This is a pretty useless article at this point in time, because it's comparing what did happen to what they hope will happen. So far, Trump really has no real results domestically. He's still riding Obama's economy and, though he likes to take credit for the stock market (which is still going up at around the same rate it was before - actually, a bit less) and the jobs reports (which are good but lower than Obama's numbers every single year except his first, when there was a Bush recession, he's done little policy-wise to affect it. He's unwisely thrown a bunch of tax cuts into an economy that's already cooking, when the deficit -- which is mostly fixed by taxation -- is still a problem. This is a recipe for inflation, and we'll be lucky if we avoid that.
National Review o' course tries to cheerlead conservatism all they can, but, honestly, the results of that can already be seen. Consider the South as a laboratory. It's like I keep saying here, over and over -- we've elected the most, hardest-line conservatives for the longest time, and our states consistently end up at the bottom of everything. Poorest states, most unemployment, worst health... you name it, we get the shit-end of it all, and that's directly traceable to conservative policies. I know some people love the sound of 'em, but when applied they simply do not work.
This "great experiment" the National Review is talking about already took place, in Kansas. How'd that turn out?
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/09/politics/sam-brownback-kansas/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/15/kansas-conservative-experiment-may-have-gone-worse-than-people-thought/?utm_term=.313a1111bfe9
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/kansass-conservative-tax-experiment-is-dead/529551/
Disaster, nightmare, a complete destructive bust.
Now the National Review's excited about doing the same thing again and expecting different results?
The South and Kansas aren't the only pattern you can look at.
Regan/Bush - weakened economy.
Clinton - booming economy.
Dubya - tanked!
Obama - pulled us out of a recession, got the economy doing great (although conservatives claim "the recovery is too slow" because they always have to have some excuse to avoid having to admit the Dems are just flat-out better at running things than they are)
How many fucking times do Republicans get to play this game over again before people wise up and say, "You know what? We tried it your way already, Republicans, it doesn't work, so sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up, and let people who know what they're doing run things instead."
They keep people from asking that question by playing to their Bible shit. "Yeah, Republicans tank the economy, but... the Democrats don't want us to say 'Merry Christmas!'" And all the flipperheads down here accomodate 'em. "Ah'm votin' Jesus! The lord can fix the economy, durrr!"
Internationally, Obama built strong alliances, and - though he underestimated ISIS at the start -- all but finished them off. Again, Trump is taking a sundae Obama already made, putting a cherry on the top, and claiming that means he made the whole thing. Obama could have played foreign policy cards a little better -- and he got dealt a really bad hand by Dubya's stupid lil' Iraq adventure, which destabilized the whole region -- but Trump, well, Trump has no clue how that game even works. He doesn't care about diplomacy or the best way to do things, he just wants to be thought of as a tough-guy and that's it. He alienated everyone we've worked with and withdrew us from all global seats of power to please his knuckle-dragging foreigner-hatin' base. China is taking advantage of a void Trump is leaving and they're set to become the world leaders now, in our place. That's a hideously bad move... but it's what you get when you have a "leader" whose only interest is in pleasing America's dumbest, shittiest people, because they're the only ones who like him and he neeeeeeeeds to be liked.
Another flaw in this is... I know Republicans are unhinged about Obama, but he's far from "hard left." He's more centrist than anything, which was what I liked about him. I'm not any super-liberal tree-hugger. I own guns, I'd expand the death penalty, I like individual liberty... I just get called hard-left by conservatives because I'm not an idiot, I don't buy the bullshit, and they don't have room for anybody in their tent who's not a Bible-thumpin' moron anymore. I'm not in love with Democrats, but there are two teams and one does a hell of a lot better job than the other, so, that's who I pick.
Also, comparing Carter and Reagan is bass-ackwards to our current situation. Carter was a nice guy but he sucked as a president. He got bad cards and he didn't play them well. There was nowhere to go but up from him, and Reagan got lucky. Reagan also blew up the deficit like no one else; America's still staggering under the weight he dropped on it. And, compared to what Republicans are packing now, Reagan would be considered a "RINO," because he's too centrist. In Obama/Trump you have the reverse situation -- a guy inheriting a strong economy and relatively stable international situation. North Korea is a problem, sure, has been for years, but under Obama we had strong alliances. Now we have a bunch of countries who wonder if we've lost our minds but are trying to play nice-nice because they know this man-baby mistake will be voted out eventually and they can resume good relations again. America is on hold... and other countries are taking advantage of that.
Let's admit one thing here: National Review will be calling Trump a "liberal" if his policies bring in Kansas-like results. That's what always happens when conservatives fail -- it's not that their ideas suck, it's that they weren't conservative enough. It's cult thinking. The god doesn't fail, the believers just lacked sufficient faith. Next time we try that same dumb thing, it'll work! Just belieeeeeve!
They're betting they'll get good results from trying trickle-down tax bills again. I'm betting they won't, because I've seen this movie before, a few times, and I live in a state that won't let go of it and I see the shit we get for it. I'd be glad if it did work, because our fates are all tied to it. I don't want to go broke just to prove a point, it's not worth it... but, I'm not holding my breath. Like I said, this shit has already been tried. National Review is ignoring past attempts because they were all failures... they're pretending they're in clean-slate turf, and that's ridiculous.
And the sad fact is, if Trump's stupidity does create a disaster, the National Review and other conservatives won't learn a damn thing from it. They'll excuse it away, blame it on Democrats. They aren't objective at all. They convinced themselves Obama was "bad for the economy" even though he brought in better numbers than Trump. They ignore the results the South and Kansas have gotten from conservative policies, still trumpeting the same bad ideas as if they haven't already been given shot after shot after shot, and failed and failed and failed.
Whole damn thing's a joke.