In following the political portion of Donald J. Trump’s career nearly since its inception (I started covering the 2016 presidential race about a month after he and Melania took their famous escalator ride at Trump Tower), rarely have I encountered a thorough treatment on
what is meant by his “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
Many folks, I’m guessing, would claim the statement rests on its own, since when Trump proposed it, in 2016, America was no longer as great as it once was, having endured two terms of the disastrous leftist race preaching of Barack Obama. Prior to that, even, there was two terms of the nearly as damaging-to-the-country reign of George W. Bush, the Republican establishmentarian who roundly rejected limited government conservatism and liberty as his guiding principles.
It's safe to say, another four years of swamp establishment governance under Hillary Clinton very well could’ve finished us off for good. As it is now, over three-plus years’ worth of American ideal dismantling “leadership” of senile president Joe Biden has once again brought the nation to the brink of collapse.
For sure, it’s been a kick to the gut for those who admired Trump for his willingness to take on the ruling class and attempt to implement policies to Make America Great Again. COVID hit in 2020 and knocked us off course, but a Trump reelection would’ve helped the country regain much of what it had lost in the early years of this century.
Trump himself has said he won’t seek revenge against his political enemies if he returns to the White House, basically suggesting he’ll be too busy to exact retribution against the multitude of MAGA bashers who’ve relentlessly pursued him hoping to thwart his mission. What would he settle for? In an opinion piece titled “Trump Is Right: His Best Revenge Will Be His Success”, Jeremy Frankel wrote at American Greatness recently:
“President Trump maintains that a successful second term will be the ‘revenge’ against the left, the Democrat Party, and the Deep State, all of whom have persecuted him and his supporters for the last nine years. During a town hall with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham last month, Trump bluntly stated that ‘my revenge will be success.’
“’Revenge,’ in this context, will consist of Trump simply keeping his promises, which, by definition, will set the left back tremendously.
“For example, Trump will finally finish the wall and carry out what he calls ‘the largest domestic deportation in American history.’ What better revenge against the left is there than to destroy the notion of illegal immigration once and for all, the tactic that the Democrat Party has used for half a century with the goal of permanent power? The left has been doing whatever it can to undermine American culture and the nature of the citizen for decades, and one of its major ways of doing so is by opening the border to every nation on earth. By ending their plan of collapsing the nation from within and replacing it with a proper, orderly legal immigration system, the United States will be restored.”
Yes indeed, returning America to Trump’s successful immigration limitation policies of his first term would go a long way towards Making America Great Again. And it would be a tremendous, measurable success. Further, leading the “largest domestic deportation in American history” would add icing to the proverbial cake, too. No country can survive without regulating who comes and goes from its interior. That’s a no brainer.
But what else would equal “success” for Trump? Frankel lists re-ramping up energy production as well as initiating a full-scale review of the “deep state” and federal bureaucracy would additionally equate to success, and it’s hard to dispute this point. It should be noted, in all fairness, that America’s oil production has returned to its pre-Biden levels – but the future of energy creation cannot be assured until there’s a president who understands the crucial role that infrastructure and capacity plays in the calculation.
No doubt – and Trump has stated on numerous occasions – that these measures are top priorities for the would be “new” president, and one could sense many smiles on faces should these things come to fruition. But what would essentially Make America Great Again?
Trying to unequivocally solve what “Make America Great Again” means reminds me a little of the time myself and a small committee of my church attendees were assigned by our new and all-too-“progressive” pastor to revisit our mission statement, since she argued that, since our small congregation wasn’t growing to sustain itself, that our “old”, fairly generic “grow in faith and serve the community”-type statement wasn’t nearly “inclusive” enough to reflect the aging and demographically evolving community’s new realities.
Great idea, right? Nope. I, and a couple fellow committee members of similar mindset soon discovered that about half the weekly participants would argue – almost to the point of hostility towards each other – over the placement and meaning of single words, as though a visitor to the church would even see the new mission statement much less stop to read and ponder it.
After all, this simple, faith-based task wasn’t exactly Benjamin Franklin and John Adams bartering with Thomas Jefferson over the difference between the words “sacred and undeniable” versus “self-evident” in the Declaration of Independence. It was a small community church’s mission statement. But the lengthy (in terms of time it took to finalize a new completed statement) dispute offered a quick course on human nature and the pettiness and perfection some people exhibit – as a character flaw.
I think Trump purposely made “Make America Great Again” vague and hard to narrow down because the statement itself left wide latitude for him and his chosen colleagues to enact whatever they deemed appropriate to restore the country back to a previous state of greatness. Defining “greatness” would also engender a “mission statement” committee’s undivided attention, since greatness to one person isn’t necessarily the same as it is to another one.
But I think most conservatives would agree that to make America “great again” means rebuilding the nation’s military and restoring its competency as a fighting force. That’s right, ditch that “woke” transgender crap – and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) – in furtherance of the mission to make the military lethal and proficient. That’s all.
“Great again” also means getting federal expenditures under control, balancing the budget, keeping taxes as low as necessary to pay off the “stuff” Uncle Sam buys and formulating a plan to rein in entitlements and the welfare state while maintaining a basic safety net to allow the citizenry to thrive and enjoy freedom and capitalism.
Then, “Great again” means standing up for and bolstering traditional American culture, the Judeo-Christian work ethic and respect for American exceptionalism and valuing God-given rights and treasuring life that made the nation great in the first place. Ronald Reagan called it the “Shining City on a Hill”, a fitting image to characterize what the Founders envisioned for a republic that would last for a long time. Or hopefully forever.
So, policies that would do these things would be a “success”.
What needs to be done? First, win the election. Trump often preached during the primary campaign that minor disputes over policy wouldn’t matter in the end if the Republican Party didn’t win the 2024 election. So yes, winning is for “all the marbles”. Similarly, Republicans of all beliefs must put aside their differences and objections to Trump to wholly concentrate on defeating senile Joe Biden and cackling Kamala Harris in November.
Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing. At least for now.
Second, “Success” for Trump would be shown through selecting and then confirming the kind of boat-rocking outside-the-box conservative thinkers who could really make a difference in the way policy and the laws are implemented in this nation. As everyone knows, if there was one area where Trump 45 failed badly in his first term it was by placing too much trust in Washington establishmentarians to follow his commands and do things the way he wanted them done.
There were far too many deep state insiders, liberal ideologues, just plain incompetents and, in some cases, “Yes men” to do the job when it counted most.
Trump’s retention of certain people stalled and even stopped his administration. There were too many Washington insiders who thought they knew more than the new outsider president and freelanced on their own. This can’t happen. “Success” would be purging the deadweight and insider saboteurs at the first sign of insubordination.
Third, “Success” for Trump would be restoring the public’s confidence in its leaders. Everyone knows senile Joe Biden has all but made a mockery of the United States both at home and abroad, not only by his personal chicanery and incoherence, but also because his policies have weakened the country. Our enemies no longer fear our “woke” military. They also don’t respect America’s economic might, understanding that it’s build on a debt house of cards that is bound to implode in the not-so-distant future.
That must change. Trump will succeed by having the world see America as great again.
Lastly, Trump will succeed by showing citizens and world leaders that freedom can bring prosperity if it’s managed properly. Unshackle entrepreneurs. Repeal regulations. Dissolve many of the federal departments. Massively shrink the bureaucracy. Solve entitlements. Restore confidence in savings and investment. Enforce the laws and serve justice.
It’s a tall order, for sure. Success won’t happen overnight and there will be many pitfalls along the way. But if Trump is able to get elected and then put the conditions in place to succeed, then he’ll have Made America Great Again. Sounds like it would make for a pretty good campaign slogan, doesn’t it?
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