Is Trump a left-winger on economics?

[All Along The Watchtower]

LOLno.

The man literally opposes free trade because he thinks fur-ren-ers like the Chinese and the Mexicans are taking "our" jobs. His entire campaign is based on being anti-immigrant in the most racist, xenophobic, chauvinistic, and reactionary manner humanly possible. And he may not necessarily want to gut Social Security and Medicare (unlike the Forbes/National Review/Wall Street Journal types) but let's be real...the vast majority of his supporters display a gut hostility to  "welfare" or social programs of any kind that don't disproportionately benefit people like them (i.e. the blicks and the browns are living off the trough at the expense of the hard-working REAL American taxpayers!).

This just goes to show how utterly successful the contemporary neo-Reaganite orthodoxy has defined what it means to be "conservative" or "right-wing" - and nowhere is this more true than on economics.

[President Johnson]

No, he's against rasing the minimum wage; something I disagree with him.

[RR1997]

No. He's more of a centrist on economics.

He supports universal healthcare, supports ending tax havens for large corporations, is a staunch protectionist, supports raising the capital gains tax, supports ending the carried interest loophole, and etc.

[RaphaelDLG]

No. He's more of a centrist on economics.

He supports universal healthcare, supports ending tax havens for large corporations, is a staunch protectionist, supports raising the capital gains tax, supports ending the carried interest loophole, and etc.

He's since walked that back to a conservative position.  He also favors cartoonishly big tax cuts for the wealthy.

I am also dubious as to how protectionist he would be if he is actually elected because in that case he would have had to suck up to free-trade millionaires and billionaires to get funds.

[Higgs]

He's a centrist with slight right leanings.

[Ljube]

He's a centrist with slight right leanings.

Yes, he supports health insurance for all, he is in favor of the social security as it is, he is pro unions, he is against free trade and for fair trade (that's a left wing position).
He is for taxing the wealthy more, for eliminating the tax loopholes.

He is against raising the minimum wage because he thinks the United States cannot compete with China even with wages this high.

I'd say, slightly left economically. Your regular big city liberal.

[Хahar 🤔]

I don't know why protectionism would be a left-wing position.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Some people seem to think supporting the existence of a government doing anything automatically moves you left. Such is the odd manner of the doctrinaire American economic liberal.

[bagelman]

No but he is relative to the competition within the party.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The fact that there are people on here willing to actually argue for that is a testament to the human mind's propensity to rationalization.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well to be fair part of it might be that comment where he said he wouldn't be willing to let someone die in the street or go without needed healthcare.

But that just sounds like that old Republican talking point of "Well the US basically does actually have universal healthcare now because you can just go to the emergency room and the hospital can't ever deny you assistance."

[Maxwell]

He's obviously a right-winger on economics - the fact that that is even a question goes to show how far to the insane the GOP has gone. When Trump suggests spending money on infrastructure, spending money on healthcare, using our government to do anything, possibly raising taxes on "hedge fund guys" to pay for it - he is lambasted by the GOP.

I mean, the fact that Kasich is regarded as a "moderate" (when he is in fact a mainstream/fairly conservative Republican) already shows the insanity of the GOP, but Trump delusion is even worse.

[Famous Mortimer]

His opposition to free trade and immigration is very anti-market, which is at odds with movement conservatism. His stated tax plans, however, is very in line with movement conservatism as it offers tax cuts across the board. It seems possible though, based on comments made during this campaign and earlier, that he might be less anti-tax than he lets on.

[beaver2.0]

No.  He may have left-wing talking points, but I think he actually is more moderate.

[Penelope]

No, he is just a right-wing nationalist.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Yes. Hes a protectionist, supports universal healthcare, higher taxes, and etc. He isn't remotely moderate or conservative. Dude is running on a progressive populist platform and winning GOP voters.

Protectionism is right-wing though.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Yes. Hes a protectionist, supports universal healthcare, higher taxes, and etc. He isn't remotely moderate or conservative. Dude is running on a progressive populist platform and winning GOP voters.

Agreed. Universal healthcare is a leftist position, not a moderate one. So are all of the other items on this list.

[Famous Mortimer]

If Trump supports single payer (which he might), he only supports it secretly now.

Nothing about his current "universal healthcare" policy is leftist though.

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have similar "universal healthcare" policies too, they want everyone to be covered. Unless you are admitting that Republicans actually WANT people to be poor.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Yes. Hes a protectionist, supports universal healthcare, higher taxes, and etc. He isn't remotely moderate or conservative. Dude is running on a progressive populist platform and winning GOP voters.

1. Protectionism is a classic form of economic nationalism, which is by definition, right-wing.

2. Trump calls for higher taxes ( certain kinds of them, actually) on the rich not out of any remotely principled or progressive positions, but because he's exploiting the anger and resentment of working and middle class Republican voters at the wealthy bipartisan Establishment.

3. Notice how much Trump's health care plan has "evolved" now that he's the Republican frontrunner. You've gotta be seriously delusional if you think that a President Trump wouldn't be more or less in line with Congressional Republicans on health care and most other issues.

[Ebowed]

Donald Trump has a radical right-wing agenda that serves to benefit existing power structures, despite his rhetoric to the contrary.  When it comes to industrial relations, he is on the side of the corporatists who see workers as expendable units.  His bloviating against NAFTA is a smokescreen for the simple fact that he would make it easier than ever for companies to rip off employees by paying them less and stripping them of health insurance.  And you can forget about bringing the United States up to speed with the rest of the world when it comes to paid family and medical leave, because Donald Trump has no interest in making it easier for the little guy.  While his policies, if implemented, would cause mass unemployment without a sufficient safety net by the government to pick up the slack, the owners of companies would then have a demoralized pool of workers to pick from, and cycle through them quickly as people's standards of living and employment conditions continue to decline.

[Meclazine for Israel]

No, he is just a right-wing narcionalist.

Fixed it for you.

[Sir Mohamed]

No, it's vodoo economics. He will/would start a trade war, that's neither left nor right.

[PresidentTRUMP]

No but he and Hillary are very similar on their beliefs.

[Sir Mohamed]

No but he and Hillary are very similar on their beliefs.

I don't think so. TPP is the only exception.

Trump is against a minimum wage raise, wants to get rid of Dodd-Frank and has a tax plan, that isn't worth the paper it's written on. His tariff proposals and stuff like "Apple should build their computers in America" are ridiculous.

[RINO Tom]

Other than tone, he's not even a centrist.  The GOP's move toward "populism" (at least as it pertains to economics) is hilariously overblown and simply a wet dream of elitist Atlas Democrats.  There will be a candidate campaigning for more regulation of business, higher minimum wage, increased infrastructure spending, higher taxes and against free trade, and it won't be Trump.  Even if Trump moves "left" on any of those issues, Hillary will be well to the left of wherever he lands.  Polls show Americans are sympathetic to Democratic economic policies right now, and Trump is reacting, just as Teddy Roosevelt did many years ago.  Nothing more.  He's not transforming party policy, and his "revolution" won't outlast his very specific personality (which will be gone after his loss to Hillary in a few months).