How Edmund Burke Would React To Recent Rumors of A 2024 Trump Presidential Campaign Amid Economic Havoc

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The day former President Trump left the Whitehouse at the close of his term, he faced the media and said, “Hopefully it’s not a long-term goodbye and we’ll see each other again.” He then boarded what many would have thought would be his own Trump helicopter at the rate he was going—marching to the beat of his own drum and turning his back on the horns on the hill—but was, to the relief of many, Marine One. The media watched as the choppers spun and President Trump was lifted up into the air, escaping impeachment on the grounds of sedition and the inauguration of President Biden which would commence only a few hours later. 

Trump’s absence at the inauguration was just one item on a long list of ways he managed to show his disrespect for long standing institutions and governmental procedures. For this fact, by the end of his term, Trump was considered by many more moderate conservatives to be an embarrassment to the Republican party. However, many American citizens have come to miss his presidency in recent months, attributing inflation to his absence as president instead of to necessary sanctions in response to the cruelty of Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as material shortages caused by COVID-19. Many of those in favor of another Trump presidency also claim that withdrawal from Afghanistan has been a failure that wouldn’t have happened under President Trump, which seems highly unlikely as Trump was very adamant about his desire to withdraw troops. However, he might have gone about it more gradually than did President Biden. 


In contemplating the potential risks posed by a 2024 Trump campaign, it seems appropriate to revisit the traditionalist perspective of British Philosopher, Edmund Burke. In his article, “Reflections on The Revolution in France,” Burke articulates his view that founding fathers, classic societal handlings, freedom, and nationality are best kept in check not with radical reform but instead with gradual reform that is guided by experience. He believed in looking to the past to find the means of success and felt that those who were in favor of the French Revolution were naive and unaware of the methods by which French society had historically succeeded. 


Given Trump's unusually informal and aggressive rhetoric in debates and speeches, his lack of respect for American democracy, and his attempts at debunking reputable institutions, such as the media, Burke would likely be concerned at the possibility of Trump running for president in 2024. However, he might be comforted by the beliefs and followings of competing Republican candidates, perhaps most notably, Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis. 


It could be reasonably assumed that Edmund Burke would be a moderate conservative and republican today, given his traditionalist preferences. Trump in his eyes would be a shamefully radical candidate, but Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis seems to align with Burke’s values in that he despises what he considers to be radical assaults on longstanding institutions.


In recent months, DeSantis has successfully combated what he—and Burke, for that matter—would consider to be radical and destructive public education teaching methods, largely for the fact that they haven’t historically been taught. DeSantis’s disliking of LGBTQ+ content in school curriculums as seen in Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and his opposition towards the use of critical race theory in classrooms would almost certainly be strongly embraced by Edmund Burke. This is likely not only for the fact that they have been so nationally popular that various states have copied them—making him a strong presidential candidate who could beat Trump—but also because Burke saw what he refers to as “liberal descent” in “Reflections on The Revolution in France” as a great reason to resist disrespectful and arrogant radicalism, which he calls “upstart violence.” An assault on liberties, which Burke mentions, is exactly what DeSantis and like-minded politicians fear in regards to the curricular presence of LGBTQ+ and critical race theory content. DeSantis has on numerous occasions cited racism against white Americans as well as arbitrary hatred of America and heterosexuals and the resulting silencing of white people posed by societal habits such as cancel culture as his reasoning for supporting these educational reforms. “In Florida we are taking a stand against the state-sanctioned racism that is critical race theory,” said DeSantis in light of his legislative proposal, The Stop W.O.K.E Act. “We won’t allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other.” Burke would also undoubtedly enjoy that DeSantis is making reforms at the state level when considering that the Republican party has historically clung to devolution and has despised the idea of a strong central government. Burke would see DeSantis’s adherence to that Republican priority as a pleasant, traditional tactic. Perhaps, even if Trump runs, DeSantis would give Burke a conservative and traditionalist reason not to worry.







Works Cited 


Burke, Edmund. 1790. “Reflections on the Revolution in France.” Pp. 65-67 in The Collective Memory Reader, edited by Jeffrey K. Olick, Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi, and Daniel Levy. Oxford University Press. 

C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network). 2021. “President Trump Final White House Departure.” Aired January 20. https://www.c-span.org/video/?508150-1/president-trump-final-white-house-departure

Flgov.com. 2022. “Governor DeSantis Announces Legislative Proposal to Stop W.O.K.E. Activism and Critical Race Theory in Schools and Corporations.” https://www.flgov.com/2021/12/15/governor-desantis-announces-legislative-proposal-to-stop-w-o-k-e-activism-and-critical-race-theory-in-schools-and-corporations/

Snyder, Timothy. 2021. “The American Abyss.” New York Times, January 9.            

            https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/magazine/trump-coup.html

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