Donald Trump let us know in his acceptance speech at the Republican National convention that he thinks the United States is in a condition of crisis because of terrorist attacks and the killing of police in our cities. He touts himself as the law and order candidate and told us that disorder will end if he becomes president next January. Safety will be No. 1.
Trump also called attention to problem areas of the economy: 58 percent of African American youth are not employed, which he attributes to decades of unlimited immigration. He also says our huge trade deficit is caused by flawed trade agreements. Trump says his plan, which he has not yet provided, will put America right. He asserted that Americanism and not globalism will be the rule. The American people will come first. Another Trump goal is to stamp out Islamic terrorism, and like George W. Bush in 2000, he said that we need to abandon nation-building.
Candidate Trump presented himself as a champion of the people. In contrast to Hillary Clinton’s “I am with her” campaign phrase, he said his is “I am with the American people.” He also says that he has no patience for injustice or a rigged system of government, and that “No one knows the system better than I, which is why I alone can fix it.” The question of how he plans to “fix” it has gone begging.
It is my hunch that Trump’s “fix it” plan may be in the tradition of Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal “ program, and like Roosevelt, a Trump administration would have government play a more vigorous role in fixing what he sees as problems, and this would likely anger those on the political right.
