In a new article from the generally conservative publication’s editorial board, The Wall Street Journal pours rhetorical cold water on the idea of another term in office for Donald Trump. Even for those in support of conservative policies, the Journal argued that Trump just isn’t the guy.
They’re not far off base, of course. Even just in what Trump has been focusing upon most recently, he’s ranting about his loss in the 2020 presidential election and the various serious investigations he continues facing at the local, state, and federal levels. Does he actually have a plan to implement sometimes conservatism-associated ideas like a strong framework for national defense and drops in government spending beyond kind of just yelling about it? In Congress, Republicans’ (not) great idea for forcing a decrease in government expenditures is tying such drops to the necessary lift for the debt ceiling, which is a measurement associated with steps the government can take to deal with spending to which authorities previously agreed.
They’re not leaning into the long-term fight and trying to convince Democrats of the legitimacy of the ideas to which they’re supposedly so ideologically committed. They’re putting the financial stability of the country at stake to… what, exactly? Make a point about how much they supposedly don’t want to cut care for veterans with an agenda that could force just such a thing, besides other substantial drawbacks in government services?
Anyway, the article from the Journal cited comments from Bill Barr, who spent some time as U.S. Attorney General alongside Trump. Donald “will deliver chaos, and if anything lead to a backlash that will set his policies much further back than they otherwise would be,” the ex-official claimed.
“Mr. Barr’s point, and it’s more powerful than the electability argument, is that Mr. Trump won’t be able to govern successfully even if he did somehow win a second term,” the Journal’s editors said. “The rebuttal from the Trump establishment will be to cite his first term, but that record supports Mr. Barr’s point. We also agree with many of Mr. Trump’s policies, and we backed them during his Presidency. But his most important policy victories were conventional GOP priorities delivered by people he now denounces as “RINOs.””
The publication also noted some of Trump’s outright failures, like the many setbacks faced in the pursuit of a wall along the southern border — a big-ticket item that wasn’t going to somehow solve immigration-related issues that require more than a simple solution, anyway. The Journal also argued Trump’s approach to COVID-19, with all its unpredictable unrest, “was the main reason for Mr. Trump’s defeat in 2020 as Mr. Biden campaigned on ending the chaos.” Read the Journal’s article at this link.
