Donald Trump graduated from the Wharton School. He won’t release his grades, but we know from the last two elections that releasing grades is not a requirement for winning the presidency.
Recent developments suggest to me I may have be too hasty in grading him a second-rate demagogue, despite the fact that he hasn’t offered me a position as a political consultant. Talk about dancing with the devil!
His newly-released tax plan has plenty of tax cut goodies for the middle class, very much in the Ronald Reagan tradition.
He’s announced that he would turn over fighting Isis in Syria to Vlad (The Impaler) Putin. The target of this is not only Obama but Rand Paul. What reason do new Isolationists have any more for voting for him over Trump?
And now, he says he as president will deport all Syrian refugees/migrants that Obama lets in. Of questionable legality, but plays well politically, especially with GOP primary voters.
And just to keep his toe in the liberal camp, he’s promising some form of universal health care.
By the time the GOP primaries are held next year, Trump may indeed receive an “A” grade as a Wharton School populist Man of the People.
One unanswered question is whether he ever will really be willing to spend his own billions—Citizen Kane fashion—trying to win a presidential race, rather than continuing to rely on free publicity. European demagogues (except Berlusconi) didn’t have their own money, but had to rely on other people's money bags.
Keep watching, and sweating.
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