Filming in Nashville, Tennessee last month. huckabee show At TBN, I had the opportunity to visit the Hermitage, the vacation home of Andrew Jackson, America's seventh president and our country's original populist.
Mr. Jackson, along with President Thomas Jefferson, was once considered the forefather of the Democratic Party. But the party turned them away, citing Jackson's role in the forced removal of Native Americans and Jefferson's slaveholding rights.
Interest in Jackson was reignited by President Donald Trump, who placed a portrait of Jackson in a prominent place in the Oval Office during his first term.
Trump, like Jackson, opposed the country's established elites. But the similarities didn't end there.
One observer noted that Mr. Trump's working-class coalition resembles Mr. Jackson's political base. President Trump's foreign policy said It is Jacksonian in that it prioritizes national interests and the military.
But it was the word populism that was said to link Trump and Jackson.
This is a difficult word to define. Although it refers to control by ordinary people, populist leaders can also become demagogues who exploit popular sentiment to seize power.
Populist economic policies often favor redistributing the wealth of the rich to the poor, but this approach has proven to have disastrous consequences. It can also be associated with protectionism, which hurts trade and allows insiders to line their own pockets.
Trump’s populism (sometimes referred to in these pages as nationalist populism) is somewhat different.
Contrary to Democratic propaganda, President Trump did raise some taxes on the wealthy during his first term, but he did so not as part of a redistributive agenda but rather to create economic growth for everyone.
Mr. Trump supports tariffs and will continue to do so, but in a context where foreign competition from China poses a national security risk.
President Trump's slogan, “Make America Great Again,” focuses on the nation as a whole, evoking what was once called “great national conservatism” (many of whose supporters are Republican elites and (He currently hates President Trump).
The word “again” emphasizes that President Trump's populism is conservative and seeks to restore common ideals, achievements, and optimism to a confident society once again.
He wants to restore the system, but he also wants to save the country.
Jackson's Hermitage, at least initially, shows little sign of the populist spirit that characterized his legacy.
“Old Hickory,” who once led a ragtag army of volunteers from the Tennessee hinterland to protect New Orleans from the British during the War of 1812, built a stately mansion with neoclassical columns. .
He also installed luxurious wallpaper depicting scenes from Greek mythology, which he imported from France. He maintained a magnificent library and a large slave labor force.
A man's deeper side is revealed in his home garden.
Jackson loved his wife Rachel. She watched him win the election of 1828. It was a saving victory after its loss in 1824 to Northeastern Brahmin John Quincy Adams. However, she died before he became president.
Jackson wore a black band around his hat for the rest of his life and never married or courted again. The two are buried together in the garden.
Rachel's grave This amazing inscription testifies to the deep love her husband had for her.
Here rests the remains of President Jackson's wife, Mrs. Rachel Jackson, who died on December 22, 1828 at the age of 61. Her face was white, her personality was pleasant, her temper was amiable, and her heart was kind. She took pleasure in appeasing the desires of her fellow creatures, and cultivated that divine pleasure in the freest and most unpretentious manner. She was a benefactor to the poor. She was a role model for the rich. A comforter for the poor man. For rich decorations. Her piety was closely related to her compassion. And she thanked the Creator for all the good he had done. They are very kind and noble beings, so while slander may hurt them, their honor cannot be tarnished. Even death, when it tore her from her husband's arms, could only transplant her into the bosom of God.
Reading that inscription in the crisp autumn air, I understood something new about Andrew Jackson. He had a capacity for love so deep that he showed his sadness to everyone he met, whether in the White House or the Hermitage.
Jackson's populism was born of that love. No matter how flawed his policies were, he loved his country as much as it could be.
That is the core of populism, and a love that President Trump, for all his faults, shares similarly.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. he is the author of Agenda: What should President Trump do in his first 100 days in office?available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of Trumpian Virtues: Lessons and Legacy of the Donald Trump Presidencynow available on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
