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Trump Has a New Role Model [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-01-08
During his first term, Trump mentioned several times that he didn’t want to be compared to Herbert Hoover, due to his association with the Great Depression. Unfortunately for Trump, his first term seemed headed in that direction, but ended before he could completely destroy the economy.
Now, beginning his second term, Trump has decided on a new role model.
In his social media post to the new Republican Congress, Trump noted that this past election was the most important election in 129 years – which would reference the election of 1896, when William McKinley won his first Presidential term.
McKinley, of course, was renowned for his application of the Dingley Tariff, the highest protective tariff in American history at that time. The purpose of the higher tariffs was to protect American industries and wages by making foreign goods more expensive, helping American businesses become more competitive.
The other aspect of McKinley’s presidency of note is the Spanish-American War, which began under suspicious circumstances and resulted in the U.S. acquisition of the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico, as well as the independence of Cuba.
If any of this sounds familiar, consider Trump’s insistence that tariffs will make the U.S. wealthy and punish foreign interests and his insistence on acquiring Greenland and Panama, as well as (theoretically) Canada.
While his interpretation of the purpose and effects of tariffs is rooted in mistaken historical evidence and imaginary consequences, Trump is clearly aiming to replicate the relative success of McKinley’s use of tariffs. Likewise, McKinley’s somewhat inadvertent military endeavors resulting in adding territories to the country appeal to Trump’s grandiose self-image of heroic masculinity.
Trump has a new role model.
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