Perhaps it would be ironic if, despite all of his populist bluster and brag, Donald Trump turned out to be a traditional Republican. The “great big beautiful bill”‘s tax cut turned out to be a massive benefit for billionaires, and his budget fulfilled the wish list for the old GOP. If there is any MAGA influence, it is difficult to ascertain.

Of course, it has no tax on tips, as well as no tax on Social Security and other benefits for the base. But generally, Trump’s government has delivered a budget and program more suited to Daddy Warbucks than the mythical populous. He used red crawlers to catch voters who appeared to see him in a more worker-friendly light. Even on his liberation day, the declaration of tariff worked more in favor of the stockholders than the Johnny Paycheck voter or the pensioner.

Is there anything sinister about this? Absolutely not. Indeed, it is politics as usual. Trickle-down economics, that formula used in varying degrees by Democrats and Republicans alike, was reapplied. But if it was populism, it was mostly performance; however, pretending that you are for the little man is as old hat as the republic.

Andrew Jackson, a man revered by Trump, would not be surprised. Everyone and sundry regarded Old Hickory as a champion of the common man. Although he did not like the style of pompous critics, he nevertheless loved their lifestyle. Jackson was rich and, in 1832, destroyed the Bank of the United States and its director, fussy Nicholas Biddle. He established pet banks to receive government funds. Unfortunately, this spurred an explosion of land purchases, which Jackson believed was inflationary. It turned out that the President did not like paper notes, but preferred specie, gold, or silver. He ended the land rush but plunged the nation into depression in 1837.

Turned out the man of the people was not a fan of easy credit and took away the punch bowl, just as things were getting good. Franklin D. Roosevelt hit the brakes in 1937 when he fretted about the deficit and an overheated economy. He plunged the economy into a nose-dive, but was careful not to call it a depression, but a recession. He, too, could understand Trump. And so it goes.

Trump is not different from his predecessor in overstating his case. Jackson denounced his enemies as elitists, and Roosevelt called them economic royalists. However, the final result was a traditional, steady economy that did not match the campaign rhetoric, which promised new deals and golden ages. Nevertheless, all retreated into the same haven of capitalism and its beneficiaries.

Perhaps one might have expected Trump to do this when he embraced Elon Musk, but ol’ Elon tried to upstage his boss and was gently shown the door. This is not strange, but it does confuse the American voter. But MAGA is no longer a populous movement. It is a resurrection of old-style conservative politics.

One wonders if the Stephen Bannons of the coalition have received notice of these changes.