Hold the presses—could President Donald Trump, the man often painted as a political outlier, actually be just another Republican in disguise?
In a recent opinion piece published Wednesday in The New York Times titled "Face It. Trump Is a Normie Republican," columnist Jamelle Bouie makes the bold claim that Trump’s governance aligns closely with traditional GOP ideology, despite the endless chatter about his supposed uniqueness, Fox News reported.
Bouie kicks off with a zinger, stating, "Perhaps the most underappreciated fact about President Trump is that he is a Republican." Well, color us shocked—turns out wearing a red tie might mean something after all. But Bouie’s point isn’t just about party labels; it’s about policy substance hiding behind the circus of Trump’s public persona.
Bouie argues that Trump’s first term, far from being a populist revolution, mirrored what a third term of former President George W. Bush might have looked like on the domestic front. The evidence? Look no further than the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Trump’s signature legislative win.
Bouie describes this law as anything but transformative for the working class, saying it was "a massive upper-income tax cut" benefiting the wealthiest. If that’s populism, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you. This, Bouie insists, is classic Republican fare—prioritizing the elite while waving the flag of the everyman.
Even the messy end of Trump’s first term, riddled with crises and what Bouie calls mismanagement, echoes Bush’s final years. It’s almost as if history repeats itself when the same playbook is used. Bouie’s comparison isn’t flattering, but it’s hard to argue with the parallels.
Shifting to foreign affairs, Bouie points to Trump’s recent strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a page straight out of the GOP hawk manual. This isn’t new territory for Republicans, and Bouie connects the dots to past rhetoric and actions. It’s almost nostalgic if nostalgia involves airstrikes.
Bouie traces a line from Bush’s 2002 "axis of evil" speech to Sen. John McCain’s offhand 2007 quips about bombing Iran, right up to Trump’s 2018 pick of Mike Pompeo, a known Iran hardliner, as secretary of state. Turns out, actions have consequences—and so does hiring like-minded folks. This strike, Bouie suggests, fulfills decades of Republican dreams for confrontation with Tehran.
Bouie’s take is clear: Trump’s foreign policy isn’t a rogue operation; it’s a continuation of a long-standing GOP stance. If you squint, you can almost see the ghost of past administrations nodding in approval. The question is whether this consistency is comforting or concerning.
Back on the home front, Bouie contends that Trump’s populist rhetoric is just a shiny wrapper on a very familiar Republican package. Strip away the speeches, and you’ve got policies that could have been drafted by any GOP leader over the last two decades. It’s a clever disguise, but Bouie’s not buying it.
He doubles down, noting that Trump is a "Republican politician committed to the success of the Republican Party and its ideological vision." If that sounds obvious, Bouie argues it’s been overlooked by nearly everyone. Maybe we’ve all been too distracted by the tweets to notice the agenda.
Yet Bouie does concede that some of Trump’s more troubling tendencies—those authoritarian leanings—stem from his vision rather than party orthodoxy. Still, he maintains that most of Trump’s governance fits snugly within the Republican mold. It’s a mixed bag, but the bag is decidedly red.
So why does this matter? Bouie’s piece challenges the narrative that Trump is some unprecedented force, suggesting instead that he’s just playing the hits from the GOP’s greatest playlist. For those of us who value shaking up the system, it’s a bit of a letdown to hear he’s not as revolutionary as advertised.
At the same time, something is reassuring about Bouie’s analysis—if you’re a conservative who likes predictability, that is. Trump governing like a standard Republican means the party’s core values aren’t as endangered as some progressive critics might fear.
Perhaps people crave chaos so much that they overlook the value of stability—even when it comes with flair.
