Trump has said he won’t let people die in the streets. Bush said “when somebody hurts, government has to move.” Trump is running on putting tariffs on China. Bush put tariffs on Brazil and other steel-producing countries in 2002. Trump has said security, education, and health care are the three most important roles of government. Bush’s main legislative accomplishments as president are the Patriot Act (security), No Child Left Behind (education), and Medicare Part D (health care). Bush’s policy heresies were hardly considered the death knell of conservatism. In fact, many of those steps were loudly supported by conservative Republicans, and current House Speaker Paul Ryan backed all three.
This is not to suggest that Trump is a complete Bush retread: that would be a disaster, if true. In fact, if you compare Trump the candidate with Bush the president from a conservative perspective, Trump looks far better on two of the biggest issues: taxes and judicial appointments. Trump’s tax plan is well to the right even of the Bush tax cuts. Yes, Trump could completely reverse himself on taxes, but it’s hard to see why he would, short of a crisis, once in office. And hey, at least his campaign plan doesn’t include the phrase “read my lips.”
As for judges? Well, let’s not forget that the second Bush nominated the embarrassingly underqualified Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Trump’s proposed list of judicial nominees are universally more conservative and more qualified than Miers was. True, Trump is likely to confront a Senate that has more Democrats than when Bush nominated Miers, and whether he’ll be able to get such a body to confirm his nominees is an open question. However, it must be admitted that the people Trump has named as his first, second, third, and even eleventh choices are all better options than the woman who was Bush’s first choice, even when confronted with a fairly safe Republican Senate. That speaks volumes of Trump’s political instincts, and is not what one would expect from someone out to destroy the conservative movement.
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