Posted on 01/20/2016 10:30:02 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Trump might do better, on the issues, he’s less conservative than Cruz (actually Trump is about as conservative as Bush) so if more moderate people can get past the bombast and being seen as “arrogant, Trump may be able to get big support from the middle. It’s just that it’s hard to get over Trump mocking Vietnam POWs, etc., especially when he markets himself as “saying what he means and meaning what he says.”
Like most populists, Trump is ideologically incoherent, and like most populists, it's almost impossible to figure out how he would govern if/when he takes office.
Trump is obviously trying to sound well to the right of Bush and the GOP establishment on some issues (immigration), while on other issues (his tax plan, views on social issues), he's more or less on the same page as the moderates.
On foreign policy he's even less coherent. On the one hand he sounds gung-ho about "bombing the hell out of them," but he's generally opposed specific interventions like Gulf War II or getting involved in Syria. That being said, I don't consider interventionism vs. anti-interventionism as left vs. right issues, there have always been both right wing and left wing interventionists and anti-interventionists.
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