Dear readers,
Every day, the Tangle team dives deep into commentary about the big, divisive story we are covering. And, I kid you not, almost every day we come across a piece from Noah Rothman.
I take pride in how much I write — a daily editorial ensconced in a 4,000-word newsletter is no small feat. But Rothman makes me feel like an amateur. I’d wonder if he was some kind of robot, save the fact that his writing is so thoughtful and human that I know there’s a real person behind it. His output is equal parts astonishing and impressive, mostly because so much of it is quality writing and valuable commentary.
So, I was thrilled to learn a couple weeks ago that my editorial team was pursuing him for a contributed piece to Tangle. And when I heard the topic — the idea that Trump’s second term is a repudiation of his first — my curiosity was piqued.
Below, you’ll find that piece. I disagree with Rothman on any number of things, including some of the arguments in this article, which is why I find it so exhilarating to edit and publish it. But, agree or disagree, what’s clear to me is that his argument is cogent, thoughtful, and well-made. For that, I’m grateful — and excited to share it in Tangle as part of our concerted effort to recruit more compelling and interesting writers to publish their work exclusively with us.
So, without further ado, Noah Rothman’s piece: “Trump 2.0 repudiates the conservatism of Trump 1.0.”
Best,
Isaac Saul
Written by Noah Rothman
As Joe Biden’s presidency drew to an abrupt close, something unanticipated happened in the electorate: Voters were overcome with nostalgia for Donald Trump.
As one indicative New York Times/Siena College survey discovered in April of last year, a plurality of voters came to remember the Trump era as “mostly good” for the country. More polls from that period found that the voting public longed for the relative prosperity at home and peace abroad over which Trump presided during his first term.
Voters appreciated the sound deregulatory policies Trump coupled with pro-growth initiatives in the federal tax code. They backed his border enforcement politics: “zero tolerance” for illegal migrants, including those with children. They shared his disgust for street crime, a disposition that contrasted favorably against the disorder in America’s major metros during the summer of 2020.
In hindsight, the public saw a lot to like in the way Trump imposed “maximum pressure” on Iran. After all, no October 7 massacre occurred on his watch — nor was there a mechanized conventional war on the European continent. For all the president’s obsequious gestures toward Vladimir Putin, Trump 1.0’s new sanctions on Russia, seizure of its diplomatic property, expulsion of its diplomats, and armed interventions against its proxy forces in places like Syria seemed to have held Moscow in check.
Joe Biden didn’t just lose voters’ trust; Trump earned it. Voters’ Trump-era nostalgia was not irrational, but their expectation that restoring Trump to the White House would reproduce the status quo ante was misplaced. The policies for which the public pined were largely a result of Trump’s decision to outsource his administration to conventional conservative Republicans.
By 2024, Trump made no secret of his contempt for the architects of the generic conservative policies his administration pursued, and that disdain was mutual.
During his years in the wilderness, Trump’s grievances with his disloyal subordinates led him down a different path. The former president surrounded himself with sycophants who flattered his pretensions and encouraged him to indulge his instincts — instincts honed over decades spent criticizing conservative policy prescriptions and a GOP that was beholden to them.
Trump took many of those figures with him when he returned to the Oval Office, along with a serious axe to grind. In fact, the second Trump administration seems to have set out with the goal of repudiating the first. It is, therefore, not surprising that many of the policies Trump has pursued in his second term have an unmistakable leftwing flavor.
De-Growth Republicanism
The president entered office in January resolved to implement the onerous tariff schedule his advisors had dissuaded him from pursuing in his first term. He raised trade barriers gradually at first, then recklessly and with utter disregard for the downward pressure they put on domestic growth and productivity.
