How Trump Can Lead an American Resurgence in the 2020s as Reagan Did in the 1980s
It is hard, if not impossible, to look back at the 1980s and not think, at least politically, about Ronald Reagan.
Tuesday would have been the Gipper’s 113th birthday.
The 40th president set the stage for greatness in the ’80s. Most everything that happened in Washington at a macro level was because of or in reaction to him.
And thanks to Reagan’s leadership, America left the decade so much better than it began it, both economically, in terms of national security, and with a return of national pride and spirit.
In his farewell address in January 1989, Reagan could proclaim, “My friends: We did it. We weren’t just marking time. We made a difference. We made the [“shining city upon a hill”] stronger, we made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad — not bad at all.”
Former President Donald Trump has the unique opportunity to repeat Reagan’s achievement of defining a political era in American history and, of course, in many ways he already has.
The Similarities
The parallels between the situations facing Reagan in 1980 and Trump in 2024 are uncanny.
Most of the policies President Joe Biden has implemented — including at the border, with the economy, and in foreign policy — have been the opposite of Trump’s, and the majority of Americans do not like the results.
In a Gallup poll released last month, Biden received the lowest third-year approval rating of any president since Jimmy Carter, whom Reagan defeated in a landslide in 1980.
Just 39.8 percent approve of Biden versus 37.4 percent who approved of Carter.
When Reagan announced his presidential bid in November 1979, he said, “There are those in our land today … who would have us believe that the United States, like other great civilizations of the past, has reached the zenith of its power; that we are weak and fearful, reduced to bickering with each other and no longer possessed of the will to cope with our problems.”
“I don’t believe that. And I don’t believe you do, either. That is why I am seeking the presidency. I cannot and will not stand by and see this great country destroy itself,” the former California governor said.
The problems that marked Carter’s one term in office were high inflation, high energy prices, high interest rates, and foreign policy disasters, including the Iranian hostage crisis and the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
Ironically, Biden’s time in office has also been plagued by inflation, high interest rates, Iranian aggression in the Middle East, and a debacle in Afghanistan.
The Economy
In his inaugural address in January 1981, Reagan said, “It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise.”
To get the economy moving again, Reagan enacted across-the-board tax cuts and slashed government regulations. Newly unfettered, the economy boomed, adding 3.5 million new jobs in 1983 and 3.9 million the following year.
Additionally, the poverty rate dropped by the largest percentage in over a decade in 1984, with nearly 2 million people leaving the ranks of the poor that year alone.
Reagan’s campaign theme for that re-election year was “Morning in America.”
During his eight years in office, the American economy experienced its greatest expansion since World War II, creating 18 million jobs at a time when the population was approximately 100 million less than it is now.
In his first term, Trump implemented a lot of Reagan-like reforms, including slashing taxes and regulations, and the economy boomed, bringing unemployment down to its lowest rate in 50 years.
If people feel like they have less buying power under Biden than they did under Trump, it’s because they do.
Former Trump and Reagan economist Larry Kudlow explained last month on his Fox Business Network show, “It’s the falling level of wages and the rising level of prices that has caused high anxiety over Joe Biden’s economic policy. That’s the key point. Affordability has dropped significantly over the past three years.”
He noted that real median household income (i.e. household income adjusted for inflation) rose approximately $6,000 during Trump’s first three years in office to $78,250 before dropping back $1,600 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022 under Biden, household income stood at $74,580. In other words, it was close to $4,000 less than the 2019 peak under Trump, and $2,000 less than the 45th president’s final year in office in 2020.
Foreign Policy
All this is to say nothing of the anxiety Biden’s foreign policy choices have caused Americans, with war in Ukraine, the Middle East, and rising tensions in Asia.
While Trump was commander in chief, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was relatively quiet. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not take more of Ukraine, a country he first invaded during the Obama-Biden administration.
Iran was on its knees economically, thanks to crushing sanctions enforced by Trump. And Israel had entered into multiple peace treaties with Arab nations in the region with the Abraham Accords.
If Trump can win in November, he has the opportunity to continue the quest he started in his first term to “Make America Great Again” by returning the nation to sound economic policies and a foreign policy based on Reagan’s “peace through strength” model.
And if he succeeds, Trump will define the rest of the 2020s for the better as Reagan did the 1980s.
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