We’re used to thinking of Republican moderates as nice people from Blue states or swing districts, who speak in dulcet tones and oppose going “too far” on anything.

These politicians still exist, but the image of the Republican moderate is out of date. Think less of Susan Collins, the cautious Republican senator from Maine, and more of President Donald Trump.

Trump isn’t moderate in tone. To the contrary, he will routinely talk of taking drastic measures and pursuing extreme outcomes. But if the definition of a moderate or centrist is being in the middle of a political party, that’s Trump.

The president is smack in the ideological center of a GOP that he has remade in his image.

Joe Biden was always in the middle of the Democratic Party, too. He started out as a relative moderate when the party was more conservative at the beginning of his Senate career and moved ever leftward as the party became more progressive.

All of this was reactive, though. Biden moved as forces outside of his control changed his party’s dynamic. Trump has transformed the party’s center of gravity — in fact, he has come himself to define it.

Consider the debate over joining the Israeli campaign against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump is not a neocon, and he’s not an isolationist. Interventionists wish he’d be more readily willing to hit Iran, while MAGA purist are appalled that he’s even contemplating the possibility. He’s comfortable with the idea of striking Iran, but not comfortable with the idea of regime change. He wants a diplomatic deal, although not any diplomatic deal.

Or think about immigration policy. He’s declared strong support for mass deportation, yet has blown hot-and-cold on worksite raids. He’s a business-friendly restrictionist, who wants an immigration crackdown so long as it isn’t too painful.

Almost every debate comes down to convincing Trump. Should the tariffs go up or down, and who should get exemptions? Should we bomb the Fordow nuclear facility? Is ICE raiding agricultural businesses and hotels, or not?

There are still factions in his administration, but the spectrum is much narrower than the first term. No one is that far removed from Trump’s own priorities. The first time around Trump had free-traders and protectionists around him. This time he has advisors who like tariffs as a negotiating tactic and tool in the strategic competition with China and advisors who like tariffs because they believe that they are good economics. There’s room for debate there, but it’s on terms that have been defined by Trump.

Perhaps every two-term president has something like this effect. Yet, it has been particularly stark with Trump, both because of how directly he took on his party’s prior orthodoxy and his deeply personal hold on the party.

Many of his voters feel an emotional bond with him, and where he lands on a particular issue is very discretionary. “I may do it. I may not do it. Nobody knows what I’m going to do,” Trump said of striking Iran. That statement applies to so many questions that it could serve as a motto.

There’s been talk of a split in the MAGA movement if Trump goes ahead with military action. This misunderstands the nature of the phenomenon. To use an example from the savannah, Trump is the wildebeest, while MAGA influencers are the oxpeckers, the little birds on the back. If a couple fly off, the 500-pound creature carries on.

Asked by a journalist the other day if bombing Iran violates “America First,” Trump replied, “Well, considering that I’m the one that developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that.”

In other words, it’s not really possible for him to be out of step with MAGA, although it’s possible for others to be out of step with him. Almost by definition, Trump is at the center of the Trump GOP.

© 2025 by King Features Syndicate