“Time to face it, the US will never elect a true (dogmatic) conservative. Those days are gone.”
A lot of people are living in the past...almost 4 decades in the past. “Conservatism” is at the very best an empty platitude to be uttered constantly every two or four years in an election campaign. “Conservatism” has not been an actual governing philosophy anywhere in the world in nearly 100 years. You’ve had bits and pieces of conservatism at times but not since the 1920’s (when it was actually something very different than what we think of as conservative) has conservative political philosophy actually dominated American government.
Ever since the Great Depression, America has been on a consistent trajectory toward bigger and bigger, more intrusive, more powerful and all-encompassing federal government. That continues apace in the 21st century as we enter true socialism with some lovely fascist tendencies in today’s American government.
It’s time to forget the failed altruistic ideas of “conservatism” and “core values” that are mere platitudes today and get very, very practical. To change the trajectory of American government will require a revolution of one kind or another. It will require improving living standards and correcting as much as possible the fatal flaws that have developed over time in America’s economic, political and civil structures. Those flaws will destroy us as a nation if we can’t correct them. Practical solutions, real-world, to crushing debt, one-world trade and economic policies, immigration/invasion, the racial/cultural/religious ostracism of what once was the bedrock of the American population requires dramatic action. That action may or may not even be possible any longer, but if not now, it is never and we all might as well ride the wave to collapse. Philosophy will have wait for easier, better days.
I'm conservative, but I want to win. A major shift in my thinking has been Social Security. On the face of it that's one of the worst, most fraudulent programs. An outright Ponzi scheme. However... the demographics of the GOP base skew older. To run against Social Security is to cut the legs off a good percentage of the GOP base. So I don't argue about Social Security anymore. Trump gets this instinctively.
That's practical politics. Is it less conservative than the guy who says "Stand on principle, lose every election!" That was Ron Paul's approach to running for president. How did it work out?
Long ago, when it was absolutely taboo here, I hinted that invading Iraq was a major political mistake. Trump gets that too. There was never any benefit to the GOP base. Just vague theories about democracy and turning Iraqis into modern capitalists. Why is the GOP on a losing streak? Because the core of the party leadership is still dedicated to globalist schemes like the Iraq invasion, free trade and open borders. All of those "conservative principles" are right out of The New Republic. So this is far worse than Ron Paul, who at least is being economically conservative when he attacks Social Security. This is leftism calling itself conservatism.
Trump has shot to the top by very cleverly throwing out the leftist globalism, downplaying issues that hurt the base, and putting forward anti-globalist patriotism to appeal to a wider public.
Is it conservative? In some ways it's far more conservative than anything we've had to choose from since Reagan. It doesn't check off every box on a right wing think tank's wish list, and it's not libertarianism, but it's a winning combination.