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Who is Donald Trump, Really?
Texas GOP Vote ^ | December 1, 2015 at 8:14 AM | Tom Donelson

Posted on 01/15/2016 11:38:31 AM PST by TBP

Byron York had an interesting piece on Donald Trump that is worth reading. At least anyone who might be interested in the real Donald Trump. Trump appeared in front of the “non-partisan” No Labels group who desperately wants candidates that will “compromise” even though it is never clear what compromises will result in.

Donald Trump told this group, "Let me just tell you, the word compromise is not a bad word to me. I like the word compromise. We need compromise, there is nothing wrong with compromise, but it's always good to compromise and win. Meaning, let's compromise and win." Can you imagine the reaction of Trump’s supporters if a Marco Rubio actually met with this group and said this? The cries of RINO would arise and say that Rubio is nothing but a tool of the Establishment.

York's thesis is that Trump is prone to saying outrageous things or beginning with outrageous positions so he can get what he wants. This is Trump the deal maker who understands you won’t get all that you want so you start with many positions that you know you can throw away to get what you want in negotiations.

As American Enterprise Institute Marc Thiessen noted, a portion of Trump’s plan on immigration is actually an idea that came from Texas Moderate Senator Kay Baily Hutchison, who proposed Trump's “touchback” in which you deport millions of immigrants to let them back in. You can decide whether this is a practical plan, but make no mistake, under Trump’s reform, the vast majority of illegal today will still be here after his reforms. This means that the results will be no different than a President Rubio or a President Bush. If you don’t believe me, listen to Trump’s own words when he told CNN's Dana Bash, “I would get people out and then have an expedited way of getting them back into the country so they can be legal…. A lot of these people are helping us … and sometimes it’s jobs a citizen of the United States doesn’t want to do. I want to move ’em out, and we’re going to move ’em back in and let them be legal.”

I have already made the case that Trump’s plan is laying the basis for Republican compromise on immigration, and I am not the only one as National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru has made the same observations. Nor is that the only area that Trump will compromise on. As I have mentioned in past posts, moderate and liberal Democrats and conservatives have all agreed that any tax reforms will include lower marginal rates and fewer deductions since 2009. Even the President's own commission under moderate Republican Alan Simpson and liberal Democrat Erskine Bowles agreed with this consensus and Trump's own tax plans follow along those same lines. Trump's tax plans also have been sold as a boon for the Middle Class, using language similar to what Marco Rubio has said about his plan. (There are differences in details but Trump’s tax plans are part of what the real consensus truly is.)

Trump has set the stage for his own version of the big compromise on both taxes and spending if elected, and his foreign policy is closer to the left than the right as he has supported the leftist position that much of the Middle East's problems are Bush’s fault and not Obama's handling of foreign policies, even though he has criticized Obama's deal making skills. In attacking Obama’s deal making skills, he has not really attacked the basis of Obama’s foreign policies. In the case of the Iranian deal, he has made it clear that he would not ditch the deal but simply “renegotiate” the deal. And his protectionist trade views are in line not just with the populist right but also the hard left.

The reality for Republican voters is that Trump is the most centrist candidate we have running, if you chose to read what he actually says as opposed to the image he projects. My own view of Trump is that of a business man who loves to make money; he has an instinct for conservative ideas but he is not the conservative that Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio is. Trump doesn’t keep a copy of F.A. Hayek in his back pocket, and over the past decade, he has taken positions that are to the left of the GOP and other times, he sounds like the hard core right wing. If you look at Trump’s supporters, they are more politically moderate than Rubio’s or Cruz's supports, and they are more blue-collar. They are not traditionally conservative but he is building a broader center-right coalition, leaving the question of will that be enough? And a Trump Presidency will be a centrist administration with something for everyone, but will it be a conservative administration? That is a question that one can’t fully answer.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: 1800goldmansachs; 2016trump; cheappolitician; election2016; flipflop; liberal; opportunist; progressive; tds; thedonald; trump; trumpprogressive; typicalpolitician; usualsuspects
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Trump's "progressive" record makes him a curious choice for conservatives. It sounds like the record of an Establishment Republican and a typical politician.
1 posted on 01/15/2016 11:38:31 AM PST by TBP
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To: TBP

who is he? Your next president.


2 posted on 01/15/2016 11:40:31 AM PST by sparklite2 ( "The white man is the Jew of Liberal Fascism." -Jonah Goldberg)
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To: TBP

Well, we know more about him than our current resident in the peoples house.


3 posted on 01/15/2016 11:40:33 AM PST by WakeUpAndVote
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To: sparklite2

“who is he? Your next president.”

X2


4 posted on 01/15/2016 11:41:23 AM PST by paintriot
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To: TBP
Who is Donald Trump, Really?

A MEDIA-MASTER and NEXT PRESIDENT of the U.S.

5 posted on 01/15/2016 11:43:30 AM PST by VideoDoctor
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To: TBP

I went from being excited about Trump to having no respect for him in a period of just over a week. I suspect that others feel the same way.

Am very disappointed in the Freepers that are saying Cruz bashed the memory of 911 etc, they prove they have no value as far as I am concerned, I would not welcome any of you in my home, you would not be welcome.

Same goes for people here feigning outrage over the term NY Values... I am ashamed of you absolutely


6 posted on 01/15/2016 11:44:48 AM PST by Chauncey Uppercrust (CRUZ 2016 OR BUST Trump supporters love NY VALUES)
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To: TBP

His “Conservative” supporters like his outrageous anger because they are angry.
And while they are very absorbed with the law regarding Cruz; birth
which will not give them what they want, BTW
They ignore that their candidate openly admits to bribing public
offices for greed and avarice.
“Well he had to” one told me. No, he didn’t. He could have been
honest and honorable and less wealthy. He did it because he was greedy.
He learned it from his father who was openly hated by Pres. Eisenhower because he manipulated the
system and took money from Federal Housing Projects, including for Vets. In his Congressional testimony he was
as outrageous as the son.


7 posted on 01/15/2016 11:44:56 AM PST by Calpublican (A.G. Lynch: The intent of this statement is to incite violence against radical Islam)
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To: TBP

If Trump becomes President don’t expect him to function as a conservative. Candidate and President will likely be 2 different people.


8 posted on 01/15/2016 11:45:51 AM PST by ryan71 (Bibles, Beans and Bullets)
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To: ryan71

Why would I expect that? His record and history don’t support it.


9 posted on 01/15/2016 11:47:00 AM PST by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: Chauncey Uppercrust

It’s just the liberals that invaded or came out of the closet in the 12 season. Same people.


10 posted on 01/15/2016 11:47:53 AM PST by Norm Lenhart (Existential Cage Theory - An idea whose time has come)
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To: TBP

I’d be disappointed to find out that Byron York is GOPe...


11 posted on 01/15/2016 11:49:04 AM PST by kiryandil ("When Muslims in the White House are outlawed, only Barack Obama will be an outlaw")
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To: TBP
I still favor Cruz, but will enregetically support Trump if he wins the nomination. If the republican establish tries to undermine his campaign they will all (hopefully) suffer a pitiful and painful death as big money shadow brokers.

That said:
I see Trump as a man with (sometimes) mixed messages due to his history.

12 posted on 01/15/2016 11:49:53 AM PST by Baynative (If socialist democrat ideas are so good for people why must they be mandatory?)
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To: Baynative

...but he is a man who is willing to give up his place in life to serve America with no personal reward other than the satisfaction of getting the country he loves back on track. (no one else can truthfully say that)


13 posted on 01/15/2016 11:51:14 AM PST by Baynative (If socialist democrat ideas are so good for people why must they be mandatory?)
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To: Baynative

And if more people would accept that simple truth, there’d be a lot less fighting here.


14 posted on 01/15/2016 11:51:23 AM PST by Norm Lenhart (Existential Cage Theory - An idea whose time has come)
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To: Chauncey Uppercrust

I went from being excited about Trump to having no respect for him in a period of just over a week. I suspect that others feel the same way.

Am very disappointed in the Freepers that are saying Cruz bashed the memory of 911 etc, they prove they have no value as far as I am concerned, I would not welcome any of you in my home, you would not be welcome.

Same goes for people here feigning outrage over the term NY Values... I am ashamed of you absolutely.

Thank you for posting. I agree with you totally. If Trump came to my house I wouldn’t let him in. I will save my litany about him, very long.


15 posted on 01/15/2016 11:52:23 AM PST by libbylu (Cruz: The truth with a smile.)
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To: sparklite2

He’s the bull who’ s running through the DC china shop.

He’s the bulldozer that the American people want to hire to help drain the festering swamp at foggy bottom.

He’s the wrecking crew sent in clear out 100 square miles of bullshit that has built up in an area that used to be swampland.

Trump is a builder, a creator. Much to the chagrin of the moneychangers, he is what we need to rebuild our country.


16 posted on 01/15/2016 11:52:28 AM PST by factoryrat (We are the producers, the creators. Grow it, mine it, build it.)
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To: ryan71

I don’t think most voters expect a president to be able to deliver on all their promises as long as they are giving it an honest attempt and come across as genuine, warm and on the level in communicating with the public which Trump definitely does.


17 posted on 01/15/2016 11:52:57 AM PST by erlayman (yw)
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To: TBP

He is a liberal saying anything in order to win. That has been his life work, winning no matter what it takes to get there - truth or lies, it does not matter as long as he wins. He may become president. I do not vote for liberals.


18 posted on 01/15/2016 11:53:32 AM PST by Marcella (CRUZ (Prepping can save your life today))
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To: Chauncey Uppercrust
I went from being excited about Trump to having no respect for him in a period of just over a week.

I was going to trash you for this one, but I checked your posting history, and you're not lying.

A lot of the Trump bashers trot out this same line, but you are walking the walk.

My hat's off to you as a truthful FR poster. :)

19 posted on 01/15/2016 11:54:18 AM PST by kiryandil ("When Muslims in the White House are outlawed, only Barack Obama will be an outlaw")
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To: TBP

Who is Donald Trump, Really?The guy Cruz will destroy on a 1 on 1 debate.


20 posted on 01/15/2016 11:54:35 AM PST by longfellow (Bill Maher, the 21st hijacker.)
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