Former President Donald Trump is not leaving any ambiguity about what he plans to do if he returns to power. Spoiler alert: it’s deeply concerning.
Trump shared that he would establish an “anti-woke” university system, create a national credentialing body to certify teachers who “embrace patriotic values,” and replace “Obamacare.” Oh, he also wants to create “freedom cities” on Federal land.
Much of this sounds eerily familiar to a certain Florida Governor (**cough Ron DeSantis cough**) who has made it his mission to eradicate “wokeness” and critical race theory. Although, based on the escalating animosity between the two Republican primary candidates, Trump probably won’t be thrilled by the comparison.
Obviously, none of this sounds like the small government politics conservatives endlessly insist they want. And to their credit, some Republicans have pointed that out.
“That’s not conservative—but that’s the point: Trump is not a conservative,” Former New Hampshire Governor Judd Greg told the Wall Street Journal. “He’s an iconoclastic populist, and his views have no relation to any philosophical views. They’re all related to his personal views, which are built on all sorts of different platforms depending on what he sees in the mirror in the morning.”
While it may sound wild to imagine the entire United States turning into a funhouse mirror version of Florida — where all things woke are immediately set on fire — it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility.
Despite all of his legal troubles, Trump is far and away the frontrunner in the Republican primary. Polls show him matching and, in some cases, beating President Joe Biden in the general election.
So, it certainly seems like a good time to pay attention to the words coming out of the former reality star’s mouth.