"Pure conservative"

[stolinsky]

McCain wasn't a pure conservative, so we got Obama. Romney wasn't a pure conservative, so we got Obama again. Now we're hearing that Trump isn't a pure conservative. As a result, are we going to be stuck with Hillary for four years--and with her Supreme Court nominees for decades?

After Pearl Harbor, we fired the admiral and general in charge in Hawaii. But we kept the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington for a few months. He was a well-liked man known for mentoring young officers. But soon he was replaced by Admiral King. He was known to be abrasive and was feared by young officers. His own daughter said he was the most even-tempered officer in the Navy--always in a rage. But he had the reputation of getting thing done. He did. He remained at the head of our Navy through the victorious conclusion of the war. When he took over in Washington, he is said to have remarked, "When they get into trouble, the send for us SOBs"

His philosophy of leadership could be summed up by this story: When asked what his policy toward the press would be, he replied, "Tell them nothing. When the war is over, tell them who won."

Is Trump that kind of SOB? He very well might be. Is he a "pure conservative"? I don't care.

[Migraine]

Why did everyone reject Ted Cruz?

He was, and is, 100% unelectable (possible exception of Texas, we shall see in his Senate race). America won't tolerate a hardcore Christian, not least because we believe in Armageddon.

[FreedomStar3028]

He was a creep, a liar, and a creep.

He flew with Hillary/Obama and who knows what conversations went on during that flight, “Help us destroy Trump and we’ll get you the nomination in 2020.” I imagine something like that. Plus money.

[jmclemore]

At this point our country is so far left the moderates of the 90’s look like extremist. Seriously, I don’t think Bill Clinton (1992) could get the nominated or elected in 2016.

I’m voting for Trump but not because he’s a model of conservatism. It’s more for the fact that he has the nads to tell them to go love themselves , scares the crap out of both parties and has the media grasping for any piece of scandalous spaghetti that will stick to the wall.

Is Trump the right guy for the job? How the hell would I know. So far everyone of the people I voted for (in retrospect) proved marginal at best with a couple brownie points for effort but mostly a disappointing waste of opportunity.

I think Trump will prove to be pretty much a moderate. He’s Billionaire and probably wants to achieve the title of richest man on the planet. But, I think his real motives are centered around the heirs to his company and their ability to generate wealth. Unless he hates his children, he will seek to repeal or change regulations that choke the life out of companies. Perhaps the path he will cut for his family may be wider than we need but sufficient for ours.

If anyone thinks that a politician spent all their time, money, education, years of butkissing, etc just to wave the magic wand of government to make all of our wishes come true, they are delusional at best.... We are looking at candidates who only know their own needs and come with an agenda pre-installed to fulfill them. So the real choice is, which one of these selfish sphincter dwellers are heading the way we want to go. You don’t have to like the pilot or bus driver at a personal level. You only have to be confident that they will make it to your intended destination in one piece.

For Me, that is Trump 2016
Because Hillary and the democratic party, who appears to be everything for everyone, can’t find one thing to be for me.

[Edward.Fish]

McCain wasn't a pure conservative, so we got Obama. Romney wasn't a pure conservative, so we got Obama again. Now we're hearing that Trump isn't a pure conservative. As a result, are we going to be stuck with Hillary for four years--and with her Supreme Court nominees for decades?

1. Is McCain even a conservative at all?
2. Is Romney? (Highly doubtful, considering that policy-wise he was essentially Obama with an (R) by his name.)
3. What is conservative in this context? And what is being conserved?

In fact, if we look at the Republican Party as a whole, the question what is being conserved?/what are its goals? become something very different if you compare action to stated goals. If one were to name virtually anything that the party claims to be about, from government accountability to fiscal responsibility to Constitutionalism the Republican party fails by any measure on all counts.

Yes, there is no perfect candidate, but what experience has taught me is that loyalty is a one-way street so far as the party is concerned: if they offer up a candidate you just have to hold your nose and vote for him, but if you and I (the people) push a candidate then we're rebellious and have to be put in our place.

In short: it's not Republican vs. Democrat anymore, its the elite vs. Americans.

[reasonisfaith]

After hearing just a few of his campaign speeches, it became clear Cruz wasn’t honest.

[entropy12]

Cruz campaign was caught 5 times doing this:

1. Attempt to steal Carson’s votes in Iowa

2. Photoshop Ad about Rubio and Obama

3. Phony Ad about Rubio comment on the bible

4. Phony push poll Ads in SC about Trump.

5. Failed to declare very low interest loans from Goldman Sachs.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cd7CWXkUUAAyu62.jpg

[nathanbedford]

Yours is the only post so far that actually specifies charges against Ted Cruz but I must be careful in responding to it because it is not clear that mere defense of Ted Cruz without attacking Trump is cause for another zot.

Sending “Voter Violations” notices to potential voters (and their neighbors) in Iowa.....

Absolutely nothing wrong with that, the notices did not do anything more than encourage people to vote, did not encourage people to vote against trunk or for Cruz.

his people saying Ben Carson dropped out of the race before the Iowa caucus when Carson had not

But after Carson had spoken as though he had backed out and, of course, did eventually back out. An entirely normal reaction to the poorly fashioned statement made by Dr. Carson and entirely within the bounds of fair campaigning done within hectic minutes of the announcement.

blaming Trump supporters for the Soros-funded riot in Chicago which caused a Trump rally to be cancelled

I have no recollection of that happening.

his campaign manager buying 16-year old modeling photos of Melania and distributing them in Utah before the primary; Really? Do you mean nude photos that had been already featured on the cover of a national magazine?

That's it? These are the reasons why we threw over a real conservative?

[Innovative]

The choice is definitely: Trump or Clinton.

Any conservative not supporting and voting for Trump is helping Hillary become president.

[Caipirabob]

Why did everyone reject Ted Cruz? I know people are p*ssed at him because of his not endorsing Trump, but prior to that, there was little support here.

Hi Joann37, we supported Ted Cruz right through January. Our problems came from the reported and confirmed issues with how his campaign was being run, the behavior of his people and his responses to bad behavior of his people. We were disappointed that he fell into the the "Trump attack trap" that was so completely obvious to many of us donating to his campaign. It was a desperate act out of bad campaign management. Later, he confirmed our fears with his childlike responses to Trump winning.

Finally when he withheld his endorsement of Trump, we wrote him off forever. There is something irrational compelling his behavior and if there is one thing that sticks out to me with many people, it's dysfunctional behavior. We really try to avoid the bad ones. It really showed here. I don't want to support him any more following what he revealed about himself during the campaign.

[Bigg Red]

Thanks for that thoughtful response. Sounds like my experience was similar to yours. So disappointed in Cruz.

Trump is most definitely not a socon like me,but if all he accomplishes is securing the border he will have done a lot. I view him as our only chance to interrupt the globalists’ chess game. If Hitlery wins, the USA is finished.

[Dr. Sivana]

Why did everyone reject Ted Cruz? I know people are p*ssed at him because of his not endorsing Trump, but prior to that, there was little support here.

I thought the guy was 100% true conservative, and Christian. And he knew the Constitution, history and the issues inside out. He could have run circles around Hillary in the upcoming debates.

We just got past the point where Cruz was invoked in a negative way, and as a former Cruz supporter I suggested this was not helpful.

This is NOT the time to bring up "why didn't we support Cruz?" Cruz did NOT help his own efforts by suggesting that Trump was responsible for lefties disrupting Trump events. He also did not fully denounce Liz Mairs' freelance attacks on Melania Trump. Finally, his "vote your conscience" bit at the convention was the wrong play.

Do these have to do with policy? No. But this is not 1996, and supporting Trump does not mean abandoning Cruz full spectrum conservativism for the long haul. Pence is an EXCELLENT representative of full-spectrum conservatism without primary baggage.

Trump's list of Supreme Court picks is solid. Trump is a nationalist, and has no designs to cut conservatives out in the process of remaking the Republican brand, which means kicking out the Bushes and the Romneys, and embracing a more populist/nationalist tone.

After President Trump gets sworn in, we have an opportunity to keep those snobby, snotty apparatchiks and their money once and for all.

[Dr. Sivana]

blaming Trump supporters for the Soros-funded riot in Chicago which caused a Trump rally to be cancelled

I have no recollection of that happening.

I do. It was one of the few things that Cruz did that caused Rush Limbaugh to spend an entire segment against something Cruz did.

[nathanbedford]

As I said, I have no such recollection but I do have a recollection of Ted Cruz criticizing Trump, not his followers, but the man himself for his own words. If that is the case and if that is the incident to which you are referring, it's an entirely different matter than that which was outlined in a preceding post.

[nathanbedford]

This does not answer Nathan’s question

[Dr. Sivana]

As I said, I have no such recollection but I do have a recollection of Ted Cruz criticizing Trump, not his followers, but the man himself for his own words.

There are plenty of things that Trump has said that any of us can take issue with. In this case, Cruz was blaming Trump for the disruption, rather than the perpetrators. That is the left's line.

Trump erred in Wisconsin by suggesting that Scott Walker should have raised taxes, and that he wsn't doing a very good job and the state wasn't doing well. That was also the left's line, and Trump was wrong to be persuaded to use it, especially since it was wrong.

Anyway, we have Trump, who doesn't bring full-spectrum conservativism, and doesn't have philosophical underpinnings. By himself, he doesn't have the basis for rebuilding and strengthening conservatism. He brings to the table a variety of good things that Cruz would not. He puts northern industrial states into play, and he is drawing people from demographic groups who would not otherwise consider the Republican Party. He is unapologetically nationalist and expands the areas open for debate and discussion. The vulgariation of the campaigns, and the office, started with Clinton and was going to continue for good or ill. We have someone who can ride that tiger.

[Dr. Sivana]

This does not answer Nathan’s question

I apologize for concentrationg on the event (Chicago rally) rather than the dichotomy between Trump and his supporters. Here is a key Cruz line:

“I think a campaign bears responsibility for creating an environment, when the candidate urges supporters to engage in physical violence–to punch people in the face. The predictable consequence of that is that it escalates and today is unlikely to be the last such instance,” Cruz said in a sorrowful tone. (http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/11/ted-cruz-says-violence-at-trumps-canceled-chicago-rally-starts-at-the-top/)

So, no, he didn't say that the Cruz supporters were violent, though you wouldn;t have to read a lot into it. He did blame Trump for "creating the environment" which to me allows the Alinskyites to dictate terms of the campaign. These folks (I lived in Wisconsin and Chicago, and know their triggers fairly well) are looking for a trigger and will lower the threshold as low as necessary to provide that response. If Trump weren't the candidate, it could have happened at Cruz rallies.

We all recall the violence against peaceful tea party ralliers a few years ago. Outside of our own echo chambers, it wasn't heard about very much. In fact, the tea partiers were STILL described in terms as if they might be violent. Cruz' response was errant, and it certainly didn't help him. I was with Cruz until Indiana, and he has much right with him. But his wrong judgments are his wrong judgments.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

My lack of support was simple. I could not support someone who was clearly NOT a Natural Born Citizen for president just because he had an -R after his name. I have spent eight years pointing out that Obama was not eligible for that exact same reason.

I may be a bit strange but I will not be a hypocrite.

[TheStickman]

Cruz is a fraud & a globalist who revealed his true nature during the primaries. Thanks be to God Trump crushed him & gave him the platform at the convention to sabotage his political career.

Vote Trump 2016

[HotHunt]

What many people don't seemed to understand, that in this dire period of American history, where our founding freedoms and liberties are at stake, you are not going to find an existing politician to do the heavy lifting that will have to be done to turn this huge aircraft carrier of a country around. We need a leader from outside, not already mired in the uni-party that our nation's capitol has become.

This is a perfect time for a Donald Trump and Donald Trump is perfect to fit the bill for who we need to start to straighten out this mess in Washington.

An unassertive, timid Casper Milquetoast, is not who we need at time like this. We need a politically incorrect, confident, assertive leader who will swing for the outfield fences. And in the process, he may strike out a few times, as big-hitter tend to do, but he will also hit some magnificent home runs that will knock the liberal, Marxist, Left back on its haunches.

[going hot]

He could have run circles around Hillary in the upcoming debates.

Those that he ran around D trump were not circles.

He looked good on paper, the perfect model. Then he went and opened his mouth....