Thursday, March 16, 2017

Zaid Jilani — Trump the Outsider Outsources His Budget to Insider Think Tank

President Trump’s budget proposal, released on Thursday, echoes none of the populist, anti-establishment themes of candidate Trump’s campaign for higher office. Instead, it calls for a large increase in defense spending while reducing spending for a variety of popular domestic programs.
That’s not surprising considering where those ideas came from. Rather than bringing in new ideas from outside of the Beltway, many of its proposals are lifted straight from the recommendations of an elite ultra-conservative D.C. think tank: the Heritage Foundation.
Founded in 1973, Heritage has served as a sort of a watering hole for the Republican establishment, providing policy papers and staffers for GOP members of Congress and presidential administrations. Its 2015 annual report listed almost $100 million in revenues — drawn from conservative mega-donors and corporations — which it uses to facilitate the spread of its ideas across Washington, D.C.
And those ideas have found a home in the Trump administration, which leaned heavily on Heritage advice during the transition period. Many of the White House proposal’s ideas are identical to a budget blueprint Heritage drew up last year.
Here are just a few examples….
Jim DeMint is smiling.

The Intercept
Trump the Outsider Outsources His Budget to Insider Think Tank
Zaid Jilani

See also

New York Magazine
Remember Jim DeMint? His Fingerprints Are All Over the Trump Transition
Ed Kilgore

9 comments:

Peter Pan said...

Swamp watering hole.

lastgreek said...

I would guess that the (American) libertarians would be disappointed with this budget, because there is no reduction in government spending -- money is just shifted from domestic to military. And doubly disappointed that mandatory spending was not touched.

Dan Lynch said...

My question is why is Trump shifting toward the tea party positions, rather than the populist positions that he campaigned on? What does Trump owe the tea party, since he was not their candidate?

I commented during the election that Trump was not a detail man, that he would do like Eisenhower and spend his presidency golfing while letting staff actually run things, and that seems to be correct. The problem is that Trump's staff are just awful. It may be that this budget has more to do with the staff than with Trump, nonetheless Trump will have to answer for it in 2020.

It's also possible that Trump has simply sold out in return for 2020 campaign donations.

Trump did not campaign on austerity and many of his voters are going to be pissed if things keep heading in this direction.

Dave said...

I don't think Trump has any ideas or plans that he himself is truly in favor of. Many of his staff often say, don't take him literally, and they imply what he says at rallies should be taken with a grain of salt. He is playing to the crowd so to speak. Typical bait and switch tactic. Buyers remorse is inevitable, I believe.

Penguin pop said...

Donald Trump will say anything for a quick buck. His own thoughts are virtually nonexistent. Treat this guy like a 5 year old surrounded by dumbass yes men and that's what this really is.

Noah Way said...

tRump's 'qualities' aside, the government is not one man, it is a deeply entrenched system comprised of a multitude of well-funded and exceedingly powerful factions that exist primarily to benefit themselves and their benefactors who share similar ideologies while competing with each other for dominance.

When an outsider enters there are two options - embrace the system or else. What we are seeing is that 'or else' is causing tRump to embrace the system.

Peter Pan said...

Trump will have to answer for it in 2020.

Yes, I can imagine him trembling with fear at that prospect.

Not.

Trump's election is going to be the biggest fuck you ever recorded in human history and it will feel good. - Michael Moore

It appears that by 2020, it will have been the 2nd biggest.

Tom Hickey said...

My question is why is Trump shifting toward the tea party positions, rather than the populist positions that he campaigned on?

As they say in Texas (or so I'm told), he's "all hat and no cattle," or all "boots and no horse."

Or as we say up North, "He talks a good game."

Trump knew how to get elected. Governing is another matter, especially as an outsider with the establishment of both parties against him, and the deep state trying to discredit him. Even an experienced politician would be hard pressed facing that combined force align in opposition.

Schofield said...

Trump's bought into Neo-Liberal Junk Economics. This is historically a reversion to "rent-seeking" monarchy/war-lords which historical European Liberalism (backed by merchants and early industrialists) attempted to over-turn because of the imposition of excessive taxation usually for imperialistic wars. The new monarchy/war-lords are the "rent seeking" bankers:-

http://michael-hudson.com/2017/03/why-deficits-hurt-banking-profits/