President Trump’s first term unlocked the American economic engine. He lowered taxes, cut regulations, revived industry, and pushed back on a bureaucratic system that had been strangling the country for decades. Before COVID, his policies were having tremendous results. When voted for him in 2024 I expected more of the same. I expected a renewed focus on limited government, economic freedom, and strict constitutional boundaries. That is not what happened.
Trump’s second term has been a sharp break from his first. In some cases it has been the opposite of what he once promoted. The clearest example was his demand for the United States to take 10 percent ownership in Intel. That was the moment I realized Trump was not a free market Republican. He embraced something closer to 1960s style Democratic economic socialism. The silence from almost the entire Republican Party is even more disturbing. Government ownership of private companies is un-American and economically destructive.
Below are my major gripes about this second term.
The Big Beautiful Bill and the Debt Crisis
I support making the 2017 tax cuts permanent. That was overdue. The rest of the bill was a disaster. It kept Biden level spending and accelerated a national debt that now exceeds $38 trillion dollars. Nothing in this legislation slowed federal expansion or restored fiscal sanity. This was a missed opportunity.
Executive Orders as Lawmaking
One of the biggest problems in American government is the abuse of executive orders. President after president has used them to bypass Congress. Trump has taken this even further in his second term. Executive orders should never be used to create law. They should be administrative at best. Anything with the force of law must go through Congress. Lawmaking by fiat is unconstitutional and Congress needs to retake the power it has handed to the executive branch for decades.
Government Ownership in Private Companies
Demanding equity stakes in private companies like Intel crosses a line. It destroys the foundation of a capitalist market system. It guarantees inefficient use of resources and ensures failing companies and politically favored technologies win out over competing ones. It is the type of draconian state intervention you expect from socialist governments, not an American administration.
Tariffs That Hurt the Consumer
Tariffs, like any other fee or regulation that adds to the cost of producing or importing a product, are taxes on the American consumer. They are not paid by the countries being tariffed. Trump himself proved this when he dropped tariffs on certain goods in order to get prices down immediately. If tariffs worked as he claims, prices would not have changed. Instead the evidence is clear. Tariffs raise prices, distort markets, and protect inefficiencies created by government policy. I would rather see outdated and burdensome regulations eliminated so American companies can compete fairly.
The Bombing of Drug Boats
This policy is one of the most troubling of the entire year. The administration has offered no legal justification for bombing so-called drug boats in the Caribbean. The claim that these are narco-terrorists is a blatant abuse of the terrorist designation. Drug cartels are not engaged in open combat with the United States. Using lethal military force in this manner is a dangerous twisting of law and may be the only credible impeachable offense Trump has committed.
Immigration and Deportations
I support closing the southern border. I support deporting all the illegal aliens who entered during Biden’s term. What I do not support is the heavy handed way in which some of these deportations occurred. People who have been here for a decade or more and who followed the rules given to them by our government should be treated differently. Detaining and deporting people at court hearings only discourages attendance. It is counterproductive. If Republicans had a brain they would have put forward legislation giving these people a path to citizenship. The Democrats don’t want them as voters but as an economic engine to fund our overburdened entitlement programs. Republicans could secure this voting block for the future as they are culturally conservative by nature.
Downsizing the Federal Government
On this point Trump is moving in the right direction. The federal government is bloated beyond all recognition. Agencies like the Department of Education and USAID should have been eliminated a long time ago. The federal bureaucracy has grown as a way for Congress to avoid taking votes on unpopular issues. Executive branch agencies are used to circumvent the legislative process. Downsizing the civil service is necessary. The problem is that other parts of Trump’s agenda directly contradict the goal of limiting government power.
DEI and Cultural Policy
I fully support banning DEI programs. DEI is un-American and unconstitutional. It forces discrimination in the name of ending discrimination. We cannot erase racism or bias by creating new systems of preference and punishment. Ending DEI is one of the few clear positives of this administration so far.
Foreign Policy
Other than what is happening in Venezuela and the Caribbean, I support most of Trump’s foreign policy. His willingness to talk to all sides makes peace agreements possible. Biden refused to engage and allowed conflicts to fester. Trump is pushing hard to end both the Israel-Hamas conflict and the war in Ukraine. These are positives. His push back against the European Union is also important. The EU imposes centralized regulations that harm its own member states and American companies. Someone needed to confront them.
The contradiction is Venezuela. It is unclear why Trump is taking such an aggressive and unusual stance there when his general approach is to negotiate and deescalate. This inconsistency is perplexing. I’m all for re-engaging with South America as it’s been neglected for far too long. But, without some clarity with what is happening there I’m not for the current stance and actions.
A Troubling First Year
Trump’s first term was defined by economic expansion and a growing sense of national confidence. His first year back in office has produced the opposite. Prices are rising, debt is exploding, and government power is expanding. Policies that once unleashed growth are now replaced with policies that create economic strife and is crushing the middle class.
I voted for Trump because in his first term he fought bureaucracy, championed free markets, and worked to limit federal power. This time around, too many of his actions look like the behavior of an old style Democratic socialist. The Republican Party is proving they are irrelevant as an ideological force in the United States.
America needs smaller government, freer markets, and adherence to constitutional limits. Trump delivered that once. In his second term the Trump Train has jumped the tracks. If this first year is any indication, the next three will decide if we move deeper into a hybrid form of centralized government that neither party admits to but both seem to be willing to accept.
Leave a Reply