Why Woodrow Wilson was the anti-Trump
Donald Trump’s entire presidency can be understood as a sustained attack on the legacy of Woodrow Wilson.
During his two terms in the White House (1913–21), Wilson pioneered policies that ultimately made America richer, safer, and fairer. He defended immigrants, advanced women’s rights, raised taxes on the rich, regulated businesses to protect workers and consumers, and built the Federal Reserve to prevent depressions and shield debtors from devastating deflation. His internationalist foreign policy promoted global peace and prosperity based on free trade and permanent alliances among peace-loving democracies.
Since World War II, Wilson’s legacy has given the US and the world the most peaceful and prosperous 75 years in human history.
A thorough ignoramus, Trump probably would not recognize Wilson as the original author of the aforementioned policies. But Twitler has devoted his entire political career to dismantling Wilson’s legacy. Trump’s policies favor fellow billionaires while relentlessly attacking immigrants, women, workers, consumers, the Fed, free trade, and our allies. All of this makes America less great — less rich, less safe, and less fair.
Sadly, Wilson has few defenders today. For the last few decades, the hard right has caricatured him as a proto-socialist villain. Meanwhile, many on the…
