I don't believe in ideological purity tests when it comes to elections. I always prefer a conservative, but if I think a conservative is unelectable, I'll support a RINO over a Democrat. A lot of Freepers won't.
That being said, my problem with Trump isn't that he isn't an ideologically pure conservative. My problem is that I actually think he prefers big-government solutions in general. Not just a RINO who is wrong on some issues, but a guy who will generally be wrong on most issues.
A huge part of the problem we all seem to have in evaluating Trump is that we interpret his statements and positions differently. And since he's never held elective office, it makes it difficult to predict exactly what he's going to do. There is a lot of uncertainty regarding him. And some are essentially just trying to read between lines and say "I trust him".
For me, I'm willing to consider a guy like Trump without much of a track record. But if there are legitimate questions about a candidate without any political track record - and I think applies to Trump - then I believe that candidate is obliged to start being much more specific on his policy proposals.
Trump has refused to do that. He becomes deliberately vague when asked specifics, but I believe that given his lack of record and some questionable positions he has taken publicly in the past, that Republicans are owed more detailed, specific policy proposals so that we can know what the hell we're getting into if we elect him.
His failure to provide specifics during the GOP primary makes me incredibly nervous about where he really stands on a bunch of issues, particularly in light of some of his past statements. And I am extremely worried that he's doing what Obama did in 2008 -- avoiding specifics so he can be all things to as many people as possible, then do whatever the hell he wants when he gets in office.
Again, if people think that is an unfair evaluation of him, the power to correct that is something he possesses. Just start getting more specific on some of the specifics he's been ducking.
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All the GOP candidates left except Trump and Ben Carson have worked for the govt their whole lives - even when they were briefly in the private sector. So we have this cognitive dissonance where limited govt espousing conservatives are voting for govt employee lifers.
Even my wife, who rarely follows politics, has noticed this.
She said to me the other day that other than “I’ll build the wall”, Trump doesn’t say anything specific. Just that “It’s gonna be great”. He’ll have a “great” Obamacare replacement, he’ll get “great deals” against China, Mexico, etc. He’s going to make the military “great”, everything will be “great”, America will be “great”. Great in what way? Great how? He never specifies. He just let’s the listener fill in the blank of what they think great is, and they think that’s what Trump meant.
That’s a very fair assessment. IMO, it comes down to a gut call. Remembering, of course, that the options are not Trump or some theoretical perfect candidate.