COMMENTARY: Trump IS NOT remotely close to being a “libertarian” president

January 8, 2018 83

Shortly after 11 PM last night, I received an alert from Google with an as-it-happens update (as that is a way we do find our news sometimes) and the headline from this particular article made me want to puke because the word was taken way out of context.

I’m referring to an article written by The American Conservative and Red Alert Politics columnist Ryan Girdusky, entitled “Donald Trump: The Most Libertarian President Since Silent Cal.”

Nothing can be further from the truth in either case. There’s nothing about Donald Trump that even remotely reflects libertarianism. There’s nothing about Calvin Coolidge that even remotely reflects libertarianism.

While Trump brags about Wall Street and the economy being strong, the stock market’s just another bubble waiting to burst…and that’s almost expected to happen in 2018. Trump even likes to hide his “Chuck and Nancy” deals as much as his “Paul and Mitch” deals. Don’t get me started on his far-fetched claims of making government smaller.

Where can I begin?

A so-called “record-setting” list of accomplishments: Honestly, it’s not that impressive or “record-setting” as the Trump administration claims. Sure, regulatory reforms were made. While Trump is claiming his administration has been rolling back Federal power, many recent actions, including former U.S. Senator and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ refired attempt at the failed war on drugs, has certainly given the impression of the exact opposite when Sessions wants to overturn and overrule the seven or eight states where recreational marijuana is legal statewide as a desperate attempt to say states rights shouldn’t exist or overrule Federal law. EPIC FAIL. He also claims appointing “the best Constitutionalist judges”, but that’s only because Neil Gorsuch has more libertarian leanings on the issues than conservative leanings who will actually abide to the Constitution, where his colleagues from both sides of the aisle tend to flip-flop around. His lesser judicial appointments aren’t that impressive and have developed a reputation on flip-flopping on Constitutional law. PARTIAL FAIL. Trump’s even making grand plans about changing America’s role in international politics. Cutting spending at the United Nations hardly qualifies. He’s started a Twitter war with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un since he was sworn in, he got involved in Israeli politics and had no right to dictate where the capital should be and he’s insulted many of our allied nations and those we have strong trade relations with. Even worse, we’re still fighting a war that actually ended when Osama bin Laden was killed, but the Obama administration just had to give billions in taxpayer dollars to our enemies in the Middle East, essentially funding the Islamic State (ISIS). This led to an extended war we have no business being involved in. We’re still policing the world when a strong national defense is far more important than policing 70+ nations when their country’s military should be handling their own matters and not dragging the U.S. into it. Don’t forget the civil wars our military has been dragged into (e.g. Syria, Turkey). MASSIVE FAIL.
Trump’s Federal regulation rollback: So as of October 12, the Trump administration rolled back 469 governmental regulations that were in effect dating as early as the George W. Bush administration. (Yup – most of those regulations rolled back were put into effect during the Bush administration, not the Obama administration as the Trump administration and most conservatives would like to assume.) The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs have also claimed that upwards of 1,500 withdrawn regulations could lead to more than $570 million in annual economic savings. We’ll just have to see about that…
Trump’s big ego on international trade: Whoop-dee-fracking-doo about the U.S. pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Paris climate treaty. Most trade deals aren’t truly free trade to begin with and anything the Trump administration has proposed in regards to free trade sounds more like fascism. And the climate treaty pullout? The estimated $3 trillion is likely an overinflated number, as overinflating numbers is something Big Government does best. The “savings” would just get tossed into more pork spending, as both Democrats and Republicans like to do.
Trump’s push for smaller government: Try all you want, Mr. President, but you’ll fail at making Big Government smaller just like everyone else. Spending has gone up during each administration in modern American history, even dating to before Coolidge’s administration. As long as we’re fighting wars we have no business being in anymore and policing the world, the Defense Department’s budget will never go down from its current $639 billion level.
Draining the swamp? Not so much: It’s no secret that the swamp got bigger with the greater majority of Trump’s administrative appointments and most of them have been disappointing — former Attorney General Sally Yates, former national security advisor Michael Flynn, chief usher Angella Reid, former FBI director James Comey, former communications direct Mike Dubke, former director of the Office of Governmental Ethics Walter Shaub, former press secretary Sean Spicer, former senior assistant press secretary Michael Short, former chief of staff and former Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, former communications director Anthony Scaramucci, former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, former counterterrorism advisor Sebastian Gorka, former Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price, former deputy national security advisor Dina Powell and former employee of the White House Office of Public Liaison Omarosa Newman. In other words, the Trump administration is one big joke and the largest game of political musical chairs in American political history.
The only thing Ryan got right — Trump is no Ron Paul: In the final paragraph, Girdusky got one thing right: Donald J. Trump is no Ron Paul. Dr. Paul would never go for more military spending. Dr. Paul would fight for true and bonafide free trade instead of punishing everyone else with tariffs. Dr. Paul wanted to end the war on drugs and the war on poverty. Trump wants to do the exact opposite, much like what Coolidge did during his administration — and it ended up making Big Government bigger.

With Trump’s administration showing early signs of fascist-leaning conservatism, the utilization of unlawful and excessive governmental force, already showing a terrible sense of fiscal responsibility and very little to no room for improvement, his brand of statism and excessive authoritarianism makes him nowhere close to being libertarian.

Nice try, but I’m not buying your BS, Mr. Girdusky…

Jake Leonard, Editor-In-Chief

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.

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Written by: Jake Leonard, Editor-In-Chief

Angella Reid Anthony "Mooch" Scaramucci Anthony Scaramucci authoritarianism Barack Obama Big Government Calvin Coolidge Chuck Schumer conservatism Constitutional law Democrat Department of Defense Department of Health and Human Services Dina Powell Donald Trump Dr. Ron Paul fascism FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation free trade George W. Bush governmental force governmental regulations ISIS Islamic State James Comey Jeff Sessions Kim Jung Un libertarianism Michael Flynn Michael Short Mike Dubke military spending Mitch McConnell Nancy Pelosi National Security Agency Neil Gorsuch North Korea NSA Office of Governmental Ethics Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Office of Public Liaison Omarosa Omarosa Manigault Omarosa Manigault Newman Omarosa Newman Osama bin Laden Paris Climate Treaty Paul Ryan President Donald Trump Red Alert Politics Reince Priebus Republican Republican National Committee Ron Paul Ryan Girdusky Sally Yates Sean Spicer Sebastian Gorka statism Stephen K. Bannon Steve Bannon tariffs The American Conservative Tom Price TPP Trans-Pacific Partnership Wall Street Walter Shaub war on drugs war on poverty White House

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COMMENTARY: Trump IS NOT remotely close to being a “libertarian” president

Jake Leonard, Editor-In-Chief

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