs Republican trun to maternal and child healthcare.

Clem Burke sounds great.