I recommend reading the entire interview @https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/08/guest-dialogue-political-philosophy-in-the-age-of-trump.php
but here are a few excerpts:
Klingenstein: Claremont folks, unlike most in the conservative movement, favored Trump early. They still are more favorably disposed than most conservatives. What is it about Claremont thinking that explains this?
Ellmers: Well, we are students of American history, and so we are aware of how tumultuous and often violent American politics has always been — starting from our founding in a Revolution, then the Whiskey Rebellion, the extremely nasty election of 1800, the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Civil War of course, the bombings by communists and anarchists in the 1920s, and other such episodes. So we are less likely to be alarmed or surprised by things. The hysteria about Trump as the Orange Hitler mostly comes from people who live very sheltered lives in comfortable suburbs, and have almost no conception of how chaotic politics usually is — around the world, and in our own history.
We are also students of… get ready for it: political philosophy! We’ve studied in some detail the origins of the modern bureaucratic or administrative state, where it came from, how it rejects the principles of the founders’ constitutionalism, and what a serious threat it poses, both politically and intellectually. Trump is the only politician since Richard Nixon to confront this problem directly. (Reagan was, necessarily, preoccupied with winning the Cold War.)
Put these two together, and I’d say the scholars at the Claremont Institute are less likely to blow Trump’s vices out of proportion, and more likely to appreciate his important virtues.
Klingenstein: What did the founders think of Trump-style populism?
Ellmers: They were opposed to demagoguery, but Trump is not a demagogue. He could have an easy, comfortable retirement playing golf all day. Instead, he is risking his life and putting in grueling days on the campaign trail. He has nothing to gain personally, so the only explanation is that he really wants to save the country from imminent collapse. The founders admired and exemplified such self-sacrificing patriotism and thought the country depends on it.
As for populism, that’s become a loaded word. But don’t forget that the whole point of the American Revolution was to establish the sovereignty of the people. We are not supposed to have a privileged aristocracy in this country. If populism means the people have the right to alter or abolish government, rather than the government altering and abolishing the people, then the founders were populists.