Is Trumpism a bona fide political ideology or one man’s personality?

Gwen Baumgardner: WE ALL WATCHED AS A MAN TURNED INTO A MOVEMENT

President Trump: “We are going to make our country great again!”

Baumgardner: THE HEADLINES, THE HEADGEAR, AND HORDES OF LOYAL TRUMP SUPPORTERS.

AND EVEN THOUGH PRESIDENT TRUMP IS OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE, *TRUMPISM IS STILL GOING STRONG.

Trump: “Do you miss me yet?” Cheers

Baumgardner: WHAT IS TRUMPISM?

AN ACTUAL IDEOLOGY OR ONE MAN’S LARGER THAN LIFE PERSONALITY?

WHILE I WASN’T ABLE TO SNAG AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MAN HIMSELF, I DID SPEAK WITH SOME POLITICAL PUNDITS.

DAVID AZERRAD IS A PROFESSOR AT HILLSDALE COLLEGE AND FORMERLY WORKED FOR A CONSERVATIVE THINK TANK IN DC.
DR. KEITH WAGNER IS A POLI-SCI PROFESSOR AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY…RIGHT DOWN THE BEACH FROM MAR-A-LAGO.

THEY NARROWED THE CONCEPT OF ‘TRUMPISM’ DOWN TO THREE KEY THEMES.

-NATIONALISM –

Azerrad: “I think a nationalist is someone like Trump… who says, actually, no, when it comes to politics, the bedrock unit is the nation.”

Trump: “From this day forward, it’s going to be only America First, America first.”

-NATIVISM –

Wagner: ‘’This idea that, that people coming into the country were causing issues with the country.’’

Trump: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

-AND POPULISM-

“Drain the swamp!”

Azerrad: “It’s the feistiness, that combativeness, the utter contempt for the corruption of the elites. And this was a tremendous part of his appeal.”

Baumgardner: THESE EXPERTS SAY THE COMBINATION OF THESE THEMES DO, IN FACT, SUPPORT A DEFINED IDEOLOGY – CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO OF POLITICAL ELITES, WHILE PUTTING AMERICANS AND AMERICAN INTERESTS FIRST.

BUT CAN TRUMP CLAIM IT AS HIS OWN?

Wagner: “I think it’s probably incorrect to say that President Trump sort of created an ideology, right, because a lot of the belief systems that he tapped into were existing, they just weren’t dominant.”

Baumgardner: TO THAT POINT, HIS ICONIC CATCHPHRASES HAVE BEEN USED BEFORE.

WARREN G HARDING USED THE SLOGAN ‘AMERICA FIRST’ DURING HIS PRESIDENTIAL RUN. AND RONALD REAGAN ALSO WANTED TO ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN’.

TO TRUMP’S CREDIT, WHILE THE BELIEFS AND SLOGANS AREN’T NEW…*THIS CERTAINLY IS. (TRUMP SUPPORTER NATS)

HE’S DUBBED A ‘MASTER OF MARKETING’

HIS ONE-LINERS ‘’you’re fired’’, TWEETS, AND PERSONAL ATTACKS, ‘’such a nasty woman’’ RESONATED WITH HIS VOTERS.

THIS BEGS THE QUESTION- CAN ONLY TRUMP DO TRUMPISM? WELL, MAYBE NOT.

UC BERKLEY’S CENTER FOR RIGHT WING STUDIES IDENIFIED 2 SUCCESSORS IF TRUMP DOESN’T RUN IN 20-24… MISSOURI SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY AND fox commentator TUCKER CARLSON.

OTHER ANALYSTS SAY FLORIDA’S GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS AND SENATOR RICK SCOTT ARE ALSO PEOPLE TO WATCH.

Wagner: ‘’The energy and the passion that that former President Trump unleashed in the Republican Party is not going away “

Baumgardner: SO ACTUAL IDEOLOGY OR ONE MAN’S PERSONALITY. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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