I am exactly where you are.
My time in the conservative movement goes back to Goldwater in 1964 and his "Conscience of a Conservative." We are talking about a time before the ascendancy of Reagan to the governorship of CA in 1966, and watching Nixon beat back the domestic anti-Vietnam communists in two electoral wins in 1968 and 1972.
I am talking about a time 16 years before Ronald Reagan finally won his first landslide in 1980.
I am talking about a time 32 years before FreeRepublic was launched.
Some of us have been both in the trenches and carrying the flame of conservatism for a very long time. With the exception of Reagan we've been betrayed and poorly led for decades.
Trump has not been a conservative in both word and deed for very long, but I believe he can do significant damage to both the (D)s and the GOPe who have sold out America for their own parochial interests for far too long.
Pavlich and Sasse are correct to say Trump is not conservative - and by that I mean a "movement conservative" like myself. The savaging of many movement conservatives by "Johnny-come-lately's" on this board has been galling in fact.
When Cruz said "Vote your Conscience," I heard, "Vote the 'Conscience of a Conservative.'" I am betting a lot of movement conservatives did too, and we are all smart enough to know we have only one choice this Fall and that that one choice is Trump.
Trump may not yet have the "Conscience of a Conservative" as I might prefer, but there is still time for him to mature under the tutelage of folks like Mike Pence and Jeff Sessions.
Trump should consider mending fences with Cruz. Trump was able to walk back a few things with Kelly, when she did her 1-on-1 interview with him later in TrumpTower, and I think he could do so with Cruz too. A public hand shake would go a long way and would rally the party faithful.
At the moment Trump appears to be more interested wooing the disaffected Bernie supporters than the Cruz supporters, who as represented at the Convention amounted to 25% of those who would and could be his base. Trump could make good use of Cruz's superior ground organization.
Point is this: I believe Trump can with time become movement conservative once given the power to trash those RINOs in the GOPe who have been holding back the progress of movement conservatism for generations every bit as much as any (D) has.
And in this way, I am hopeful for Trump and for his resounding victory this fall.
Let it start with mending fences.
FReegards!
