It’s been a long time since conservatives had a president legitimately pursuing their interests. Bush Jr. didn’t do anything for the cause, as he drastically increased government spending and was too busy with Iraq. Meaning that the last time America had a remotely conservative president was in the 1980s.
Reagen is often heralded as the standard when it comes to the successful pursuit of conservative reforms, as his 8 years in office were very successful. With Trump, it’s been more than just deja vu of that period, as he’s been even more successful than the infamous Reagan.
As reported at the New York Times, conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation has declared the first year of Trump’s presidency a wild success, even more so than Ronald Reagan’s first year.
According to Heritage’s metrics, Trump’s first year has seen more conservative reforms and actions taken than that of Reagan.
Trump adopted two-thirds, or about 64 percent, of the Heritage agenda, meaning that the administration put into place 334 of the think tank’s unique policy proposals. By comparison, Reagan adopted just 49 percent of the Heritage agenda, meaning that 2017 was greatly influenced by Heritage and the policy work they do.
Heritage is home to many former conservative politicians and voices, and their job is to formulate policies that they believe will make the country a better place. But even they couldn’t have expected that so many of their proposals would be enshrined into law so quickly.
The think-tank was hopeful, however, as it welcomed Trump with open arms during the campaign, despite many “conservatives” in the movement jumping on the “Never Trump” bandwagon. Heritage’s support for Trump never wavered, as they wanted to press their influence and ideas upon the president so he could immediately present viable policy prescriptions to long-standing problems. And according to the conservative think tank, Trump has.
“‘Hell, why can’t we do that? Let’s try it. Let’s make it happen,’” said Heritage founder and former president Ed Feulner impersonating the president. “In some respects, Trump the nonpolitician has an incredible advantage, even over Ronald Reagan,” Feulner told the New York Times. “Because Ronald Reagan knew there were certain things government couldn’t do.”
It seems that Heritage has found a willing and capable avatar to channel their agenda, and that’s a great thing for America. It’s been decades since there’s been an opportunity like this to enact conservative reforms, so all parties involved, from the think-tanks to the president, need to press the advantage while we have it.
Source: New York Times