This chapter will launch a full-scale, in-depth analysis of the reversals and chaos in major policy areas during the Trump administration. We will argue that Trump’s political instinct was an “instinct for destruction,” proving his positioning as an “actor”: his true value lay in overthrowing the old order, not in establishing a new one.

First Thesis: The Philosophical Roots of Destructive Politics

I. The Impulse for Destruction: Total Negation of the “Swamp”

Trump’s political philosophy was not a coherent ideology, but a total negation of the “Washington Establishment” and all its achievements. This negation directly manifested as a powerful impulse for destruction.

The Transformation of Policy Goals: His policy goal was not to seek optimal solutions, but to pursue the most thorough “reversal”—reversing the Obama era, reversing the globalization consensus, reversing institutional inertia.

Emotional Satisfaction: For his supporters, watching the cumbersome regulations and international agreements painstakingly built by the federal government over decades being “deleted with one click” provided immense emotional satisfaction (Chapter Thirty-Two), far more concrete and exhilarating than any complex construction plan.

II. The Speed of “Deconstruction” and the Stagnation of “Reconstruction”

The defining pattern of the Trump administration was: the speed of “deconstruction” was extremely fast, but efforts at “reconstruction” often fell into stagnation, chaos, or lacked coherence.

This pattern proved his essence of “only capable of destruction, incapable of construction.”

Second Thesis: Manifestations of Destruction: Administrative and International Domains

III. The Deconstruction of the Administrative Machine and the Regulatory Vacuum

The Trump administration’s actions toward the vast, rigid civil service system (Chapter Twenty-Three) embodied his instinct for destruction:

Regulatory “Weapons of Mass Destruction”: His administration wholesale repealed regulations from the Obama era in areas such as environmental protection, finance, and consumer protection. Examples included withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and significantly relaxing the Environmental Protection Agency’s restrictions on industry.

Consequences: Policy Vacuum: The repeal of these regulations was swift, but the “simpler, more effective” new regulations meant to replace them often could not achieve consensus in Congress or within the administration. This vacuum left many areas in a state of policy uncertainty and chaos.

Internal Chaos: Due to high turnover among senior officials (reflecting his distrust of the civil service system) and incoherent policy goals, the internal functioning of the administrative machine fell into prolonged chaos and low morale.

IV. “Tearing Down” International Relations and Alienating Allies

In the diplomatic arena, the “instinct for destruction” manifested as “tearing down” the international order painstakingly built over decades.

Withdrawal from Agreements: Rapid withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Iran nuclear deal, and the Paris climate agreement. These actions embodied his anti-globalization, anti-Establishment stance of “America First.”

The Illusion of “Better Deals”: Each withdrawal was accompanied by a promise that “we will negotiate a better deal.” However, many of the promised “better deals” (such as with Iran, with NATO) ultimately failed to materialize or brought greater geopolitical instability.

Alienation of Allies: His open hostility and attacks against traditional allies (such as Canada, Germany, South Korea) effectively undermined alliance relationships. He succeeded in dismantling international consensus but failed to build a new alliance capable of effectively serving America’s new interests.

Third Thesis: Domestic Policy: The Inability to Construct Legislation

V. Healthcare Reform: The Inability to Fix Institutional Flaws

The most emblematic case of “only capable of destruction, incapable of construction” during the Trump administration was the attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Consensus on Destruction: Republicans achieved high consensus on the goal of repealing the ACA—a total negation of Obama’s legacy.

Incapacity for Construction: However, when it came time to propose a coherent, viable alternative healthcare plan to replace the ACA, Republicans immediately fell into internal division, ultimately leading to legislative failure. This powerfully demonstrated: anger and the intent to destroy cannot replace the complex expertise and internal compromise required to govern a nation.

A Victim of Institutional Gridlock: This also reflected the institutional gridlock discussed in Part Two: even when the presidency and Congress were controlled by the same party, they could not undertake major constructive legislation without a coherent policy framework.

VI. Policy Reversals and Chaos: The Hollowness of Core Values

A defining characteristic of policy during the Trump administration was extreme instability, unpredictability, and chaos.

Personal Emotion Overriding Expertise: Policy formulation was often driven by the president’s personal emotions and tweets, rather than analysis from professional agencies and long-term strategy. The rapid turnover of senior staff intensified internal conflict within the executive branch and policy unpredictability.

The Attrition of “Destruction”: This sustained, internal policy chaos consumed vast amounts of time and resources in crisis management and dealing with uncertainty, rather than constructively driving national development.

VII. Chapter Conclusion: The Ultimate Limitation of the Actor

The policy patterns of the Trump administration ultimately proved the limitations of his role as an “actor”: he was an excellent anti-Establishment emotional symbol, perfectly satisfying the public’s desire to “smash” problems, but he lacked—and did not care about—the competence, patience, and coherence required to heal the system.

Symptom and Cause: His destructive behavior was an extreme symptom of America’s institutional decay, not a prescription for curing it.

The Cost of Despair: This model of “only knows how to tear down, not how to rebuild” caused the nation to lose precious time for self-repair, allowing the structural defects revealed in the first two parts to continue worsening, laying the groundwork for even deeper chaos in the next round.

NEXT: Chapter 34: The Logic of Trade Wars: A Reversal of Globalization — The Instinctive Reaction to the Broken American Dream