Candidate Trump would have been disgusted by the Trump presidency

Does the president really care about anything beyond how the stock market is doing?

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in April 2016.
(Image credit: Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

The 2019 budget that the White House released Monday is noteworthy not only because it has the hilariously clunky title "Efficient, Effective, Accountable: An American Budget." More so than anything President Trump has done or said in office so far, it shows us what a dead letter his administration is.

Trump distinguished himself from the other candidates in the 2016 Republican primary by his full-throated defense of the welfare state. Over and over again he heaped scorn on wonkish plans to privatize, "means-test," or otherwise phase out entitlement programs. "Medicare is a program that works," he said as millions of Americans cheered and a few lonely Heritage Foundation interns sobbed into their bow ties.

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.