Donald Trumps legacy: Will Republicans embrace his political vision, or has he left conservatism in the dust?

We call it “Trumpism” for short, the collection of positions, policies and preferences embraced by the president of the United States.

But does all this amount to a coherent philosophy that can be carried out by future Republicans once is no longer in office?

And where does that leave conservatism? Trump never pretended to be a classic conservative, which deeply divided the movement.

There are those who quietly abandoned their previous views and have backed virtually everything Trump does, from tariffs to deportations to the .

And there are those who renounced Trump from the start, who believe he betrayed conservatives – and who tend to have prime spots in cable commentary, so shows can boast they have Republican pundits (who happen to hate Trump).

Some on the right bring a fierceness that eclipses the attacks by liberal critics. Former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Gerard Baker, a Fox News contributor, said yesterday after the Iranians denied having talks with the that the “unsettling reality” is Americans have to “suspect that the enemys version of events is more likely to be true than our own. We have become Baghdad Bob.”

Talking to reporters before leaving Palm Beach yesterday, Trump said: “My life is a deal. Thats all I do is deals.” 

The context was what he insisted were the negotiations with Iran, but the declaration certainly applies to his business pursuits and political career.

Ive known Trump since 1987, and I can tell you that he basically does whatever works in the moment. If that is inconsistent with his position the previous day or week or month, so be it. Let the pontificators argue about that. 

Trump is immune to corrosive criticism about flip-flops because he views every day as a clean slate, in which his allies may be those he once furiously criticized and his enemies may be former loyalists.

For instance, the presidents first-term position, backed by Congress, was that TikTok was a threat to national security because of its Chinese ownership, and should be banned unless it was sold to an American company.

When I asked him about this before the election, Trump, whose campaign greatly benefited from its use of TikTok, said he was no longer in favor of a ban. This, he said, was because removing TikTok would help Facebook, and he deemed Mark Zuckerbergs empire more of a threat.

Not a terribly convincing explanation, but with the president, that was then, this is now.

For what its worth, a deal was finally reached this year to sell the hugely popular app to a joint venture in which American investors have majority control.

The hot media debate right now is what comes after Trump, and whether future Republicans – , Marco Rubio, whoever – must follow his blueprint. This is especially resonant because the America First candidate who crusaded against foreign wars radically changed his approach by attacking Iran.   

Atlantic contributor Pete Wehner, whose specialty is Christian ethics, says that in 2016 he was a lifelong Republican who had served under Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

He said in a New York Times op-ed that Trump “would threaten the future of the Republican Party,” that he “sought to cultivate and encourage the ugliest passions within the GOP, dousing the embers of hate with kerosene.”

Among Republicans, including evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, the president “rewired their moral circuitry… And in the process, he killed American conservatism. MAGA is not just antithetical to conservatism; it is at war with it.”

But look at Trumps record. He sealed the southern border which was utterly porous under . He launched a mass deportation program aimed at illegal immigrants, a major target on the right. He cut taxes, and if most benefits we