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)
Absolutely...If he can secure the border that will show us he cares deeply about our Nation...And if he can get some of the jobs back from China and Mexico that will show us that he cares deeply about the people of the Nation...
Conservative, Liberal??? Who cares...You guys are so far out of it...We are way beyond Conservative and Liberal...
ONe thing that was comical in the debate was the other candidates and moderators try to belittle Trump by implying that he, like Bernie is in favor of socialized medicine...
But Trump, like me has enough compassion that he says he's not going to let a homeless veteran die on the street because the Vet can't afford healthcare...According to Donald the gov't is going to pay to get that man healed...And that is not the conservative position, is it...
I couldn't care less about your conservatism...Hyper conservative Cruz is at 14% and Trump is at 40%...
You think you can shame us or anyone else into turning against Trump for not being your type of conservative??? Not a chance sucker...We know you guys would vote for Rubio or Bush before you would vote for Trump...Your kind of conservatism sucks...That's why Bush is staying in the race...He knows he's got you guys when Cruz bails out...
Yes we have...We keep telling you that...We just don't care about your conservatism...We're about to save the country and if it takes a little liberalism or libertarianism so be it...We just don't care...
Now yer gettin' it...
You seem to be hung up on third grade for some reason. Are you sure you’re not one of those pedophile preverts?
Tell ya what, why don’t you go back to your GOPe masters and get a cookie. And take a nap along side little Jeb!bie.
K?
Bye!
Trump is going to make the illegal situation worse by expediting “the good ones” back in. We will then have millions of new Democrat voters and our country will be lost through Trump’s touch back amnesty.
Cruz is the only one who says he will deport them and not let them back in. Anything else is insane.
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