"Instead these universities use the money to pay their administrators, to put donors names on their buildings, or just store the money, keep it and invest it," he said. "In fact, many universities spend more on private-equity fund managers than on tuition programs. But they should be using the money on students, for tuition, for student life and for student housing. That's what it's supposed to be for."

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Similarly, a couple weeks ago, Trump unveiled his plan to mandate six weeks of paid maternity leave and lower the cost of child care by making it completely tax deductible — up to the average annual cost of child care in that state.

Both are proposals that probably appeal to voters. But they're also both counter to long-standing Republican Party orthodoxy, which holds that the free market is the best arbiter of such things and that the role and size of government should rarely be expanded. These kinds of proposals are often dismissed by the GOP as government handouts and intrusions on the free market.

It was only four years ago, you may recall, that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney blamed his loss on President Obama and the Democrats offering "gifts" to their voters — especially minorities and young people. By this definition, Trump is also very much in the gift-giving business:

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To be sure, Trump's positions on any of these issues are liable to change at any moment. He's also said, for example, that he would look at reforms to Social Security for future generations.