Morici: Trump a ‘Pragmatist’ in the Mold of Washington, Hamilton, and Lincoln

Donald_Trump Thinking AP
Associated Press

Peter Morici, economist and business professor at the University of Maryland, spoke with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam on Wednesday about his recent op-ed, “Trump’s Foreign Policy Reset: Realism Is Likely to Replace Obama Idealism.”

Writes Morici, “Donald Trump’s recent actions, such as his conversation with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and statements about China’s currency, may disturb foreign policy experts, but those mark a long-overdue reset in U.S. international policy.”

Morici said on Wednesday, “George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Abraham Lincoln, they were not great thinkers. They had specific policy goals, specific things that they wanted to accomplish.” Ultimately, Morici’s point was that time has shown that pragmatists, as opposed to idealists, have been some of America’s most highly regarded presidents.

“For example,” he continued, “George Washington wasn’t really interested in establishing a great democracy on the soil of North America.” He went on to point out that Washington’s goals were far more pragmatic and even economic in nature.

Morici also pointed out, as many historians have noted, Lincoln’s primary purpose in fighting the Civil War was rather practical, the preservation of the Union, not necessarily the altruistic destruction of slavery in America.

“Do you want an idealist or a pragmatist?” asked Morici, pointing out that most, if not all, of America’s best presidents were more pragmatic, as is Trump, than idealistic, as a superficial view of history may lead one to believe.

Read Morici’s full op-ed here.

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