I haven't defended Trump. In fact, I have said just the opposite. I'd point you to this thread, where I said (when talking about the similarities between Romney & Trump)...
"I think that they are, for all practical purposes, completely indistinguishable. In fact, socially, Romney is perhaps a bit more conservative than Trump considering Romney isn't on his third wife.Trump is popular because of the birther issue. That's it. And, I think it goes to show what a vacuous issue it is as a great number of its adherents can be so easily and QUICKLY fooled by someone who preaches the same.
Trump would be the LEAST conservative candidate in the field, and yet he's leading all comers. Why is that?
I think we can look to Mr. PT Barnum for our answer, sadly."
And, in another thread, I said this...
Two weeks ago, I was convinced Trump was doing this just for personal gain and ego embellishment. Well, now I think there's a reasonable chance that he believes his own BS; Maybe he is going to run.Trump, could wreak unbridled havoc on the Republican Party - some of that havoc could be beneficial, and some of it could be unsurvivable. I saw an analysis recently that said he could stand in the OH, FL (and I think) AZ primaries, lose and then go onto run as an independent on those ballots because their sore loser laws are written with gaping loopholes. Trump as a Indy/3rd party guarantees Obama's victory. That, of course, is bad.
Trump would quite likely be a disastrous president, and certainly not any kind of orthodox conservative. BUT, he would be a heap load better than four more years of Obama. Should Trump do the undo-able and actually win the nomination (and select someone like West), I think I'd cross both fingers and vote for him.
These are hardly "defensive" comments about Donald Trump. They, however, an examination of what might happen and why it might happen. That's it.
Granted, I haven't read ALL your posts on the Trump issue. Always willing to give the benefit of the doubt. However, just from the amount of time you spent analyzing, evaluating and just pontificating on the Trump issue, its hard seeing your efforts as totally impartial.
Call me skeptical. Call me unconvinced.
After all, as you said, "Perception is reality".