Posted on 12/11/2015 10:35:06 AM PST by Steelfish
Trump Doesn’t Represent the Conservative Base Jonah Goldberg. Dec 11
There’s a tendency in politics to mistake personal animosity for ideological animosity. Consider Bill Clinton. His staggering dishonesty, tackiness, and scorn for the rule of law aroused a lot of anger from the Right. But he wasn’t really that left-wing. Oh, he was certainly more liberal in his heart than he let on, but he also worked from the assumption that this was a center-right country, and that limited what he could get away with. Clinton ran for president the first time by “triangulating†against the base of his own party. He took time off from the campaign to oversee the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, a man so mentally disabled, when he left for the electric chair, he told the guards that he was saving the pecan pie from his last meal “for later.†Clinton signed welfare reform (reluctantly), the Defense of Marriage Act (less reluctantly), helped to balance the budget, and proclaimed that “the era of big government is over.â€
And yet, many conservatives insisted he was a no-good hippy left-winger. George W. Bush ran on a platform of “compassionate conservatism.†Once elected, his first order of business was to work with Ted Kennedy on education. He passed the biggest expansion of entitlements in this country since the Great Society (Medicare Part D), increased the federal workforce, and increased federal spending per household. And yet, during his presidency — even before 9/11 — he was routinely called a heartless right-winger.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Jonah isn’t a committed American.
He is committed to the spoils of being a wordsmith of the GOPe which gets sums of money from the Opecker Princes, the ChiComs and criminals around the world to keep the bs going in the DC Beltway.
If the money suckers in charge of the National Review represent conservatism, then I am not a conservative.
Is the National Review still owned by Murdoch inc..?
Buckley Rule.
I don’t wish to be mean, but frankly neither does Jonah Goldberg much of the time or the National Review.
Trump comes at least as close as Dole, McCain, and Romney.
The 1st Kid Marco did with his new Senate position was join the Gang of Eight supporting Amnesty.
Go away, RINOs.
We’ll let you know how it worked out when we’re done.
He does and he's not.
"I am a conservative person. I am by nature a conservative person," the outspoken billionaire said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I never looked at putting a label on myself, I wasn't in politics."
"But if you look at my general attitudes in life I would certainly have the more conservative label put on me," he added.
So Romney did?
Says elitist Jonah?
I bet he’s all in for Bush?
I forgot, what is the Buckley Rule?
I’ll bet it goes something like, “a Republican candidate who is a true conservative will win every time.”
Close?
When you see a picture of Trump with Cruz, which one looks like the boss?
After 100 years of Progressives taking this country on the road to perdition, there is very little left to CONSERVE! Donald Trump has articulated the need for ACTION to Make America Great Again. Every action he has proposed will move us back to the conditions that are worthy of being CONSERVED! The problem with establishment conservatives such as Jonah is that they make their living PROMISING to DO SOMETHING about the sorry state of the country. However, the sad fact is that they have only slowed things down, not even stopped or reversed them. Only Donald Trump and Ted Cruz really understand the situation and the solution. Only Donald Trump is equipped to actually execute a recovery plan. Ted Cruz would be a excellent candidate to carry on the recovery after eight years of Trump. That is why I support a Trump/Cruz ticket.
Goldberg says some really good stuff that people could and should think about.
He is thought provoking. However no one on this site wants to think
FR has degenerated into a room of 12 year olds throwing spitballs.
Buckley Rule.
I think if he was alive today he would support Trump.
Why anyone thinks Trump is a conservative — OR THAT HE HAS TO BE — seems illogical. His history is as “The Deal Maker”. He has supported politicians on both sides of the aisle and held a variety of positions ranging from far right to far left and anything in between.
It appears to me that the folks supporting Trump aren’t all that concerned about his political bonafides — conservative or otherwise. One of the biggest attractions to Trump (if not *THE* biggest attraction) is that he flips the finger to both parties. He’s equally despised by both political parties.
He’s the “grudge” candidate.
Now it’s certainly more than just that — no one would support him if he was *only* the “grudge” candidate, so he has to do & say things in his “negotiation” with the voters. He’s working a deal. It’s what he does. So he can be expected to use all of his deal-making talents to close the sale. And we all know with Trump, it’s *all* about the deal. Do anything; Say anything; Be anything — just close the sale.
And so far it appears to be working to his advantage. Love him or hate him, you have to admire his ability to attract voters from both sides that, prior to this campaign, it would have been reasonably questionable to find them in agreement with his former political views/positions.
Well written.
This is why the Krauthammers are at a loss to understand.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/428354/donald-trump-muslim-ban-absurd
You know, during the last election cycle, we were being sold on what a top-notch, sturdy “conservative” that Paul Ryan was. He was put on the ticket to counterbalance, and calm down those that were worried over Romney’s liberalism. And what do we witness after the election? Ryan pushing for open-borders amnesty, funding Obamacare, blown-out budgets, and embracing homo-marriage. And “National Review” itself was on-board with the vast majority of this. Ditto FoxNews.
With stuff like this, even the term “conservatism” is subject to intense wariness. Maybe Trump doesn’t entirely reflect the base, but at this point, of being constantly lied to, constantly backstabbed, it doesn’t really matter anymore. I’m more apt to just go with someone who is guaranteed to knock over tables and totally alter the entire, corrupt paradigm. There gets to be a point where there is nothing left to lose. And looking at this country as it now exists, there is indeed nothing left to lose.
He may not be conservative but the old saying “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is probably what attracts Trump to folks on the right and what attracts the independents and the Reagan democrats.
The GOP and their minions really have no idea...
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