I agree with this as well. It would be wonderful if there were a major political party in the US advocating for liberties, families, and the cultivation of markets. Modern Republicans claim to be this, and in practice... aren't.
I think that you have a point about how the media portrayal of Trump differed from the reality, but Trump is an example of what I'm saying. He had some good instincts, and a vague sense that we lost our way forty or so years ago, and he may value family, markets, and some sort of liberty, but he can't mount a coherent defense of those things, because he doesn't really understand them. He has some positions, albeit flexible ones and an odd mix at that, but no underlying principles — no philosophy of liberty. How can you expect to move a country in the right direction, and make a lasting change to how we think politically, without principles?
I can't agree that he doesn't understand the value of family, markets, and liberty. He does - and these things are not complicated. The great majority of citizens in these United States have believed in them for hundreds of years.
But some people these days want us to stop believing in those values, and they are very vocal. We need more public intellectuals in the mold of Thomas Sowell, and politicians that would listen to their council.
