Outside the Beltway

Outside the Beltway

President Donald Trump thanks the crowd after remarks at the Salute to America Celebration, Thursday, July 3, 2025, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa.
Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok

The Trump Doctrine

When people tell you who they are, believe them the first time.

Steven L. Taylor
20

Comments

President Donald Trump thanks the crowd after remarks at the Salute to America Celebration, Thursday, July 3, 2025, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa.
Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok

A trip down memory lane (i.e., the now infamous Access Hollywood tape):

Trump: “Yeah that’s her with the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful… I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.”

Bush: “Whatever you want.”

Trump: “Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Trump this week, via The Hill: Trump on ‘taking’ Cuba: ‘I can do anything I want with it’.

Trump, speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, would not rule out a military move, adding, “I think I can do anything I want with it.”  

“Whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it,” he said. “You want to know the truth, they’re a very weakened nation now.”

Here’s the video:

Trump: "I do believe I'll be having the honor of taking Cuba. That's a big honor. Taking Cuba in some form. I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-03-16T21:27:40.254Z

I never bought the notion that the Access Hollywood tape was about “locker room talk” but did, in fact, demonstrate his state of mind. Clearly, the E. Jean Carroll case demonstrated that it was literally something he would do.

The question of whether there is a “Trump Doctrine” about foreign policy has been asked from time to time, as is the case with all presidents.

But forget all the attempts to think about spheres of influence or the “Donroe Doctrine” or “flexible realism” or anything else.

The Trump Doctrine is succinct and clear, and we have known about it since before he was elected: When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.

Rich, powerful men can do what they want, when they want.

That’s the Trump Doctrine.

To Hell with actually understanding what is going on, how it works, or what the consequences might be. No, just move on them like a bitch.

What else do you really need to know?

It’s a shame millions of American voters ignored what they were told, and the world is now living through the consequences.

, ,
,

20 responses to “The Trump Doctrine”

  1. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    It’s a shame millions of American voters ignored what they were told, and the world is now living through the consequences.

    I don’t think voters ignored it, they wanted a master, they wanted to surrender their will, and they wanted to hurt their enemies. They weren’t misled, they chose cruelty and violence, and they got cruelty and violence, which is why no one has left MAGA. Trump is giving them exactly what they wanted. Children starving to death in Africa, protesters shot in the face by ICE, sexual predators unleashed, our friends and allies betrayed, brown people and trans people living in fear, this is what MAGA wanted.

    15
  2. DK Avatar
    DK

    Thank you for highlighting the connection between Trump’s aberrant, rapey sex life and his rapey foreign policy. Why the pederasty of President Trumpstein Files is not irrelevant. Someone who would help abuse underage teens is unfit for leadership. No surprise Trump’s demonic sexual thuggery bleeds into his politics.

    We need a serious policy wonk laser focused on affordable housing, universal healthcare, clean and renewable energy, safe and affordable mass transit — and on defending our tranatlantic and transpacific alliance from China and Russia. This crooked, lowlife trash president and his phony VP simply cannot deliver the goods. Incompetent.

    And, yes, mollycoddled American adults are to be faulted for our childish embrace of Twitterbrained political entertainment, long-debunked trickle down bs, anti-intellectualism, tedious victim-mentality white grievance, anti-wokeness, and bigoted scapegoating instead of on serious policy solutions. Our immature, amoral, hatemogering electorate got exactly the immature, amoral, hatemogering presidency they earned.

    And until American voters take personal accountability for their indefensible, inexcusable political fuckups instead of coddling each other and shifting blame with lame “A woke liberal irritated me online so I voted to destroy my life with white supremacist fascism” bullshit excuses, expect continued American mediocrity. We in psychology can report: positive behavior change is downstream of one’s ability to admit, “My decisions are my responsibility.”

    Not seeing anything yet from the US indicating such growth. “It’s always somebody else’s fault” is no way for a person or nation to achieve greatness. Bad news for anyone expecting sweeping improvements in the USA’s post-Trump quality of life.

    15
  3. EddieInCA Avatar
    EddieInCA

    @Michael Reynolds:
    @DK:

    Both of you, spot on!

    2
  4. charontwo Avatar
    charontwo

    @Michael Reynolds:

    MAGA isn’t only sadists, also religious nutters such as Mike Huckabee and Pete Hegseth.

    3
  5. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Michael Reynolds: I absolve no one of their moral culpability for their votes for Trump. I also think that yes, there a very large number of people who clearly chose what they got.

    But it is also true that it simply isn’t the case that everyone who voted for Trump voted for your list. This is important not because it absolves anyone or excuses anything. It is important because it is true.

    And it matters because it means that there are persuadable people out there. It also is a reminder that people vote for any number of reasons, many of which are ill thought out.

    I do think that millions who knew better rationalized away the clear warning before our faces, because that’s what humans do.

    And I am at least somewhat hopeful that frustration with our present reality will have real ramifications at the midterms and even in 2028. But, of course, we shall see.

    And note I say this not because I think we won’t suffer long term damage from Trump nor do I think we are going back to “normal” whatever that might mean.

    11
  6. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    As with the toddler’s worldview, we can reduce the Taco doctrine to one word:

    MINE!!1!

    7
  7. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @Steven L. Taylor:
    If this was not what they wanted, why are they still supporting Trump? I think we have the good Germans syndrome: ‘What? Death camps? Why, I never supported genocide! I was just in it for the hate and the rallies.”

    Trump got 50% of the vote. He’s now down to 40% support, so the weak Trumpies have abandoned him – or at least pretend they have – but 40% of Americans, having seen Epstein, having seen ICE, having seen the wars, and the insurrection, and the attacks on liberty, and the threats against our friends, still support him. At this point I don’t think we can pretend that this isn’t exactly what they wanted all along. The 10% were maybe more about the economy than the hate, but the 40% were always about the hate and the rallies. They will never change, they will never admit to their motives or to the damage they’ve done. 40% of Americans are bad people.

    9
  8. Kingdaddy Avatar
    Kingdaddy

    @Steven L. Taylor:

    N0t everyone who voted for Trump is the same. Not everyone who still supports Trump is the same. Just look at the excellent work of Will Sommer at The Bulwark, the zoologist of the MAGA world. He has identified many different species among even the most zealous, demented, and vile. For example, there’s the current clash between Candace Owens and Erika Kirk, or the arm-wrestling over Charlie Kirk’s “legacy,” or Laura Loomer versus the anti-Semites. (One is reminded of Ken Watanabe’s classic line, “Let them fight.”)

    And that’s just the modern Jacobins. Outside that circle, there is also a lot of diversity. Just to pick one, many Latinos who voted for Trump didn’t want ICE’s atrocities. Or the demolition of science in this country. Or wars of choice. Or, or, or… And to say that they wanted to “surrender their will” is patently ridiculous. Sure, that’s a trait of many people of a fascist and authoritarian bent. But it’s not true even of all of them, let alone everyone else who voted for Trump.

    Having said that, I don’t harbor fantasies about how “gettable” the bulk of these people are. Among other barriers to defection, they have to face their own gullibility, something that most people who have been conned are reluctant to admit. And many of them may harbor very noisome views, about trans people, black people, or other people not like themselves. But they don’t share all of the same views. And they don’t all deserve condemnation to the bottom levels of hell for having voted for Trump.

    It doesn’t help matters to stuff them into the same, stereotypical “MAGA voter” costume. Just as my high school US history teacher liked to say, important historical moments happen because of many causes. In this case, there were many people who were diehard MAGA, MAGA curious, MAGA because they’re friends were MAGA, ignorant of how our political system work, knowledgeable but frustrated with our political system, tired of a “broken” immigration system, tired of immigrants they didn’t like, science-friendly, anti-vaccine, modern imperialists, modern isolationists, Christian nationalists, manosphere fans…Unfortunately, we had many people with a common disgust for the status quo, which coalesced into the Trump coalition. But even within the MAGA part of that coalition, these people are not all the same.

    6
  9. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @Kingdaddy:

    And to say that they wanted to “surrender their will” is patently ridiculous. Sure, that’s a trait of many people of a fascist and authoritarian bent.

    If you surrender your will, it’s because you chose to do so. People aren’t lured into cults, they leap into them. And we’re not talking about the 10% who at least pretend to have quit, we’re talking about the 40% who despite everything still love Dear Leader, and who will always love and obey Dear Leader.

    I take a hard position on responsibility and culpability because it’s the standard I apply to myself. I cut myself zero slack and hold myself solely to blame for all my misdeeds. And since I’m not a Christian I can’t just blame the devil and be conveniently forgiven so I can do it all over again. Nor do I forgive myself. I accept the truth, I acknowledge the harm I’ve done, and I do better.

    Political expediency will require us to soft-pedal some of this, but between us here? To quote our old friend, these are shitty people with shitty values. Had these shitty people not wanted protesters shot in the face, the polls would show it. Every fucking one of these people saw January 6, every fucking one of them. Every one of them saw the rape – sorry, sexual assault – trial and its outcome. Every person who voted for Trump in this last election is culpable, and there is no excusing them. And now every single one of these creeps now knows that Trump raped little girls. And he’s steady at 40%.

    Tried to violently steal an election. 40% support.
    Renee Good and Alex Pretti murdered. 40% support.
    Little. Girls. Raped. 40% support.

    7
  10. Jay L. Gischer Avatar
    Jay L. Gischer

    One of the most interesting, and discouraging ideas (backed up by data) I have heard about is that the more damage that is done because of someone’s mistaken choice, the harder they will defend it. The more committed to it they are. Trump’s narcissism is an extreme version of this. Trump supporters are this. Those less committed have eroded away.

    People do this to defend their identity, to reassure themselves that “I am the good guy.” They might add “I have to make tough choices” rather than “I endorse a rapist and a bully”. He promised them that he would make their lives better. Which is something they needed. He talks to them like they talk to each other. So they trusted him. And great harm has been done, not yet to them, though. That’s just getting started.

    I have watched many variations of this story throughout my life. It never makes me happy. There will be a crash at the bottom. (Maybe not always, that would be nice. I’m sure DK knows more about this than I do) Only then, can things change. We need to be ready to deal with the crash, because they won’t be.

    The crash is coming. You can sort of see it from here, it seems to me. Be ready. And no, I don’t know exactly what that means. Maybe most of all be emotionally ready. Don’t be paralyzed by shock. Be ready to act.

    2
  11. Just Another Ex-Republican Avatar
    Just Another Ex-Republican

    @Michael Reynolds:

    having seen Epstein, having seen ICE, having seen the wars, and the insurrection, and the attacks on liberty, and the threats against our friends, still support him.

    I think a large part of the problem is that far too many of them HAVEN’T seen all that stuff. The information bubble and sane-washing of his insanity are very real. This is not meant to excuse them for their gullibility (at best) but I feel that we live in a society that has fallen so far into propaganda and downright brainwashing that it’s going to take something truly catastrophic to penetrate. Whether that be the next Great Depression or nuking Iran (and I’m not even sure the latter would do it; our pocketbooks outweigh everything as a general rule) I don’t know.

    3
  12. Scott F. Avatar
    Scott F.

    Rich, powerful men can do what they want, when they want.

    That’s the Trump Doctrine.

    It’s not just Trump’s Doctrine, so let’s not leave out the other rich, powerful men who are in play here.

    Whether millions of persuadable voters went in for Trump (at first and again) because they were duped, or ignorant, or all in for the despotism, seems less important to me than noting that the oligarchs made Trump viable again through their donations and their captured media. These powerbrokers were persuaded themselves that their interests were best served by putting this manchild in charge – war, consumer loss of affordability, degradation of the Bill of Rights, mass deportation, loss of democracy all small price to pay for their expanded wealth and freedom to exploit.

    I am so far past being pissed about Trump. Bring out the guillotines.

    6
  13. charontwo Avatar
    charontwo

    Peter Thiel, others and the Apocalypse, what influential loonies, folks like Peter Thiel and Pete Hegseth, Mike Huckabee and Mike Johnson are thinking. After traipsing through a vast amount of Revelation backstory Greg Olear eventually gets to the conclusion:

    “Prevail”

    Compelling stuff, right? Scary, even. But the thing is, Jeffrey identified similar signs in 1992—34 years ago—when he wrote his book with the coming Millennium in mind. The Revelation prophecies are sufficiently vague to allow for that. Jeffrey died in 2012, 64 years after the formation of Israel, without witnessing the Second Coming. And while he insisted that John’s prophecies be taken at face value, the fact is that Revelation is written entirely in symbols—symbols that could mean whatever we want them to mean—and is harder to decipher than the later works of James Joyce.

    The Mark of the Beast that we will all have to get on our foreheads or our right hands could be a bar code, or a tattoo, or a chip implanted in our brains by Elon Musk or in our bloodstreams by Dr. Fauci, or something involving crypto or the blockchain or Claude or ChatGPT. There are many possibilities. Too many. Because “666” could signify anything, it signifies nothing.

    A wily writer can always find stuff going on in the world that checks certain End Times boxes. Eschatology is like that. Case in point: I copy-pasted this section of the piece from something I wrote two and a half years ago, changing only a few little details, and it still holds up. It will continue to hold up twenty years from now, is my guess, and fifty, and a hundred.

    Here’s how the story ends, as best as I can tell: The Antichrist, presenting as a charismatic world leader, possibly based in Rome—Pope Leo FTW!—shows up to broker peace in the Middle East. A seven-year treaty is signed by Israel and its enemies. This begins the Great Tribulation. After the first three-and-a-half years, the Rapture happens, whereby all the True Believers are plucked up to safety by the Hand of God, presumably like one of those giant metal claws at Chuck E. Cheese. This would be awesome, except that the rest of us will be left to contend with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which is even worse than sitting through Peter Thiel’s lecture series. By the end of the seven-year period, anyone who hasn’t come to Jesus is damned to Hell for eternity—including those Jews who don’t convert.

    So you see, American Evangelicals don’t support Israel because they’re big fans of the Jewish people or value democracy in the Middle East. They support Israel because Jews are essential characters in their End Times horror movie.

    And that’s the problem when individuals with real power—folks like Peter Thiel and Pete Hegseth, Mike Huckabee and Mike Johnson—genuinely believe in this Apocalypse claptrap; they have some ability to see the prophecies fulfilled. True Believers have a vested interest in there being a gigantic war in the Middle East, where Russia and Iran and the Arab States invade Israel; they want that more than anything, because it heralds the Second Coming. The Rapture is so close, they can taste it. The last thing we want to do is give these crackpots free rein.

    Me, I don’t believe in the Antichrist. And even if I did, I don’t think Donald Trump is the Antichrist—although he certainly has the power, and possibly the will, to usher in the End of the World.

    4
  14. Jay L. Gischer Avatar
    Jay L. Gischer

    @charontwo: Man, I have been hearing this stuff all my long life. I always wondered what it was that was so terrible about this life that they wanted it to end. I mean, life can be pretty shitty, it’s true. (I have some firsthand experience with that) And yet, it’s also pretty great, and I like being alive, even as old and busted as I am.

    But no, they must bring on the end times because Awful Horrible Things are happening! Cats and Dogs living together!! What will we have next? Monkeys wanking each other off as a sign of friendship and alliance? MAY IT NEVER BE!!!! I mean that’s nearly as bad as having to pay taxes!!!! We must have Rapture!

    3
  15. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Kingdaddy:

    I don’t harbor fantasies about how “gettable” the bulk of these people are.

    Nor do I, but in terms of my “millions” lament in the OP, I would note that ~7 million more people voted for Biden than Trump in 2020.

    It doesn’t help matters to stuff them into the same, stereotypical “MAGA voter” costume.

    Indeed and agreed.

    4
  16. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Michael Reynolds: I would note that you have kind of moved the goalposts here. You noting 40% and me noting that there are millions of possible votes that could change is roughly saying the same thing.

    If the “they” in your first comment is his core base, well, sure. But how that is a rejoinder to what I wrote is rather unclear to me.

    Have I ever argued anything other than the notion that there is a floor? While I think that MAGA itself is probably closer to 30%, I concur (and all my writing backs this notion) that it is highly unlikely his electoral support would go below 40%. But that speaks to a board partisan ID issue in a binary system as much as it (indeed more than it does) to MAGA itself.

    4
  17. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    @Kingdaddy:

    Having said that, I don’t harbor fantasies about how “gettable” the bulk of these people are.

    I agree with your entire comment, but just want to add that we don’t need to “get” all of these people. If some of them slink back under their rocks, and go back to quietly seething about Black people or LGBTQ or whatever, afraid to speak their filth in public, that would be enough to tip the balance and blunt a lot of the worst.

    Maybe slow the downward slide.

    5
  18. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    Cuba worries me a lot.

    The electrical grid basically collapsing is, obviously, bad, and a direct result of the US economic blockade and cutting the oil from Venezuela. I tend to think the US economic blockade has been horrible forever, but I think it was designed knowing that there were a few big holes in it so it could only be so bad, and one of those big holes has been plugged.

    With the administration occupied in Iran, I think there’s every chance that they will leave Cuba on the back burner for a very long time while people suffer, before doing whatever horrible things they are going to do. Maximizing human suffering and triggering a refugee crisis, destabilizing the region.

    Trump, through his incompetence, choosing the greater of two evils. Hooray.

    ETA: The less worse solution a more competent set of evil people would likely implement would be to let Venezuelan oil in, in exchange for “reforms.” This would likely at least keep things from getting so bad that there’s a refugee crisis.

    10
  19. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @Just Another Ex-Republican:

    Indeed. And if they do read or hear bad things about Trump, they’ll dismiss them as “fake news.”

    3
  20. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Just Another Ex-Republican: BTW, this is a worthwhile point, to include the fact that most people simply do not pay attention to the news.

    It is amazing how much I miss if I actually spend a few days paying only half-to-no attention.

    One of my problems with @Michael Reynolds version of all of this is that assume that everyone has (and wants) substantial amounts of clear information and is making electoral choices in such a fashion (or answering approval polls as such).\

    Again, the R by Trump’s name explains more of his votes than any other single variable.

    And: inflation was the single most important variable in 2024, not MAGA.

    I will once more state, to give emphasis, that it does not absolve those who voted for Trump from the responsibility of their votes.

    But I am professionally bound to note that simplistic good/evil narratives are not good explanations, as much as that would make life easier to navigate.

    I wish this were true, but it isn’t true.

    7

Trending