Trump was better than a Republican President. He was an intruder in the status-quo. I don't think either side (parties, not voters) wanted him there in the end. He kept lobbyist funds out of the coffers and ground a whole system of corruption to a trickle. He also reduced military deployments overseas costing the military industrial complex $$$. He just wasn't good for anyone's bottom line. It was enough to turn FOX woke.

@Hamulus I agree that in many respects he was better than a number of recent Republican presidents (excluding Ronald Reagan, except for Reagan's policy regarding illegal aliens). But he definitely failed to clean house in the manner I highlighted above, which is a big reason why his own DOJ and State Department undermined and attacked him so often. I'm guessing that his lack of familiarity with the system hurt him in this regard.

@KeithThroop I think what he did was extremely politic of him. The left were ridiculous in their attacks on him, comparing him to Hitler, hyping up his "narcissism." I must admit that I was leaning pretty heavily on that bandwagon myself wondering how his personality might manifest itself in his presidency. Him talking about Kim Jong Il as a leader who "had it all worked out" or "ran a tight ship" or whatever he said did not help at that stage. All this talk and fear-mongering however meant that Trump was forced in the end (I think) to be too anti-authoritarian.

He should have cracked down on blue-state shenanigans. - He didn't.
He should have cracked down on BLM rioter with whatever force was necessary to restore law and order. He didn't.
He should have (as you have said) cleaned House of wokeness. He didn't.
In the end despite his rhetoric he was perhaps the least authoritarian President in living memory? I truly believe in my heart that despite the character flaws and personal quirks he may have had, he was a man who truly wanted to do his best job at running the country and steering it into a prosperous future.

@Hamulus Frankly, I didn't vote for Trump in 2016 because I had every reason at the time to think that he was a wolf in sheep's clothing, and I knew very many conservative Evangelicals who took the same approach. However, we all voted for him in 2020 because he proved himself to us by governing more conservatively than many of the "conservative" candidates for whom we had previously voted (with the probable exception of Ronald Reagan).

Although you may think his failure to clean house in the executive branch may have been wise, or that "what he did was extremely politic of him" on this issue, I think we will have to agree to disagree on that point. His failure to exercise his constitutional right as the head of the executive branch to fill all the key positions in, for example, the Departments of Justice and of State, with his own people -- something that has typically been done by most presidents -- has left us with a virtual fourth branch of government dominated by Leftists, who undermined President Trump at almost every turn and who are now going after Trump supporters in a clear abuse of power for no other reason than revenge and to send a message to anyone who would dare defy them in the future (Exhibit 1: Rudy Giuliani, but you probably know the names of many others). Whoever the next Republican president is, he or she simply has to deal with this problem. It is one of the single greatest threats to our country right now.

As you can see, I'm not going to be easily moved from my position on this issue. But, again, we can agree to disagree and still be friends.

@KeithThroop Dude, I don't got a dog in this fight. I think Trump side-stepped a coup. We are on the other side of him not being president and no shots were fired. I totally agree with your assessment, I just don't think Trump was staring down the barrel of the usual political plays. They wanted a reason for a coup. He didn't give it them.