Posted on 01/22/2017 6:59:50 AM PST by Kaslin
Inauguration Day 2017 has placed the U.S. on a new political and economic trajectory. President Donald Trump won the votes of the so-called Rust Belt, where workers and their children and grandchildren, who have been dispossessed and displaced by the economics of globalization, turned blue counties into red counties. Thus, in a legitimate sense, Trump's appeal to the "forgotten man" – so similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt's appeal to the same symbol – is valid. FDR's forgotten man was a composite of all those who were unemployed in the Great Depression who were "forgotten" in the sense that their plight was not being taken seriously by government.
Trump also appealed to another neglected constituency in our republic – namely, those disaffected by the intense political correctness attacks on individual freedom and, related to this, by attacks upon the sanctity of property and individual responsibility. In short, millions upon millions have become increasingly victims of federal government intrusion into their lives. The intrusions have come from excessive federal laws (e.g., Affordable Care Act), regulatory mandates by out-of-control bureaucracies, constitutional violations such as those presented by the implementation of Common Core, and encouragement of politically correct speech, which encouragement tends to undermine the First Amendment protections afforded all of us. The individuals harmed by these government trends also might aptly be called "forgotten men."
Yet, increasingly, Trump is being compared not to Roosevelt, but to Pres. Andrew Jackson, who served two terms from 1829 to 1837. TV commentators and supporters of Trump are happy to make this comparison. Andrew Jackson was also a president who gave voice to the views and aspirations of a "forgotten" population. He was the first president elected outside the Virginia political aristocracy and the Adams family of Massachusetts – in short, outside the original founding states.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Hopefully, more like Calvin Coolidge ( but not the silent type ).
Trump is an insurgent outsider. He is our first populist President.
His Inauguration address was a scathing rebuke of the Uniparty establishment.
He sees himself as the tribune of the Little Guy from Main Street USA.
Donald Trump combines the spirit of Ronald Reagan, the celebrity appeal of JFK, the philosophy of Teddy Roosevelt and the political cunning of FDR
It would appear that Walter Russell Mead has attempted to answer that question.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2017-01-20/jacksonian-revolt
Well obviously between the two choices it would be Jackson. FDR was a socialist. However, I feel that Trump is a mixture of a few previous presidents and founding fathers of this nation.
Neither. He is today’s Harry Truman.
Where's the like button?
I looked at Jackson's speeches and did not see the similarities.
Trump is himself. He’s not any of the previous Presidents and then again neither was 0. Let him be himself. We here at FR for the most part have been happy with how he ran his run to the White House. Winning is great btw. Not at any cost but so far it’s been a fun and wild ride.
Watching a morph video i was struck by how many presidents served only one full term or less. It seems like in the early days it was meant to be a one time deal
Obunghole is right up there with FDR in the tyrant department.
Jackson, hands down. I’ve been saying that thru the entire election cycle. Nothing has happened to change that opinion.
Trump is more like Trump.
You're unlikely to find it in speeches. Governing style, personality, and policies is where it's at. IIRC, Jackson was the first president who actually dropped the national debt to ZERO.
I disagree with the poster upthread who called Trump the "first populist president". That title goes to Jackson, in spite of the fact that his Presidency ultimately led to the Democrat Party.
If one examines his positions, that is where he lines up.
I’m going to disagree, but only as far as the electoral politics are concerned. Truman was a relatively unknown Senator when FDR picked to be VP for his fourth term. I can’t imagine any way he could have become a national figure otherwise. His handling of his duties after FDR died, got him his second term (although Dewey famously was overwhelmingly favored in the polls—that’s where the similarity is, and perhaps that’s what you meant).
Trump is like Jackson in that he is speaking for people who have been politically ignored for a long time. We’ll see how well he does this over the next four years.
Yet Trump is at heart a highly disciplined businessman and strategist. Once the country's revival is in hand and there are accomplishments to tout, Trump will become more selective in his choice of controversies and more restrained in manner in order to avoid obscuring those narratives. The result will be that Trump will become more like Roosevelt -- Teddy Roosevelt -- as he cruises toward reelection, posing as a successful reformer and less as an insurgent.
The advantages of incumbency became apparent with McKinley, and the advantages have grown since then.
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