Posted on 09/01/2015 5:06:30 PM PDT by Steelfish
Trump Has Succeeded in Convincing Conservatives to Discard their Principles Overnight by CHARLES C. W. COOKE. September 1, 2015.
Since he jumped self-confidently into the political limelight, Donald Trump has been quite the upside-down man. Customarily, primary seasons permit each party’s voters to indulge in a rational process of elimination: First, they discover which candidate most closely agrees with them on policy, and then they ask themselves whether that person is capable of representing their ideas in public. This time around, however, this process has been disastrously inverted, a solid portion of the Republican party’s balloters having decided first who they want to speak on their behalf, and then, as if t’were a mere afterthought, wondered what he might end up saying.
That their pick lacks any sort of conservative message at all does not seem to have mattered in the slightest. “We want that guy,” a host of voters have determined. “Whatever he believes, he says it so well.” If you have in the last few years become vexed and frustrated by the Republican base’s penchant for political purity, you should perhaps be breathing a little easier. A handful of months ago many of those who now make up Trump’s rank-and-file were ideological perfectionists who hated the GOP’s leadership, believed to their souls that the country was becoming a socialist hell-hole, and insisted vehemently that they had sat out the 2012 election because Mitt Romney was such a terrible squish. Today, by dint of some dark and unholy magic, these wannabe purists have hitched their wagons to Donald Trump, the greatest shape-shifter of them all. ......................... .......................................
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
If Cruz was our surefire bet there would be no need for The Donald. So if not Cruz who else can we win with that can garner enough votes? That is the ?
Not even Michael Barone knew that.
The principle is that the establishment RINOs have wrought a lesson to be learned by all of the GOP.
National Review is part of the GOPe.
The GOPe just doesn’t get it. They’ve betrayed us so many times we just won’t take it anymore. Trump is our best chance to get rid of the GOPe.
Trump is not nearly the liberal clown the GOPe is trying to paint him as. But even if he were he’d still be better than Jeb or anybody else the GOPe could offer.
The NATIONAL REVIEW RINO GOPe / RNC Establishment Cronies just hate it that they will lose ALL their influence and power ... GO SUCK AND EGG NATIONAL REVIEW...
Disagree with the premise of the article. I have abandoned NONE of mine, regardless Trump’s polling data.
Perhaps it's because life-long conservatives have heard enough of conservative pronouncements from Republicans to not believe THEM anymore.
If the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over expecting a different result, then maybe it's time to try something different and see what happens?
-PJ
Principles? The ONLY reasons I had left to vote GOP were to stop amnesty, stop Obamacare, and stop fag-marriage. The GOP didn’t just surrender, but downright funded and collaborated in support of much of this. Hence, no reason for me to ever support the Republican Party again. And, in a bigger picturem, no longer a country left that I even give a damn about.
All I want is a candidate to come in and crush the skulls of the GOP-Establishment who have spent years lying and betraying those “principles.”
For those of you who complain about electing phony Conservatives ... I suppose you want Mr. Conservative of the Year ? Jeb Bush... ahahahahahahahah
Trounce Trump — Toss Trump — GET JEB BUSH ... bottom line..
No, he hasn’t.
Trump is no conservative, but I wholeheartedly agree his damn the torpedoes attitude and even if he is unelectable given his high percentage of negatives, for now he’s exposed the rotten underbelly of GOP-e. Hopefully, the Trumpoonery will end at some point, and Cruz will rise to the top of the pack when lesser known candidates peel off.
I met Charles Cooke at the 1996 GOP Convention in San Diego. He admitted he and others in his profession are paid mercenaries.
Cooke doesn't like Bush either: Jeb Bush: The Wrong Name at the Wrong Time: He’s not the candidate Republicans need for 2016. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
I guess that's true of the rest of National Review as well. They don't like Trump, but they don't like Jeb much either.
Other than Ted Cruz, most of the rest of the field are devoid of the principles I’m looking for.
The Cheap Labor Express candidates principly want amnesty.
The GOP/RNC is determined to shove an amnesty candidate down our throat.
I’ll take Trump if I can’t have Cruz. At least he sees what the illegal alien inundation is doing to the nation.
¡Yeb!, Rubberio, NJFatBoy, La Raza Rick Perry, Flimsey Grahamnesty think becoming North Mexico is just grand.
They are profitting handsomely.
It’s only costing US our country.
You are setting up a false choice. We are not forced to choose between Trump on the one hand and Jeb on the other. There are at least two very reliable consistent conservatives in the race, Sen. Cruz. and Gov. Jindal. There is at least one other solid conservative in Gov. Walker. All that Trump is doing is stealing the support that would have formed around a real conservative.
Aye! They have betrayed the people. We are not voting for anyone they support!
All that being said, I'm glad he's out there stirring the pot.
I loved Byte. Even as magazines began to byte the dust, Big Time.
Cruz would be garnering the votes if it wasn’t for so many conservatives deciding to ditch their principles and vote for “the Donald”
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