While it may appear that way, trump isn't really the person calling the shots. No president ever is. Once people get into office, they get told how things are done - or else...
If the "other side" had won, it may have been different in the short-term, but the ultimate outcomes would be the same, because they are equally serving both their own interests and the interests of people that no one votes for.
The parties are divided on certain issues, but always united in war, tyranny, and theft of peoples money.
I think the president has little control over day-to-day operations, but Trump seems to be fighting that inertia (or people in Trump orbit are; I agree with you it's not necessarily him personally).
On the other hand in unusual situations (perhaps manufactured by those in power) the president (or people around him) seem to be able to impact things more greatly.
Lincoln and (Franklin) Roosevelt behaved in extremely unusual ways in response to somewhat unusual circumstances. I very much doubt the circumstances were ever extreme enough that Reagan or Clinton could have emulated them, regardless of their aspirations.
I get the impression that the system was a little less captured and a little less refined back then. Policies weren't so extreme. Culture was very different. Most of the agencies and global organizations that exist today were formed after the war, between ~1945-65, and I feel like that was when a lot more coordination became possible to set a global agenda.
Despite Trump doing a number of things he promised, the usual policies remain unchanged, and he's also surrounded himself with a lot of questionable people.
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