Comment by Proziam | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Proziam | Hacker News Reader

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I personally have very mixed feelings about Trump as a whole. On the one hand, I didn't vote for him. I see him as divisive and as an obstacle for progress on real issues that I personally care about.

However, he has done a few things that I have sincere appreciation for. Primarily, we made significant gains towards peace in the middle east by negotiating treaties in the region. Another point in the win column (leading up the covid) was the economy. And the last major thing I cared about was reducing the US dependence on Chinese goods and labor (which are made so affordable due to inhumane practices).

Regarding authoritarianism, he has a mixed track record. He had a thing for executive orders, but he also let the states largely handle the civil unrest and covid in the manner they saw fit.

With that having been said, Trump was a Democrat for a long time, and was certainly not a typical political establishment individual. I find it difficult to attribute him to either party.

His rhetoric against TPP did more harm to US China dependence than any good he did.

"The Internet" was all in A Tizzy because the treaty spelled out some legal procedures (that withdrawing from the treaty would end), and forgot that it was aimed squarely at China.

> His rhetoric against TPP did more harm to US China dependence than any good he did.

I strongly agree. His rhetoric was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, issues with Trump as president overall. On that point, he failed miserably.

This is actually a good example of not recognizing bi-partisan positions due to lack of media coverage.

Bernie Sanders Sep 14, 2016 Our free trade agreements have been a disaster. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is more of the same, but even worse.

https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/776111579058364420

I liked how Eric Weinstein described Trump as "existential threat". The idea was that while Trump is asking the right questions and does his best to follow up with the right policies, in the process of doing so he makes these issues "ugly" and tamed with "Trumpisism" assuring that no one ever will come back to these issues. Example: most American want stronger border, most Americans wont be caught dead screaming "... Go Home!" to anyone, but a Trump supporter is more likely to do so than most. Therefore the issue of "stronger border" is a taboo unless Trump gets re-elected

Yes that is getting insane. Sections of the border wall are unfinished and now getting extra border patrol agents to police the unfinished sections. You can be police the border but you can't build a wall. All because a wall is now connected to Trump. Yet it does the same job as border patrol agents but with less risk of people getting shot.

> I find it difficult to attribute him to either party.

When your mental model is persistently at odds with the way things work out in reality, you need to reexamine your mental model.

Trump thinks he’s a Republican. A large majority of Republicans enthusiastically agree. I don’t know what you mean by “attribute” but however he got there, Trump is very definitely a Republican.

It might help to recognize that a political party in the US is not one thing. They are a shifting coalition of groups and individuals who have found a way to work together, sometimes comfortably and sometimes not, sometimes for the long term and sometimes not. The policies shift and people change continuously as each tries to get and keep power.

Trump has changed his party affiliation five times since 1987. He was a registered democrat for many years, even going on CNN and discussing that he identifies as a Democrat. While campaigning as a Republican he said repeatedly that he didn't align with the party's platform. Then, after all that, he recently was talking about starting an entirely new party.

> Trump thinks he’s a Republican.

His own statements, both during and prior to his time as president, strongly suggest otherwise.

> When your mental model is persistently at odds with the way things work out in reality, you need to reexamine your mental model.

You're absolutely right.

> Trump thinks he’s a Republican.

Trump thinks its useful to be seen as a Republican, just as he formerly saw it advantageous to be seen as a Democrat and for a brief time (his first Presidential campaign, coincidentally also the first where the Reform Party nomination would have let him funnel federal matching funds as well as donor funds into his own businesses) as part of the Reform Party.

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