Donald Trump’s Big Government Authoritarianism Is The Antithesis Of Limited Government Conservatism
Don’t let tribalism override the importance of adhering to the truth.
Some ‘limited government conservatives’ are throwing their support behind US Republican candidate Donald Trump.
In my view, this is an error of historic proportions.
While Donald Trump may be the standard bearer of the ‘conservative’ faction in the United States, and though that ‘conservative’ faction includes limited government conservatives, the reality is that Donald Trump is a big government authoritarian who represents the antithesis of limited government conservatism.
Here’s why.
To start with, Donald Trump’s economic policies are fiscally irresponsible to the extreme. According to a non-partisan analysis of the economic plans put forward by Trump and US Vice-President Kamala Harris, Trump’s would be far worse when it comes to expanding the US debt. Harris’s plan would increase the US debt by $3.95 billion over current projections, while Trump’s plan would increase the debt by $7.75 trillion.
And that analysis doesn’t even include a proposal Trump has floated several times, eliminating all federal taxes and replacing the lost revenue with tariffs. That proposal is so insane as to be laughable, given it would add $30 trillion to the US debt over 10 years.
There is no world in which Trump can be considered fiscally responsible.
What about freedom of speech?
Trump has repeatedly called for TV networks to be stripped of their licenses for coverage, which he disagrees with. Over the past two years, Trump has called for every major US network to be stripped of their license.
And that’s not the worst of it.
He has repeatedly issued violent threats towards his critics, including Liz Cheney and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley.
In fact, he even mused about Milley being executed:
Late Friday night, the former president of the United States—and a leading candidate to be the next president—insinuated that America’s top general deserves to be put to death.
“That extraordinary sentence would be unthinkable in any other rich democracy. But Donald Trump, on his social-media network, Truth Social, wrote that Mark Milley’s phone call to reassure China in the aftermath of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.” (The phone call was, in fact, explicitly authorized by Trump-administration officials.)”
Trump has also repeatedly spoken of his desire for vengeance and has labelled his political critics the “enemy from within.” He has also said the military should be used against his critics.
In another break from traditional limited government conservatism – which was once focused on opposing dictators based on an understanding that freedom can’t survive in an world dominated by dictatorial states – Trump has repeatedly praised dictators like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
And Trump’s former Chief of Staff – respected General John Kelly – recently revealed that Trump wanted Generals ‘like Hitler had’:
“This week, I asked Kelly about their exchange. He told me that when Trump raised the subject of “German generals,” Kelly responded by asking, “‘Do you mean Bismarck’s generals?’” He went on: “I mean, I knew he didn’t know who Bismarck was, or about the Franco-Prussian War. I said, ‘Do you mean the kaiser’s generals? Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals? And he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.’ I explained to him that Rommel had to commit suicide after taking part in a plot against Hitler.” Kelly told me Trump was not acquainted with Rommel.”
Many military officials who served while Trump was President have raised serious concerns:
Remember, many of those Generals were/are Republicans. These aren’t far-left ‘resistance libs’ warning about Trump, these are serious, right-wing, patriotic, American conservatives ringing the alarm bell. Their concerns should be heeded.
And of course, Trump has surrounded himself with people like JD Vance, Tucker Carlson, Tulsi Gabbard, and RFK Jr. who just so happen to be among the most pro-Russia political figures in the United States.
We also must not overlook the issue of abortion. If someone considers themselves a ‘limited government conservative,’ there is simply no legitimate excuse for supporting the kind of extreme abortion bans that Trump has helped to usher in.
Tracking Women’s travel, denying Women lifesaving care, forcing Women to carry pregnancies that are the result of rape and incest, all of those things are completely incompatible with individual freedom, and all represent massive and indefensible government overreach.
Let’s recap:
Gargantuan budget deficits and huge increases in the debt.
Attacks on freedom of speech.
Threats to use military force against political opponents.
Praising dictators.
Demanding fascist loyalty from generals.
Siding with authoritarian states.
Abortion bans that infringe on the individual freedom of Women.
Does any of that sound like ‘limited government conservatism’ to you?
Of course not.
As difficult as it may be for some to admit, Centre-right people of principle should acknowledge that those like Donald Trump, JD Vance, Tucker Carlson, and others are as far removed from ‘limited government conservatism’ as it gets. They are authoritarians and are hostile to the system of democratic capitalism that helped build the most free and prosperous societies on Earth.
That leaves Kamala Harris – as imperfect a candidate as she may be in the eyes of some – as the only choice to protect basic constitutional norms, alliances, fiscal responsibility, and individual freedoms.
We must not allow tribalism to override our adherence to the truth and core principles.
