Donald Trump defies assumptions: 'Make America Great Again' redefined

American President Donald Trump’s second administration has, in a few short weeks, made it obvious that it will be nothing like the first. Mr Trump is moving far more quickly and decisively on an agenda that is considerably more extreme than what was visible in early 2017. 

There are many possible reasons for this change. There are fewer mainstream Republicans in this United States (US) administration than there were in the last, for example, which constrains him less. Those who are part of his movement — or those who want to use it for their own ends, like Elon Musk — have had longer to prepare for this moment, given that this victory was not as much of a surprise as 2016.

  Perhaps Mr Trump and his partisans have also been emboldened by the relative scale of their victory over Kamala Harris, which was not as narrow as his defeat of Hillary Clinton. Or perhaps the reason is simpler: Mr Trump is older and angrier after four years out of office, during which he was kicked off social media and became the target of multiple criminal investigations. The President might now be convinced the US’ state apparatus is antagonistic to him personally in a way that he did not fully believe in his last term.

  The combination of a clearer agenda, fewer people invested in the traditional structure of American government, and Mr Trump’s resentment might explain why the administration has acted so quickly to dismantle various parts of the state, from the aid bureaucracy to its alliance system. Nothing is off the table in this administration. Certainly the military and the intelligence services will be politicised at the highest levels.

  But it may not stop there. If the President believes the Federal Reserve is holding back growth in the next four years, he will bring it to heel and end its 75 years of independence. If one of his handpicked judges on the US Supreme Court defies him — as some reports suggest Amy Coney Barrett might, after she sided with the court’s liberal minority recently — then there is little doubt that some way will be found to restrict judicial independence as well. If Mr Trump looks around, he will see that there are enough examples of how these aims can be easily accomplished in large democracies.

  The swiftness with which Mr Trump has betrayed Ukraine is less surprising than the speed with which he has moved on domestic priorities. It was clear that he had no love lost for the country that was at the centre of his impeachment drama. Nor should it be a shock that the US has acted on trade policy and tariffs with more alacrity than it did last time. Mr Trump has, if anything, become more convinced over time of the utility of protectionism as a source of growth and even revenue.

  The multiple fronts on which the new administration has gotten to work in the past weeks has perhaps overwhelmed observers. There is very little analysis of what has been revealed of the broader thrust of the administration’s strategy — or, more likely, instincts. And this is a pity, because this is in fact the most surprising thing.

  Two things have been long assumed about the Trump movement and Mr Trump himself. First, that the movement is about retaining and re-asserting the US’ primacy in world affairs. That is, after all, what a plain reading of “make America great again” (Maga) would suggest. And second, that the President himself is all about the “art of the deal”, and is focused on transactional politics and commerce. But what if both of these things are untrue? Certainly, the first weeks of the second Trump administration have challenged these assumptions.

  Far from focusing on American leadership, the Maga movement is happier with American retreat. It does not see the need for the US to patrol the world’s seas at great expense, or to have a long list of tributary and dependent states. It does not even want to bring its enemies — Russia, China, or Iran — low if doing so would impose the slightest cost on itself. The Maga movement is not about American power or supremacy.

  The “great” that it wants for America is purely focused on the country’s internal organisation. The US’ economic and financial lead over the rest of the world is greater than it ever has been, so this is not about aggregate income or anything as basic to economists as that. It is simply about restoring the values, lifestyles, and aspirations of the 1950s.

  And Mr Trump’s behaviour, alongside that of his administration, is not focused on a rational, transactional restructuring of US commitments. No, it feels profoundly ideological: Refocusing the US as a managed democracy with traditional values. His partners in this are those countries with similar approaches, Russia and China, not those who are disappointingly liberal, like Europe and Canada. Europe will get higher tariffs than China, because he dislikes the former more. This is an unusually ideologically committed government, it is just so much a reverse that the shift has gone unnoticed.