Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland
“Trump loves to compare himself to the 19th-century populist president Andrew Jackson, who began the brutal ethnic cleansing of Native Americans from their land. But his presidency more resembles that of William McKinley at the turn of the 20th century. McKinley, like Trump, favored high tariffs as a means to protect certain businesses. Also, in the closing years of that century, McKinley initially was reluctant to go to war with Spain over Spanish repression of an off-and-on again (since the mid-1800s) rebellion in its Cuban colony that did not threaten U.S. security. (This is similar to Trump’s desire to avoid ‘forever wars’ — uch as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya – during his first term.) … Yet after the decisive U.S. victory over Spain in the Caribbean and the Pacific, McKinley willingly reveled in grabbing Spanish colonies as imperial booty.” (01/12/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/01/12/mckinleys-ghost/