[Altura Ct.]

The conservatism of Donald Trump is not the conservatism of ideas but of things. His politics do not derive from the works of Burke or Disraeli or Newman, nor is he a follower of Mill or Berlin or Moynihan. There is no theory of natural rights or small government or international relations that claims his loyalty. When he says he wants to “conserve our country,” he does not mean conserve the idea of countries, or a league of countries, or the slogans of democracy or equality or freedom, but this country, right now, as it exists in the real world of space and time. Trump’s relation to the intellectual community of both parties is fraught because his visceral, dispositional conservatism leads him to judgments based on specific details, depending on changing circumstances, relative to who is gaining and who is losing in a given moment.

[Steve_Seattle]

I think your well-written comment comes close to describing what motivates Trump. He is more like a general than a politician, and - as Wilford Brimley said in a comic role (Seinfeld) as Postmaster General - "I'm a general, and it's the job of a general to get things done."

Thus, although Trump is somewhat motivated by a traditional ideal of America as formed by his 1950s education, he is essentially a pragmatist frustrated by our inability (or refusal) to solve problems that he thinks are solvable. He is not an intellectual, but he is not dumb, and he knows how to set goals and get people to execute them.

Despite his lack of government experience, his vast business background makes him far better prepared for the presidency than someone like Barack Obama, who was basically a front-man for the interests of international socialism, and who - despite his claims of being non-ideological - was very much so.

Trump is truly non-ideological in the traditional sense, but is motivated by one big idea: the idea of American greatness.