Trump: Promises Made, Promises Kept (You just have to read between the lines.)

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch labels Trump’s form of governance “Patrimonialism,” in which the boss sees the entire country as his to do with as he pleases. Rauch argues that the two weaknesses of a patrimonial government are incompetence and corruption. I agree, and Trump has amply instantiated both. Remember, though, that this is Trump’s second term. We are in “fool me twice” territory, or would be if the MAGA base took Trump’s incompetence and corruption in his first term seriously. But I believe Trump’s supporters weren’t looking for him to be competent or honest. They didn’t think his first term was a failure, and he narrowly lost re-election in 2020. Now he’s back, more disastrously incompetent and more openly corrupt. It remains to be seen whether it will matter this time.

One of Trump’s slogans is “Promises made, promises kept.” I’m not sure which explicit promises of any importance Trump kept last time around — he did get his tax bill passed — but I don’t believe his explicit promises are what his supporters cared about. Trump’s most important promise, I believe, is the one he did not make out loud, the promise not to treat men and white people like crap.

For four glorious years, men and white people were free to be men and white people. The government…