Trump Has No Core Economic Or Foreign Policy Beliefs

If there is one thing that could be said about Trump's second term, it's that it is chaotic. No one seems to know what Trump's actual policies are from one day to another - and that seems to be true of all his economic and foreign policy proposals.

During his campaign, Trump said he would deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, use tariffs to create a balance of trade favorable to the U.S., and lower prices on goods for consumers. He said these things so often that one could think these were core beliefs he held. But it hasn't worked out that way.

Once elected, Trump did start his deportation program. But when backlash started ti appear, he (and his administrative aides assured Americans that he was only going after criminals. Most people liked that (including Democrats), but then we began to hear of ICE agents going to schools, businesses, agricultural sites, and day labor locations - the places you would find law-abiding people, not criminals. When the business community objected (because they needed those workers), Trump reversed course and said he would avoid business and agricultural sites. Then he reversed himself again and said he would again go after workers (and children), but only in blue states. His policy has changed so much and so often that no one really knows what the policy is anymore.

The same is true of tariffs. He put a 10% tariff on nearly all nations and a higher tariff on some nations. When the stock market dropped sharply, he suspended a lot of the tariffs (except for China). Then he realized that China was banning the export of rare earth minerals and quickly lowered the tariff on them. Now no one knows what the tariffs will finally be because no nation is rushing to make a deal and Trump continues to threaten high tariffs.

The same is true of foreign policy. Trump said he would end the Russia-Ukraine war on his first day. That hasn't happened as Russia ignores his pleas (and threats) and Trump is now considering just giving up and walking away. At the same time, he can't seem to make up his mind whether to involve the U.S. military in the conflict between Israel and Iran.

As for lowering prices, that was just campaign rhetoric. He has done nothing to lower them, and in fact, his tariffs (and threats of tariffs) have insured prices will continue to rise.

This raises the question - does Trump have any core beliefs? Or is he like a weather vane - changing course with however the winds of public opinion blow? Some have said that Trump's belief is changed by whoever he last talked with. That seems like it is true. Whatever, his seeming lack of core beliefs has resulted in a very chaotic administration.

While he is chaotic on economic and foreign policy, he does seem to have a couple of core beliefs - greed (making himself much richer) and retribution. He has used his office to make hundreds of millions of dollars, and is using the federal government to attack those he doesn't like.

Unfortunately, neither of those beliefs help the American people - only himself.