The Parallels Between Andrew Jackson and Donald Trump (Part II)

In many regards, both Jackson and Trump were considered bigoted by many people. Jackson was not only a slave owner, but he was a huge advocate for breaking treaties and forcing Native American tribes to conform to American laws and customs or be forced to live West of Mississippi. Meanwhile Trump wants to suspend immigration of Muslims to the U.S. and wants to have tighter border security as well as deport as many illegal immigrants as possible. Neither man is a bigot, both have these philosophies because they believe strongly in the sovereignty of the United States and wanted to protect it from potential enemies and dangers. Many Indian tribes formed alliances with Spain and or England. Since Spanish and English colonies bordered on the United States, Jackson saw this a threat to our union. His solution was to remove any tribes that failed to conform to our customs. Similarly, in the war on terrorism Trump sees unsecure borders and Muslim immigrants as potential threats (at least until our immigration system does a better job of screening incoming immigrants). Trump also views illegal immigrants as people who have taken jobs from Americans, taken taxpayer money, failed to pay taxes, and worse yet some are criminals who traffic drugs and make us less safe. This to Trump and many Americans is viewed as unfair and needs to be corrected. Both men were against political correctness when it comes to protecting the union. Jackson did not hate Indians – he raised an orphan Indian boy. And, of course, slavery was a harsh reality in the American South at the time. Even so, many Southerners did not trust Jackson. As Southern states (especially South Carolina) talked of succession from the union, Jackson believed in keeping the union together over all else, including the issue of slavery. Trump does not hate Muslims or Hispanics – his employee payrolls can prove that fact. The sad state of affairs in the political realm - one thing is certain – opponents will always paint foes as an extremist to win elections. Jackson and Trump merely took on difficult political issues that divide Americans whereas opponents are too afraid to take on such controversial issues seeing it as political suicide. This illustrates a major difference between an elite Washington insider and an outsider.

Both Trump and Jackson have the media and chaos in common. The media follows Trump everywhere. Jackson understood the importance of good media press and created his own administration newspaper. Every place Trump speaks is loaded with protestors and violence. Jackson’s administration could not get along and he had to replace his cabinet after 3 years (unheard of at this time). Former cabinet members continued to quarrel and even threatened to kill each other in duels following their dismissal from the administration. Jackson is the first president to have assassination attempts against him. Trump is one of the few presidential candidates to have secret service protection during the primary season.

Both Trump and Jackson brought the value of entertainment to election campaigns. Jackson is the first president to openly campaign among the masses attending parties and parades. The campaign even wrote a song to promote its candidate that was played on campaign stops. Of course Trump and his antics has provided full entertainment value for the media while providing him free air time across the country.

Trump proclaims “America First!” time after time on the campaign trail. Unlike other Republicans Trump wants to focus on protecting our sovereignty from home and not afar. Trump does not want to get tied down in foreign conflicts or even worry about foreign countries at the expense of Americans. Similarly, Jackson defended the union from potential succession of South Carolina. South Carolina was angry about tariffs which they thought were unfair to Southerners at the expense of the North. Hence, South Carolina believed in the concept of “nullification”. Nullification would allow states to pick and choose which laws passed by congress that it would enforce. Jackson, a Southern man (actually born in South Carolina), fought to protect the union (America First). This seems like a concept that is followed by all politicians, but it is not. Politicians do what is best for them and their constituents first and foremost. Doing what is best for America is far down the list. ObamaCare is a good example of a law that treats every American differently depending on what state you are from, if you work in the private or public sector, what demographics you belong to, and if you belong to a union. This is not America First, it is me first and the hell with everyone else philosophy. But since Jackson and Trump are outsiders, they have no ties to the political sphere that would force them to make corrupt decisions.