Posted on 02/07/2016 1:39:56 PM PST by conservativejoy
In the latest debate Donald Trump made it clear, once again, that not only he is not conservative, but he has absolutely no idea what conservatism is. When asked to define conservative, Trump, who usually gives expansive answers, could only manage to speak for less than 30 seconds before running out of ammo. His answer was that "Conservatism means... to conserve... your wealth".
That's not what conservatism is. A two year transfer student into Wharton College (with an uncle in MIT) should be able to give a better answer than that. Marco Rubio, perspiring like a fire hydrant, nonetheless came closer to the mark with his canned answer to the same question: "Conservatism means limited government, free enterprise, and a strong national defense." And he (or whoever prepared him with that answer) is right. Conservatism is about advocating the liberty of the individual and preventing the government from encrouching on it. Conservatism is about protecting private property rights and giving businesses the opportunity to grow without the stranglehold of regulation. It's also about protecting our country with a strong national defense. And, although it didn't occur to Marco or his debate prep team, it's also about adhering to what's in the Constitution.
But Donald Trump didn't raise any of these points. Since he's not and never been a conservative, he knows no more about conservatism than he knows about 'two corinthians'.
But this will not hurt him, because Trump's supporters, by and large, are not conservatives. It seems like a reason that he underperformed in Iowa was that he was competing with Marco Rubio for presumably more moderate voters, and when Marco Rubio surged, it was at Trump's expense.
If Trump supporters are not conservative, what are they? Well, polls have shown they are likely to be less educated than supporters of other candidates, but that doesn't really get to ideology.
Talk show host Mark Levin calls them "agrarian national populists", because of Trump's support for government regulation and subsidies for ethanol. While Trump compares himself to Ronald Reagan, Mark Levin compares him to Richard Nixon, not for Nixon's criminality, but for Nixon's ideological flexibility.
"This is this populism thing," he said. "It's not populism. It's pandering. And let me tell you something else - if you believe in our constitutional system and people say they do, the Constitution is not about populism. It's not about pluralism. It's about liberty. You cannot have a majority of people voting whether or not you have unalienable rights. You have unalienable rights no matter what anybody says. They belong to you. Are we supposed to shred it? Are we supposed to give it up? Is that ideological purity, a phrase that everybody is throwing around now? No we want 1980, not 1968 - 1980, not 1968. We're not ideological purists. We're conservatives."
In the past I've compared Trump supporters to "whateverists", the cult of personality around Chairman Mao who approved of whatever Chairman Mao said because they were so enthralled with Mao. To a lesser extent, this kind of cult of personality is what draws in Trump supporters and makes issues such as "conservatism" and "constitutionalism" irrelevant.
Exit question: If you support Donald Trump, as long as he secures the border, are you content to let him do whatever he thinks is right, even if that isn't defined before he gets elected?
(Abridged version originally published in American Thinker)
“Trump Think Conservatism Mean “Conserving Your Wealth”
He think that? It mean that? Ug! We use cave man talk!
Actual title:
Trump thinks Conservatism means “conserving your wealth”
Try copy-and-paste rather that re-writing headlines in broken English.
Me think that work more good for you. Ug.
So you don’t think Americans should create and conserve wealth. Bernie Sanders is looking for supporters like you.
You wouldn’t know ‘conservative’ if it hit you up side your leftist head.
Hey Donald, would you like ot give us your breakdown of the word "ASSUME" too?
How an Obscure Adviser to Pat Buchanan Predicted the Wild Trump Campaign in 1996
The Week dot com ^ | Michael Brendan Dougherty
Posted on 1/20/2016, 2:17:11 AM by WayneLusvardi
Imagine giving this advice to a Republican presidential candidate: What if you stopped calling yourself a conservative and instead just promised to make America great again?
What if you dropped all this leftover 19th-century piety about the free market and promised to fight the elites who were selling out American jobs?
What if you just stopped talking about reforming Medicare and Social Security and instead said that the elites were failing to deliver better healthcare at a reasonable price?
What if, instead of vainly talking about restoring the place of religion in society something that appeals only to a narrow slice of Middle America. You simply promised to restore the Middle American core, the economic and cultural losers of globalization to their rightful place in America?
What if you said you would re store them as the chief clients of the American state under your watch, being mindful of their interests when regulating the economy or negotiating trade deals?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3385923/posts
He wasn’t wrong. But you’ll never convince GOPe shill to think otherwise.
LOL!!!!
[snip]
Hey. We voters are a lot smarter than the candidates seem to think! At least Trump is campaigning on prosperity. That said, as I pointed out here Trump's proposed tax "reform" has been neutrally scored by the Tax Foundation as a $10T deficit bomb (and skewed toward the wealthy). Hello Tea Party?
As to his monetary policy, as I pointed out here, Mr. Trump criticized Fed Chair Janet Yellen before she raised the discount rate for failing to raise interest rates while, in the next breath, claiming that raising interest rates was a recipe for "a recession-slash-depression." Come in, Houston: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
Meanwhile, Cruz's proposal to replace the tax code with a 10% flat tax (with ample exemptions for working families), coupled with a Business Transfer Tax, has been scored by the neutral Tax Foundation as close to deficit neutral and beneficial to every level of worker, from us Gilligans to the Thurston Howell IIIs (and Loveys), across-the-board. Very Reaganesque and unsurprisingly so, having been architected by Arthur Laffer, one of the premier minds behind the Reagan tax rate cuts.
On monetary policy, Cruz has called for the gold standard, which I have called a very good idea and the best idea - for restoring prosperity - in the presidential debate. Cruz would be insulated from attacks by Trump because Trump has spoken sympathetically, albeit ignorantly, about the gold standard. Trump, on WMUR last year: ...
[snip]
You are so disingenuously full of ____ , it was a debate with very limited time to answer a question. His answer was great!
Um, do we actually have any gold to go on the standard with? You never know. The last supposed audit of Ft. Knox was back in the 80’s I think. And where are we going to come up with $19T of the stuff.
I doubt Trump could recite the Preamble.
Can you say Corker? Ignorance can be remedied, unfortunately willful ignorance is almost always incurable.
Knowing what is right is not the hard part, doing what is right, is.
He’s a fiscal conservative. You have a problem with that? Take a break, btw, your fingers will thank you.
Here is the Trump transcript: Moderator: Mr. Trump, You have heard the argument that you are not a Conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are.
Trump: Well I think I am and I view the word Conservative as a derivative of the word "conserve". We want to conserve our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to be smart. We want to be smart when we go to spend, we want to save our country and we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it. It's something I believe very strongly.
End transcript
Good Grief. A third grader could have given a better answer thsn that.
For Trump everything is all about money.
MUIR: Governor Kasich, thank you. Mr. Trump, you've heard the argument from many of the candidates on this stage that you're not a true conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are.
TRUMP: Well, I think I am, and to me, I view the word conservative as a derivative I - of - of the word conserve. We want to converse our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to conserve. We want to be smart. We want to be smart where we go, where we spend, how we spend. We want to conserve our country. We want to save our country. And we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it, and it's a very important word and it's something I believe in very, very strongly.
Here is the Trump transcript: Moderator: Mr. Trump, You have heard the argument that you are not a Conservative. Tell the voters watching tonight why you are.
Trump: Well I think I am and I view the word Conservative as a derivative of the word “conserve”. We want to conserve our money. We want to conserve our wealth. We want to be smart. We want to be smart when we go to spend, we want to save our country and we have people that have no idea how to do that and they are not doing it. It’s something I believe very strongly.
End transcript
Trump knows what political conservatism is, he just wants to change the definition so he can fit under the banner. As great as Trump is in handling the MSM, people who support him have not really listened to him on his positions. He is not conservative.
It was a stupid question. No?
Your statement says absolutely nothing except that they’re apples and oranges.
Heap big trouble with “s” on keyboard, Kimosabe. :)
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