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by Kitty Testa
I don’t know about you, but my die-hard conservative friends and family have been acting sort of strange lately. It started a little over a year ago, revealing itself in an unexpected comment here or there. Conservatives suddenly started saying things like, “The invasion of Iraq was a mistake.” (What? Where did that come from?) Within a few months they seemed to grudgingly accept ideas that horrified them only recently. “We need federal spending on infrastructure to save American jobs.” (Whoa! Who are you?) You can imagine the shock and awe I felt when I heard them saying, “Companies who move jobs overseas should be punished.” (Shut the front door!)
Conservatives, who have long prided themselves on their free market attitudes along with fiscally and socially conservative principles, started fudging once Donald Trump’s popularity rose during the 2016 election. Yes, everyone loves a winner, but some conservative flip-flops were pretty brash. And now that Trump is the president, it seems they’ve shamelessly abandoned some core tenants of conservatism.
Surely this isn’t exactly new territory. Conservatives had long said that they aimed to decrease federal spending, but always agree to spend more. They say they want a fairer, simpler tax system, but never miss an opportunity to add a few hundred more arcane pages to the IRS tax code. So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised by all the rationalizing I’ve witnessed to cure the cognitive dissonance that arises from a conservative mind that wants to wholeheartedly support Donald Trump.
But I am surprised, because they just don’t seem like conservatives anymore. They’ve given up on the standards they bore, and, quite frankly, I’m disappointed. Here are five positions conservatives have abandoned in order to support Trump.
1. Throwing shade on Keynesian economics
Remember when conservatives loved Milton Friedman? Those were the days. I have a conservative friend who used to send emails with interesting essays on the beauty of Austrian economics. They were often compelling and highly critical of Barack Obama’s economic policies. It’s always nice to have a little comparative advantage with your morning coffee, or to settle down in the evening to test the marginal utility of scotch, and I looked forward to those emails. But I haven’t seen them in a while.
Trump has expressed no allegiance to any school of economics, but his protectionist policies are most certainly anti-Austrian. His wall on the Mexican border is designed to prevent the free movement of labor. His proposed punitive measures against out-sourcing are surely aimed at the free movement of capital. He supports an increase in the minimum wage and has demonstrated a penchant for cronyism to keep jobs in the US.
All of these policies would have deeply offended a conservative a mere eighteen months ago. But that was when we had a different president.
2. The high ground of personal morality
It’s true that the “family values” conservatives of the 1980s were often revealed to have personal lives that betrayed their exhortations of morality as mere lip service, but there are still plenty of conservatives on the Christian right that advocate for marriage, fidelity and family. I know that many people abhor them for it, but I have always admired those who take principled stands—especially when they are unpopular.
As attractive and successful as Donald Trump’s grown children seem to be, the fact is that among them they have two broken homes and a father who has boasted of infidelity. It’s not weird for me not to care so much about that—I’m not politically on the Christian right, despite having some pretty conservative attitudes about what makes a good and moral personal life. But it is strange to me that they were able to overlook it.
Some on the Christian right have gone so far as to believe that God ordained Donald Trump to be president of the United States. Granted, in the Bible God did turn a tax collector into an apostle, so I suppose one could believe that a serial adulterer could be called upon to serve God as well.
But now I am wondering how they feel about Trump’s decision to let stand Obama’s order that prohibited federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT individuals in hiring or firing. Aren’t they just giving him a pass on protecting their religious freedom? What’s next? Bake the cake?
3. Limits on executive authority
Conservatives these days are downright giddy over Donald Trump’s executive orders. Even “The Great One,” Mark Levin, is loving it.
The production of Left/Right hypocrisy memes regarding executive orders may be the number one industry in America right now. Yes, conservatives howled at Barack Obama’s use of the pen while progressives cheered him on. And now progressives are wailing over Trump’s use of the executive order while conservatives celebrate.
Everyone ought to read executive orders just to get a feel for how autocratic they are. They’re written in the first person and speak of problems that the president himself has identified and how he’s going to make up some new rules to solve them. Then comes a list of the presidential edicts. Executive orders are kind of creepy in a representative democracy. They’re kingly. Bigly.
While I don’t mind the use of executive orders that relate to the management of departments that report to the president, or to reverse prior executive orders where a former president has overstepped his constitutional authority, I do mind the use of them to make new laws and sweeping policy.
I understand that many Americans want a wall along the southern border, but a lot of Americans don’t. The wall will cost an enormous amount of money, and the Constitution says that the House of Representatives holds the national purse strings, so the executive order to pay for and build the wall is way out of line, in my view. This should be taken up legislatively.
Remember when Obama used executive orders because he couldn’t get his agenda through Congress? As Ronald Reagan famously said, “There you go again…”
4. Massive tax cuts
Conservatives love tax cuts—not as much as libertarians—but they do always say they want them. And small government. Remember when conservatives loved small government?
Just kidding. They never really loved small government, and they’re not about to start loving it now. But they do still love tax cuts.
Back in September, Forbes ran an article with the snarky title, 2016 Trump Attacks 2015 Trump’s Tax Plan, Proposes $7 Trillion in Tax Increases. Tony Nitti busted Trump on how his original tax plan was way too ambitious, especially for a guy who really likes to spend money. Trump’s revised tax plan was far less generous to taxpayers.
OK, there’s no reason to avoid the elephant in the room any longer. As you’ve noticed, all of the changes discussed so far share a common theme: in each instance, 2016 Trump is raising taxes compared to 2015 Trump. The reason for these increases is obvious: when 2015 Trump’s plan was released, the Tax Foundation determined that his proposed cuts would reduce federal tax revenue by $12 trillion over the next ten years. If you’re not aware of how our government works, it is tax revenue that allows us to build bridges and colonize Saturn and imprison various Real Housewives. If we suddenly lose $12 trillion over a decade, that amount increases our deficit. And if we insist on continuing to spend that $12 trillion (hint: we will), we’ll need to continue to borrow it from China at 78% annual interest.
If you’re waiting for a tax cut, don’t hold your breath. My bet is that 2017 Donald Trump will propose another $5 trillion in tax increases compared to 2016 Donald Trump.
5. Complaining about shovel-ready jobs
Conservatives have been very critical of FDR for using the public coffers to put Americans to work, and they were critical of Obama’s shovel-ready jobs, but Donald Trump wants a $1 trillion infrastructure plan to make America as modern as Dubai without the abayas and hijabs. Of course, Trump says getting all of those people back to work and paying income taxes will pay for the national boondoggle, but he also said that Mexico would pay for the wall and proceeded to propose a 20% tariff on Mexican imports that American consumers would ultimately pay.
Also, Trump has enacted a federal hiring freeze that includes subcontractors, so he’d have to issue another executive order to exempt his wall and bridge builders from the hiring freeze in order not to break his own laws. But still he has to get the money from Congress to make it happen.
The funny thing is that I haven’t heard any conservatives criticizing Trump’s infrastructure plan. Several of them seem to like the idea of getting people back to work. Isn’t that what Obama (misguidedly) did?
Conservatives have never really embraced the idea that the government should be the employer of last resort for all of those wanting for a day’s labor. At least not until now.
I have to admit that the Trump conservatives have been a disappointment to me. Just as Obama progressives are a disappointment to me. They’re willing to sacrifice principles as long as their guy is driving the bus.
Hang on, everyone. This is going to be a bumpy ride.
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