Found 3 bookmarks
Newest
Trumpian policy as cultural policy - Marginal REVOLUTION
Trumpian policy as cultural policy - Marginal REVOLUTION

Trumpian Policy as Cultural Policy Analysis: Trump's administrative actions and policy decisions are primarily driven by a strategy to reshape American culture rather than achieve specific policy outcomes, using controversial decisions to dominate public discourse and shift cultural narratives.

  • The article analyzes Trump's policy approach as primarily a cultural strategy rather than traditional policy-making

  • Key aspects of this cultural policy approach:

    • Focuses on highly visible, controversial decisions that generate widespread discussion
    • Prioritizes cultural messaging over policy effectiveness or implementation
    • Aims to control ideological agenda through rapid, multiple policy announcements
    • Doesn't require policies to be legal, practical, or even implemented to achieve cultural impact

  • Specific examples:

    • Executive orders against DEI and affirmative action as first actions
    • Proposed renaming of Dulles Airport
    • Bill to add Trump to Mount Rushmore
    • Tariff threats against Canada and Mexico
    • Changes to federal employment structure
    • Elimination of Black History Month at Department of Defense
    • Targeting of US AID
    • Nomination of RFK Jr.

  • Strategic elements:

    • Uses polarization to guarantee at least one-third public support
    • Deliberately chooses well-known targets (like Canada/Mexico) for maximum cultural impact
    • Creates debates that delegitimize existing institutions
    • "Floods the zone" with multiple controversies to maintain constant cultural dialogue

  • Author's analysis:

    • Strategy doesn't require coordinated planning
    • Works through spontaneous order of competing interests
    • Relies on three factors:
      1. Conflicting interest groups
      2. Competition for Trump's attention
      3. Trump's belief in cultural issues' importance

  • Effectiveness factors:

    • Leverages internet-intensive, attention-based media environment
    • Creates disorganization among opponents
    • Uses negative contagion to reinforce cultural shifts
    • Prioritizes cultural impact over policy success
#people/Trump#culture#partisanship#politics#govt/policy
·marginalrevolution.com·
Trumpian policy as cultural policy - Marginal REVOLUTION
President Trump's first days in office.
President Trump's first days in office.
He’s identified real problems with our system and possesses the political will to pursue real change. Paired with a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress, he could genuinely achieve what his predecessors could not and pass major immigration reform during his term. But the sweep of these actions — mobilizing the military, pausing asylum, halting the parole process, trying to end birthright citizenship — will incur far more costs than benefits. The innocent people who are trying to flee danger or persecution in their countries and immigrate to the United States legally out of a sincere motivation to better their lives, who often help our country grow and stimulate our economy, will be caught in the machinery of these changes. All told, these executive actions are a step in the wrong direction.
Our system tends to exacerbate criminal behavior more than rehabilitate it, and the United States uses imprisonment as a punishment far more often than is productive or necessary. When it comes to the January 6 defendants, I fully support consequences for those who broke the law, but I also believe the Justice Department acted improperly in how it handled many cases.  The biggest example of this prosecutorial overreach came in a recent Supreme Court ruling that found the DOJ wrongly charged hundreds of rioters under an obstruction of justice statute that elevated the severity of their cases. This case did not fall along ideological lines; Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joined the majority in the 6-3 decision, while Amy Coney Barrett dissented. At the time the ruling came down, roughly 50 defendants had been convicted and sentenced on that obstruction charge alone, and 27 of them were incarcerated.
The president pardoned the vast majority of the convicted rioters of all wrongdoing in a sweeping manner, with an apparent lack of knowledge of or care for the crimes he was excusing and without expressing any remorse for the pivotal role he played on that day.
#people/Trump#politics#partisanship#public-life#govt/policy#news#opinion
·readtangle.com·
President Trump's first days in office.