Where Trump Is to the Left of Party Leaders
He departs from the party on trade policies.
Republican
Party
MORE LIBERAL
Though Mr. Trump previously stated his support for free trade, he has called for punishing companies that move jobs abroad with tax hikes, and he has promised to renegotiatetrade deals that do not favor American workers. He has also threatened to impose a tariff on Chinese goods if China manipulates its currency.
Republicans generally support trade deals, and Mr. Ryan has been a proponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal involving the United States and Pacific Rim nations. Mr. Ryan authored legislation that gave President Obama expanded negotiating powers to complete the accord, legislation Mr. Trump vocally opposed.
He aligns more with Democrats onsome economic issues.
Republican
Party
MORE LIBERAL
Mr. Trump has broken with Republican orthodoxy by vowing to close tax loopholes that benefit the rich and by suggesting — and later retracting — that the wealthiest could pay higher taxes under his plan. He has said he would be open to raising the minimum wage. He has expressed little concern about reining in government spending, and when on the national debt, he said recently that the United States could walk away from some of its obligations and would never default because it prints the money.
On entitlements, Mr. Trump offers a clean split from many Republicans, who have called loudly in recent years for deep spending cuts. “I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican, and I’m not going to cut Medicare orMedicaid,” Mr. Trump has said.
Where Trump Is to the Right of Party Leaders
His stance on immigration is more hard-line.
Republican
Party
MORE CONSERVATIVE
Mr. Trump has said he wants to build a big wall along the border with Mexico and deport all undocumented immigrants. He has also called for a moratorium barring foreign Muslimsfrom entering the country.
Republicans have opposed amnesty and supported enhanced border security, but leaders like Mr. Ryan have been open to combining border controls with a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. The party has been divided on the idea of mass deportations, and few Republicans have expressed support for the Muslim ban that Mr. Trump proposed.
Where Trump is Out of Sync With Party Leaders
He is more isolationist on foreign policy.
Though he can sound hawkish when talking about the use of power, Mr. Trump’s foreign policy doctrine can be summed up by the phrase “America First.” He claims to want to avoid foreign interventions and nation building, and he has warned that he will walk away from international treaties or agreements in which the United States provides military protection while getting little in return.
Mr. Trump has also suggested that Japan and South Korea should build their own nuclear arsenals so they can protect themselves — an idea that has sent the heads of national security experts of all stripes spinning.
While Republicans are also war weary, the party continues to prize relationships with key allies around the world and has criticized President Obama for leading from behind. The 2012 Republican platform promoted a “peace through strength”doctrine and said the United States should remain committed to promoting democracy in places such as Cuba and Syria.
Where Party Leaders May Have Cause for Concern
He is far from a firebrand on social issues.
Previously an abortion rights advocate, Mr. Trump now says he opposes abortion, at one point calling for women who seek abortions to be punished, which runs afoul of conservative doctrine. But he has also said Planned Parenthood offers valuable medical services to women, and he has opposed Republican efforts to cut off funding to the group.
He has said he opposed the Supreme Court’s decision to makesame-sex marriage legal across the country, and would appoint judges who would overturn it. Though most establishment Republicans believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, many have accepted same-sex marriage as the law of the land.
Generally, Mr. Trump does not make social issues central to his campaign, and he recently broke with some Republicans when he said he had no problem with transgender people using the bathrooms of their choice. He supports some gay rights, and at one point advocated amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation.
He has taken a variety of positions on health care.
Mr. Trump has called for universal health care that the government would fund, and even briefly favored insurance mandates, though he ultimately settled on a plan to repeal theAffordable Care Act and reduce health insurance costs by allowing consumers to shop for insurance across state lines.
Mr. Trump advocates allowing the federal government to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for Medicare and Medicaid, a central plank of Democratic health proposals that have been adamantly, and successfully, opposed by Republican leaders.
Nearly all Republicans have staunchly opposed government meddling in the health system. Party leaders have wanted a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act since its inception and have called for replacing it with a market-based system that would be overseen by the states, with better price transparency.
He has voiced support for a gun control measure that Mr. Ryan called a distraction.
Mr. Trump, a gun owner himself and an ardent supporter of the Second Amendment, has railed against gun-free zones as "soft targets," and in the aftermath of terrorist attacks he suggested that the outcome might have been different had the victims been armed.
While the Republican Party has also been highly resistant to gun control measures, one area where Mr. Trump and Mr. Ryan have disagreed is whether people who are on theterrorist watch list can purchase guns. Mr. Ryan last year called that debate a “distraction” from the fight against terrorism, but Mr. Trump agreed with gun control groups such as the Brady Campaign that people thought to be potential terrorists should not have easy access to guns