Posted on 08/09/2015 5:09:24 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
About 12 hours after the first prime-time GOP debate a message from a group called True Conservatives PAC showed up in my email with the title “you’re a useful idiot.” The beginning of the email is listed below.
It’s obvious Trump has struck a chord with people who are apoplectic at the GOP Establishment and for good reason. But people should stop to ask whether Trump is a conservative or if he’s using the crowded GOP field to promote himself. There’s also the entire “Trump is a Democrat plant” theory rolling around, which may or may not be true. But let’s take a look at some of the stances he took during the first prime-time debate.
Trump was asked by Bret Baier why he supported single-payer in 2000. Here’s his answer.
As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age, which is the age you’re talking about here. What I’d like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state…Get rid of the artificial lines and you will have…— yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that can’t take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different system.
Here’s the problem: the single-payer systems in Scotland and Canada aren’t working. The Fraser Institute did a study on wait times in Canada, which found people waited a LONG time to see a specialist after seeing a general practitioner (emphasis mine).
Waiting for treatment has become a defining characteristic of Canadian Healthcare…Specialist physicians surveyed report a median waiting time of 18.2 weeks between referral from a general practitioner and receipt of treatment. This wait time is 96% longer than in 1993 when it was just 9.3 weeks. There is a great deal of variation in the total waiting time faced by patients across the provinces. Ontario reports the shortest total wait (14.1 weeks), while New Brunswick reports the longest (37.3 weeks).
As far as Scotland is concerned, Avik Roy at Forbes writes why that single-payer system isn’t working “incredibly well,” especially for cancer patients.
If you’re diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S., you have an 84 percent chance of living for five years. In Scotland, it’s 71 percent. If you have colon cancer in the U.S., you have about a 60 percent chance of surviving five years. In Scotland, it’s 46 percent. If you have prostate cancer in the U.S., you have a 92 percent chance of living five years; in Scotland, it’s 48 percent.
Sounds fantastic right? It’s true Trump talked about getting rid of state lines for insurance companies, which isn’t a bad idea. But he also talked about taking care of those who can’t afford it. This suggests a government-run system of some kind, whether it’s Medicaid or single-payer or Obamacare. The U.S. already has a single-payer system: it’s called the VA system. How’s THAT going? If Trump was a “conservative” he’d be more interested in letting people buy whatever insurance they wanted without a government mandate. Or trying to figure out how to get it back to doctors prescribing their own prices without worry about the insurance companies at all.
Trump also admitted to buying and selling politicians.
TRUMP: I will tell you that our system is broken. I gave to many people, before this, before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give.
And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me.Baier: So what did you get?
TRUMP: And that’s a broken system.
Baier: What did you get from Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi?
TRUMP: Well, I’ll tell you what, with Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding and she came to my wedding. You know why? She didn’t have a choice because I gave. I gave to a foundation that, frankly, that foundation is supposed to do good. I didn’t know her money would be used on private jets going all over the world.
Note he didn’t say what he got from Nancy Pelosi. This is a fundamental problem. Trump can rail all he wants about the broken system (and it is broken). But talking about it and participating in it are two different things. And Trump is admitting to participating in it. Here’s the other thing about buying and selling politicians. It doesn’t have to involve political donations at all. Amity Shlaes wrote in her biography on Calvin Coolidge how people wanted to use their presidential connections to gain influence.
Even old friends could not resist exploiting the advantage of knowing a president. After he joined the Congregational Church in Washington, his family minister, Kenneth Welles, at the Edwards Church, could not conceal his glee at the power derived from being able to claim a president in the fold. In a letter to the president, Welles got specific on the power Coolidge’s step would give him to get support from the congregants: “It is going to give me a grip on some men like Gred Garrar and Judge Field which I never otherwise would have that.”
And that’s from a minister! Anyone remember the Ohio Gang involving Coolidge’s predecessor, Warren G. Harding? These were people who were friends of Harding who became political leaders. Trump has already talked about putting friends in charge of the VA system. Who’s to say he’s not going to do the same thing as Harding? Trump has used political connections to seize houses through eminent domain, including one from an elderly widow in Atlantic City. Since she wouldn’t sell, he used the New Jersey government to seize it. The government got tax dollars in return. Favor for favor.
Get past his rhetoric on illegal immigration. From a political standpoint, do we really want a president who thinks single-payer would have worked and admits to buying and selling politicians? Remember, Obama promised reform too, and then went out and rewarded his friends. Trump isn’t a conservative and to paint him as one is ridiculous. There’s a ton of anger out there and all Trump is doing is tapping into it by pretending to be a populist. But there’s a big difference between channeling anger into actually trying to solve the problem (and being very direct with it) and just giving in to rage. Trump is hoping people will just stay angry all the way to the White House (if he’s really serious about this run at all) so he can put in big government solutions and hand out favors. That’s not what a “true conservative” is. Those claiming otherwise just need to stop.
That’s the best you can do huh.
LMAO
Lot of Cruz supporters on these threads and these threads make identifying liberal supporters easier.
Thank you.
I try to keep it simple for the simple.
Everyone calls themselves a true conservative. “True Conservatives” Carly and Jeb tell us we need to support Amnesty.
Thank God Trump doesn’t consider himself a true conservative!!!
Is a Trumpbot the same as a Cruzbot, Walkerbot or Bushbot? Seems like everyone is a bot
150 years bud. How’s that working for you?
Who has been in control since 1989? Please... tell us.
You guys till continue to shill for the people and entities at that link, then think you’ve scored because you’ve proven how simple you are. FAIL
Lots of Cruz people here. Also there are people here who criticize all things that are not conservative from any candidate.
So there are criticisms of Trump that aren't GOP-E and that are conservative.
Why Trump is a conservative
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3322510/posts?page=27#27
Pro life since at least 2011, wanted to ban partial birth abortion as far back as 2000.
Pro Traditional marriage. “Gay rights is not my thing.”
Pro capital punishment “Capital punishment isn’t uncivilized; murderers living is”
Hold Judges accountable
Opposes “Common core is a diaster” Teach citizenship, quit “dumbing down”.
Anti education unions (2000)
For school choice
“Climate Change is a hoax”
“No Cap-and-Tax”
For drilling our own.
On Environment “GOod development enhances the environment”
Stressed the importance of a strong family & culture of life (2015)
Supports Israel
Opposes Iran deal and letting Iran obtain the bomb.
Wants to crush ISIS quickly.
Wants a military so strong no one will challenge us.
Against unbalanced trade deals that kill American jobs.
Against warrantless government surveilance of citizens.
Is against having a high national debt. Warns that $24T is a point of no return.
Againt gun control
For assault weapon ban but says the AR-15 shouldn’t be considered an assault weapon.
Wants to repeal Obamacare and replace it with market driven polices and increased competition among insurance companies.
Wants to increase military spending.
Will close the border to illegals
Will send the criminals and sponges back.
Will deport all illegals but will let the hard working ones go through the legal process to come back.
Against Anchor babies
Knows unemployment is much higher than official stats.
Will bring jobs back through better trade negotiation.
Attended military academy and Wharton Business School.
Stood up for Birthers and challenged Obama on his fraud.
Believes USA is “the greates force for freedom the world has ever known”
Wants to honor commitments on Social Security and Medicare, which we can afford to do if he gets the economy going full steam.
Wants to reduce the fraud in disability and other programs.
Against marriage penalties in tax code.
Wants to reduce income taxes and eliminate corporate tax.
Wants to rebuld our infrastructure.
Wants to apply welfare-to-work to 76 other welfare programs (2011)
Doesn’t have time for political correctness.
Not afraid to call out either party or both when they are wrong.
Not a puppet to campaign donators.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Donald_Trump.htm
Duh! We know that, but we also know he is not part of the GOPe.
And you just make sure the Donald leaves the money on the nightstand when he's finished with you.
You tell us what the conservative position is on these issues first.
I had two versions of that post, and just realized my list of fellow travelers for those trashing Trump wasn’t provided for you.
Here it is.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3322355/posts?page=52#52
No, Trumpbots are taking a liberal and insisting he’s a conservative because he talks loud and has a lot of money. He says what they want to hear, but talk is cheap.
This from the person servicing the folks on this list.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3322355/posts?page=52#52
Trump is a competent executive who knows how to run large organizations. He sure as Hell is better than the community organizer in the WH and the Rep Senator candidates who have only run small senate staffs. Governors are more qualified than them.
Thank you for posting the latest directive from these enemies of Trump.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3322355/posts?page=52#52
I just want better for the Republic than Trump. If he’s what we get, then we deserve him.
And if you are willing to carry water for Trump, you had better check the bucket. That yellow tinged liquid is not water.
How did you like getting Dole, Bush, McCain, and Romney?
I never get a straight answer to that question, because playing by our normal rules has gotten these folks for us for twenty years.
This year folks want to play by the same rules, and yet they think this time, after five general elections, everything will work like it’s supposed to.
Can any of you explain why?
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