Posted on 03/09/2016 11:53:07 AM PST by Kaslin
Donald Trump's candidacy is scary.
Trump isn't frightening because he's anything special personally. He's just a warmed-over mash-up of Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot, a spoiled brat billionaire eccentric with a history of position flipping and bullying foolishness. He has authoritarian tendencies on a personal level, and no awareness of the Constitution or its importance. In other words, he's Barack Obama if Obama weren't ideologically driven and suddenly experienced a precipitous drop in IQ.
So what's so scary about Trump?
First, the idolatry of a certain segment of his following. Trump has drawn some of the worst elements of American life to his campaign. To be sure, most of his supporters are decent Americans who find his approach to politics a revelation: He's an outsider, someone who will "get things done." Some of his followers identify with his hard-line position on illegal immigration and his dislike of free trade, even though Trump could flip those positions in a heartbeat if he felt the political necessity to do so.
But some of Trump's supporters go beyond that. Some are driven by the pure worship of the strong man. Like Obama's cultish support base, some Trump supporters are willing to follow him anywhere, to justify any misbehavior, to view any opposition to Trump as a sort of irreligious disloyalty. When Trump asked voters to hold up their right arms and pledge their allegiance to him, media mocked him as a Hitlerian figure. He's no Hitler -- he's not nearly as smart, as ideologically consistent, or as dangerous. He's a barroom prince. Instead, we should be concerned with the increasing tendency of Americans, both left and right, to hero-worship politicians to the point of blindness.
Which leads to the second reason Trump should concern conservatives: his appeal to nasty causes. Trump desperately wants popularity. He gauges his success by the size of his crowds, his success in the polls, and the compliments he receives in the press. He'll talk up Russian dictator thug Vladimir Putin so long as Putin calls him "brilliant." And he'll go easy on former KKK leader David Duke if Duke endorses him. Trump's lack of moral principle makes him an easy mark for some of the worst people on the planet. Combine the fact that he is drawn to those who would manipulate him with the fact that he has a worshipful crowd following him, and it's not difficult to see how the Trump movement ends in tragedy.
Finally, conservatives should oppose Trump full-throatedly because he's perverting conservatism. Even as he cultivates idolatry and massages white supremacists and global tyrants, Trump proclaims that he's a conservative. Many of us who have spent a lifetime fighting against the false notion that conservatism is a toxic brew of secret racism and fascism; Trump's rise provides easy fodder for the opposition. And his followers refuse to acknowledge that Trump has little to do with conservatism. Instead, they allow him to use the mantle of Lincoln and Reagan and the founders to shield his own egocentric rise from criticism.
Trump's no conservative -- he's a leftist at heart, a man convinced of his own power, a man willing to abandon all principle to serve himself and his allies. His followers think they're his allies, but that only lasts so long as they follow him. Yes, conservatives should fear Trump's rise. And they should resist it however and wherever possible.
No one can be certain where Trump will lead us...We know where we have been and we know where we are going and neither one is acceptable...
Unlike the rest of them, Trump acknowledges the trouble we're in...I figure the worst Trump can do will be better than the alternative...
Trump's vocabulary and simplistic ideas change dramatically when he's one on one in a media interview...
Trump does not advocate that...Trump supports 'fair' trade where we can compete against other countries...
Amen to what you said!!!
I think you've got that one wrong. It's the so called "conservative establishment" that has done that. They speak the language, claim to be the definers of what is and what is not conservative, then nothing conservative ever gets done. At least not since Reagan.
I'm a Reagan conservative, and I see how the word and the movement have been co opted. Nothing gets done because so called conservatives are cowed into political correctness, cowed by the money they have to raise from donors that want them to do something else, cowed by the media, cowed by being called racist, and frankly they've been somewhat neutered by it all.
Trump is not a movement conservative, but he's the most conservative of all the candidates in the following areas:
1. Illegals and the border.
2. The war against Islam and the so called immigrant invasion.
3. The military and vets.
4. The economy, taxes, jobs and growth(okay, I'll concede a tie, but no less).
5. The repeal of Obamacare (once again, a tie).
6. Pro US, patriotic, nationalistic.
His finest quality is his executive experience. Unlike senators, who have little, business people have to make decisions every hour of every day, weighing pros and cons and acting or their companies get worse. He knows how to get things done, and expects it of his managers and employees, and rewards them when they do so. I have a feeling you might not understand that, and apologize if you do.
I don't think he's perfect, nor do I like some of the things he does, but you really need to reconsider the things you say about him, because a lot of them are exaggerations or simply not true. I know he is likely to miss some things we would like when he gets elected, we'll probably be bitten in the butt multiple times.
But we already have been by your preferred candidate. And most of those who called themselves conservatives.
My suggestion, is fight for your guy, but you might want to give it a rest, it's unhealthy for you to be so crazy for your candidate. He's not perfect, far from it. I like him still, but find him to be not as good as Trump. There are good reasons for that.
Very nice. Thanks for that and I agree.
I agree
Salem radio’s Pajama Boy Ben strikes again.
“A candidate for the office for the leader of the world should not use cuss words in public”
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2006-07-22/news/0607220322_1_truman-president-bush-white-house
Harry Truman turned the air blue with his use of “son of a bitch,” especially when discussing anything that had to do with Gen. Douglas MacArthur, whom he later fired and relieved of his command.
In 1949, his military aide, Maj. Gen. Harry H. Vaughan, came under criticism after accepting a medal from Argentine dictator Juan Peron.
In a speech defending the general, Truman said, “If any s.o.b. thinks he is going to get any member of my staff or Cabinet changed by some smart-aleck statement over the air, he’s mistaken.”
However, in an interesting historical twist, s.o.b. was purged from the official transcript of Truman’s remarks by the White House.
“The special circumstance that the President took the precaution to employ only the initials is beside the point. That kind of euphemism fools no one,” said an editorial in The Sun at the time. “Granted the extenuations, it still remains true that a special obligation rests upon the President of the United States to guard his public speech. In insisting on this, the rest of us have a right to be somewhat Pecksniffian.
“After all, Mr. Truman represents not only those who drink and swear and play the races; he also represents those faithfully following the advice of Polonius: `Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.’”
Washington Post critic Paul Hume got Truman’s steam up when he panned the singing of the president’s daughter, Margaret, at a Constitution Hall performance.
“Someday I hope to meet you,” Truman fumed in a 150-word handwritten letter. “When that happens, you’ll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes and perhaps a supporter below.”
“A flood of letters-to-the-editor in papers across the country expressed shock over the President’s `uncouthness,’ his lack of self-control,” wrote David McCullough in his 1992 book Truman.
“After Truman referred to something as `Republican manure,’ a prim and proper friend asked Mrs. Truman whether she could get Harry to do something about his language and stop using the word manure,” recalled Theo Lippman Jr., a retired editorial writer for The Sun and author. “Mrs. Truman replied that it had taken her a lot of time to get her husband to use it in the first place.”
“Donald Trump graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and anthropology. Mensa doesn’t accept SAT scores from after 1994. However Mr Trump was a student at Wharton when it was possible to derive an accurate IQ core from known SAT scores. Given the usual requirements for admission to a top school like Wharton, I estimate that Mr. Trump has a 156 IQ at the minimum.”
The word ‘fair’ is an ambiguous term at best an excuse for all manner of poor choices. It should set off alarm bells every time it’s used.
Words have power and ‘fair’ may be one of the most powerful ones. Not because it has meaning but because it forces the reader/listener to determine what ‘fair’ means to them at that instant in time. Everyone wants things to be ‘fair’. The teenager thinks is ‘fair’ that they get to skip chores for weeks because they have other things they want to do and it’s not ‘fair’ that they have to clean up after everyone else anyway. The parent’s view of ‘fair’ is completely different.
‘Fair’ is a tool of the left and should not be used in polite company.
Conservatism was perverted by the Cheap Labor Express a long time ago, way before Trump came along.
Have you written your opus yet when Trump gets the nomination? I can help with it if you like.
Conservatism means: “I live in a gated community and my illegal house keeper is really nice.”
Actually, I think the real risk is that if Trump were to win and become a successful president, it would demonstrate that some issues important to principled conservatives helped hold the GOP back for the last 15+ years.
If he can stay “conservative enough” while being a little more loose on some issues, be successful, and have broad support & appeal, it shows that you can win nationally as a GOPer without being tied down to some positions.
The thing is, it’s pretty clear that the GOP’s current approach hasn’t been a winner and won’t b a winner anytime soon. Cruz or Rubio don’t change the 2012 electoral map enough. Some states are simply out of reach unless something changes.
Do you want 70% of conservative goals mixed with 30% of liberal triumphs? Would you take 50-50? I really believe that’s the best we can hope for for the next half century, at least.
B.S. article that speculates on IQ based on SAT scores... and then fails to cite Trump’s actual SAT scores. Yes, we know all about Wharton, but we also know that Trump transferred in there. He wasn’t a freshman admit. SAT is relevant for freshman applicants. Transferring into a college usually is based on grades at the previous college. What was the median SAT at Fordham where Trump actually began?
Anyone know a good vendor for brown button down shirts shits and Trump armbands?
“B.S. article that speculates on IQ based on SAT scores.”
Maybe... but how is it any more B.S. than whatever (undescribed) method you used to estimate that his IQ is 115?
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