Yep, Trump is doing what’s necessary to win, given the mess of the country we have. He COULD go after entitlements, but he would have never been elected, and certainly not be re-elected. So he’s trying to do it backdoor, by freeing up the economy so much that we grow our way out of structural deficit...better than doing nothing, but it may not be enough. Likewise on social issues - if he were Brim and Firestone on gays, abortion, and similar issues, he wouldn’t have a chance in today’s America...so he goes backdoor again, this time through judges - hopefully that does work!
You’re right, and that is the troubling reality we face today. I fear we’ve seen our last president that even remotely resembled a fiscal and social conservative. Nobody has the political will to cut entitlements (if anything, we keep adding them: Bush II’s Medicare prescription drug plan and ObamaCare), and the culture war in terms of families has been definitely lost on a national level.