Donald Trump: The Most Libertarian President Since Silent Cal

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Despite all the Never Trumpers predicting economic turmoil, more deals with “Chuck and Nancy,” and triangulation towards big-government liberalism, President Donald Trump has so far proven to be the most libertarian president since Calvin Coolidge.

On multiple fronts, Trump and his advisors, notably Mick Mulvaney, have managed a record-setting list of accomplishments that leave past self-aggrandizing constitutional conservatives in the dust. On key issues of regulatory reform, rolling back federal power, appointing constitutionalist judges, and rethinking America’s place on the international stage, Trump is setting the gold standard for future libertarian and conservative presidents.

To start with, the Trump administration has been rolling back federal regulations at a faster speed than any other first-year president. As of October 12, 469 government rules have been stricken from the books, more than twice and three times the numbers of George W. Bush’s and Barack Obama’s first years respectively. And according to Neomi Rao, the administrator for the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the Trump administration has either withdrawn, delayed, or placed under reconsideration more than 1,500 total regulations, which will save the economy more than $570 million annually.

On the international stage, Trump has moved away from the liberal internationalism of the past, taking the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which many libertarians have argued didn’t actually promote free trade, and the Paris climate treaty, which would have cost the U.S. an estimated $3 trillion. United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley also announced a $285 million reduction in the U.N. budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The president additionally signaled in a tweet on January 1 that he plans to cut foreign aid to Pakistan and Palestine. And while Trump isn’t the pacifist that many of his libertarian supporters had hoped he’d be, especially when comes to the war in Afghanistan, his first year in office saw a radical decrease in American involvement in Syria, with an end to aid for CIA-backed rebels in the region.

The Trump administration is also conducting the Defense Department’s first-ever audit, which will hopefully lead to fat-trimming from its massive $639 billion budget.

Another first is Trump’s move to devolve executive power and restore Congress’s checks and balances. Unlike his predecessor, Trump is not governing through executive fiat and has kicked the ball back to Congress on a number of issues, including DACA, Iran sanctions, Obamacare subsidies, and 15 regulatory nullifications, which is 14 more than all the other presidents combined.

Of course, Trump’s longest standing accomplishment will be his record-breaking number of judicial appointments, almost all of them strict constitutionalists, including Neil Gorsuch (Supreme Court), Don Willet (Fifth Circuit), James Ho (Fifth Circuit), Leonard Grasz (Eighth Circuit), Amy Coney Barrett (Seventh Circuit), Stephanos Bibas (Third Circuit), Allison Eid (Tenth Circuit), and Joan Larsen (Sixth Circuit). Judicial nominees are an important test for modern presidents. They were the reason many Republicans and independents who were on the fence about Trump during the campaign ended up voting for him, and Trump hasn’t let them down.

www.theamericanconservative.com/art...-most-libertarian-president-since-silent-cal/

Wow, Twitler has done a lot for Libertarians who are completely different than conservatives.

 

[Trausti]

This thread should be pinned for the next time someone says that Trump hasn't accomplished anything. I don't know if I'd call myself a Libertarian. I'm conservative on some things, but not all things. (Really, I'm a recovering Democrat.) But based on the above, I'm happy I voted for Trump. Limited government. Withdraw from unreasonable international agreements. Stopping military support of jihadists in Syria. An audit of the Pentagon. (Every federal agency/department should be audited from time to time.) Good. Good. Good.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

This thread should be pinned for the next time someone says that Trump hasn't accomplished anything. I don't know if I'd call myself a Libertarian. I'm conservative on some things, but not all things. (Really, I'm a recovering Democrat.) But based on the above, I'm happy I voted for Trump. Limited government. Withdraw from unreasonable international agreements. Stopping military support of jihadists in Syria. An audit of the Pentagon. (Every federal agency/department should be audited from time to time.) Good. Good. Good.

I am glad that as a conservative/libertarian--if only there were a name for this long label--you can admit to this. If only some other posters (whoever they may be) could also admit how libertarian the conservative President is...

Now, as to the removal of regulations...the mere removal in and of itself is not necessarily an inherent good, nor does saving business money equate to saving Americans money...take for instance pollution causing health problems.

 

[phands]

This thread should be pinned for the next time someone says that Trump hasn't accomplished anything. I don't know if I'd call myself a Libertarian. I'm conservative on some things, but not all things. (Really, I'm a recovering Democrat.) But based on the above, I'm happy I voted for Trump. Limited government. Withdraw from unreasonable international agreements. Stopping military support of jihadists in Syria. An audit of the Pentagon. (Every federal agency/department should be audited from time to time.) Good. Good. Good.

Utter wank.

 

[Trausti]

This thread should be pinned for the next time someone says that Trump hasn't accomplished anything. I don't know if I'd call myself a Libertarian. I'm conservative on some things, but not all things. (Really, I'm a recovering Democrat.) But based on the above, I'm happy I voted for Trump. Limited government. Withdraw from unreasonable international agreements. Stopping military support of jihadists in Syria. An audit of the Pentagon. (Every federal agency/department should be audited from time to time.) Good. Good. Good.

Utter wank.

With genius riposte like this, Trump must be literally shaking. Literally.

 

[Trausti]

This thread should be pinned for the next time someone says that Trump hasn't accomplished anything. I don't know if I'd call myself a Libertarian. I'm conservative on some things, but not all things. (Really, I'm a recovering Democrat.) But based on the above, I'm happy I voted for Trump. Limited government. Withdraw from unreasonable international agreements. Stopping military support of jihadists in Syria. An audit of the Pentagon. (Every federal agency/department should be audited from time to time.) Good. Good. Good.

I am glad that as a conservative/libertarian--if only there were a name for this long label--you can admit to this. If only some other posters (whoever they may be) could also admit how libertarian the conservative President is...

Now, as to the removal of regulations...the mere removal in and of itself is not necessarily an inherent good, nor does saving business money equate to saving Americans money...take for instance pollution causing health problems.

The Trump Effect: Business, Anticipating Less Regulation, Loosens Purse Strings

A wave of optimism has swept over American business leaders, and it is beginning to translate into the sort of investment in new plants, equipment and factory upgrades that bolsters economic growth, spurs job creation — and may finally raise wages significantly.

Thank goodness Hilary Clinton isn't President.

 

[dismal]

Rolling back regulations is libertarian I suppose. As is cutting taxes. Tariffs are not. What else makes Trump literally Hitler again? Hitler isn't real popular in libertarian circles.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Rolling back regulations is libertarian I suppose. As is cutting taxes. Tariffs are not. What else makes Trump literally Hitler again? Hitler isn't real popular in libertarian circles.

So Twitler isn't Hitler but instead a conservative or libertarian (who are not the same thing) wet dream. Interesting.

 

[Trausti]

Rolling back regulations is libertarian I suppose. As is cutting taxes. Tariffs are not. What else makes Trump literally Hitler again? Hitler isn't real popular in libertarian circles.

So Twitler isn't Hitler but instead a conservative or libertarian (who are not the same thing) wet dream. Interesting.

This misses the significance of Trump's election. He represents a realignment of American politics. Tariffs are not libertarian or conservative. They are nationalist and protectionist. A President Cruz or Rubio would not do them. But Trump, by his words for nearly 40 years, is a nationalist. He will enact nationalist polices regardless of how such policies are characterized. It's the reason he won the rust belt.

 

[Ford]

One of the articles of faith for both libertarians and conservatives is that government shouldn't pick "winners and losers."

One of Trump's favorite words to use on Twitter is "losers." He also talks quite a lot about "winning."

When it comes to policy, he does more than just Tweet and talk. He's using the power of the federal government to favor industries which he likes. Coal. Steel. Aluminum. When a business disagrees with his policy, he very publicly throws them under the bus.

Maybe our resident self-appointed expert on libertarian thought can explain how exactly Trump is in keeping with the faith?

 

[Trausti]

One of the articles of faith for both libertarians and conservatives is that government shouldn't pick "winners and losers."

One of Trump's favorite words to use on Twitter is "losers." He also talks quite a lot about "winning."

When it comes to policy, he does more than just Tweet and talk. He's using the power of the federal government to favor industries which he likes. Coal. Steel. Aluminum. When a business disagrees with his policy, he very publicly throws them under the bus.

Maybe our resident self-appointed expert on libertarian thought can explain how exactly Trump is in keeping with the faith?

Maybe Trump doesn't give a shit what people think? I get that impression about him.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Maybe Trump doesn't give a shit what people think? I get that impression about him.

Then you have the wrong impression. He is constantly doing things for image sake--calling press bad people to counter his bad image, calling other people bad people if they say something critical, trying to win minorities to the GOP, and when he was campaigning before losing the popular vote, he was constantly doing press briefings telling people he's the most non-racist person in the Universe. The reality of course is that he does stuff for attention because for political reasons being infamous is better than not being famous at all but then he's stuck doing damage control by destroying other people's reputations.

 

[Opoponax]

Rolling back regulations and shitcanning certain laws is a bad thing when it ends up allowing more pollution. One would think that would be obvious.

As far as Trump "kicking the back to..." goes, the fact of the matter is that he does't know what the fuck he's doing. When an issue arises, he blames someone else, then says he's going to do something about X, then blames someone else again when he does nothing about it. He can't articulate what the writer of the article in the OP did for him. The writer is simply giving Trump credit for abdicating responsibility through ignorance.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The question is what laws are being removed.

There's a lot of stupid crap that should go. I very much doubt that it's what's being removed, though.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

The question is what laws are being removed.

There's a lot of stupid crap that should go. I very much doubt that it's what's being removed, though.

Metoo

 

[scombrid]

His Tariffs and immigration policies are very anti-libertarians.

On the face of it, removing the environmental regulations squares with libertarian philosophy.

However, a cornerstone of libertarian philosophy is that economic transactions are mutual between concerned parties. Unregulated pollution is a negative externality imposed on the receiving population. I've not seen many that claim to be libertarian adequately address that fact. Most will glibly says "If people don't like pollution then they shouldn't buy from polluters". That rational fails though when the polluter is in one place and its customers are somewhere else. The people getting polluted have no say in the transaction apart from regulation or perhaps torts.

 

[dismal]

One of the articles of faith for both libertarians and conservatives is that government shouldn't pick "winners and losers."

One of Trump's favorite words to use on Twitter is "losers." He also talks quite a lot about "winning."

When it comes to policy, he does more than just Tweet and talk. He's using the power of the federal government to favor industries which he likes. Coal. Steel. Aluminum. When a business disagrees with his policy, he very publicly throws them under the bus.

Maybe our resident self-appointed expert on libertarian thought can explain how exactly Trump is in keeping with the faith?

I'm pretty sure most libertarians aren't against people using the words "winners" and "losers" in tweets. That's a different thing than the government picking winners and losers, say with a steel tariff.

I wouldn't call Trump a libertarian though. Some of the things he has done are things a libertarian would support, some not.

 

[dismal]

His Tariffs and immigration policies are very anti-libertarians.

On the face of it, removing the environmental regulations squares with libertarian philosophy.

However, a cornerstone of libertarian philosophy is that economic transactions are mutual between concerned parties. Unregulated pollution is a negative externality imposed on the receiving population. I've not seen many that claim to be libertarian adequately address that fact. Most will glibly says "If people don't like pollution then they shouldn't buy from polluters". That rational fails though when the polluter is in one place and its customers are somewhere else. The people getting polluted have no say in the transaction apart from regulation or perhaps torts.

Libertarians are not pro-pollution for the reasons you state. You have absolutely no right to pollute your neighbor's yard.

 

[ZiprHead]

And yet they do it.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

His Tariffs and immigration policies are very anti-libertarians.

On the face of it, removing the environmental regulations squares with libertarian philosophy.

However, a cornerstone of libertarian philosophy is that economic transactions are mutual between concerned parties. Unregulated pollution is a negative externality imposed on the receiving population. I've not seen many that claim to be libertarian adequately address that fact. Most will glibly says "If people don't like pollution then they shouldn't buy from polluters". That rational fails though when the polluter is in one place and its customers are somewhere else. The people getting polluted have no say in the transaction apart from regulation or perhaps torts.

Libertarians are not pro-pollution for the reasons you state. You have absolutely no right to pollute your neighbor's yard.

There is a tendency among that crowd to be misinformed about the interaction of individual freedom with those around them. So for things like global warming and second-hand smoke, we've heard all kinds of shenanigans repeated among conservatives and libertarians (who are completely different). We had one libertarian conservative here in the forum named boneyard bill who went so far as to say smoking doesn't cause cancer, it's just a correlation.