Trump Being Compared to This Popular Democratic President
As Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th President of United States nears, Americans are trying to size up what kind of president Trump will be just as they have done with 44 of his predecessors.
One historian believes there’s an uncanny parallel that may shock you; the similarities between Trump and John F. Kennedy.
Jonathan Lewis said when you dig beneath the surface you will find notable similarities between President-elect Trump and President Kennedy.
“They both used media in surprising ways,” Lewis said on FOX Business Network’s Cavuto: Coast-to-Coast. “JFK used a new medium, television, to speak directly to the American people in a way never before done. Of course Trump uses social media, and specifically Twitter, to speak to the American people in a way never before done,” Lewis said.
Lewis describes Trump and Kennedy as “disrupters,” and both viewed their predecessors’ policies as behind the curve.
“JFK viewed his predecessor Eisenhower as being slow moving and behind the times in foreign policy. Trump the same. He views Obama as slow moving and behind the times,” he said.
Like JFK, Trump has been criticized for his dynamic approach to the presidency. Kennedy took action early in his term, and in Trump’s case, he started influencing policy even before his inauguration.
“I think at the end of the day neither one is an ideolog nor I think that’s important and that’s a reason for optimism because being flexible is critical for a successful presidency,” Lewis told host Neil Cavuto.
According to Lewis, the main similarities stem from JFK and Trump intervening in the U.S. economy. Kennedy decided to take action against U.S. steel as the industry was raising prices and Trump has challenged auto companies from outsourcing production to Mexico.
“Investors don’t like it when presidents intervene in the economy that’s called central planning, and in a free market society, that’s an ethma,” he said.