Posted on 01/04/2018 12:32:07 PM PST by Kaslin
I was not a fan of Trump before the election because I thought he was a closet liberal. Turns out he was a closet conservative. Who knew?!
He’s more conservative than Reagan and I like him even better.
He has been influenced by liberal New York. That is why is daughter and son-in-law are often trying to influence him in the wrong direction in the Oval Office.
Trump won because he ran as a candidate who was diametrically opposed to several key planks in the Republican Party platform -- notably immigration and trade policy. He was absolutely a "populist" on those issues, and his public statements about health care reform ("You'll get better health care and it will cost less!") sure weren't conservative at all.
I have programmed myself to think of these things in terms of American and AINO...works for me!
;)
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@ Planet WTF!
+++++
Exactly.
“Conservatism versus Populism” is a false dichotomy. Rush’s “conservatism” is a non-starter, a dead-end street, with no vision for future. Forget “conservatism” except as a last-resort term for convenience.
America will win, but not with “conservatism”. A great deal of “conservatism” is about preserving the “establishment” - which is exactly the opposite of what needs to happen which is to blow up the status quo and the establishment.
If the figureheads of “conservatism” - George Will, Charles Krauthammer and Co. - had their way Trump would not have been nominated, and much to their apparent chagrin, Hillary would have been nominated. America would have lost BIG TIME.
No America’s victory and future is in the FIGHT for FREEDOM and FAITH. Some of that is in “conservatism”, some not, but ALL is necessary. Unlike the goals of “conservatism” (nobody knows what “conservatism”’s goals are which is one reason “conservatism” is a problem), our goals, the goals of true patriotic Americans, the goals of the Right who love this country, must be the RESTORATION OF OUR FREE CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC regardless of whatever “conservatism” is.
Whatever helps you sleep at night Rush.
Agree 100%.
I think hanging your hat on the GOP’s 2016 vision of “conservatism” won’t win national elections. I think Trump did just the right approach.
Rush was the guy that was pumping Marco Rubio as a “rock ribbed conservative,” don’t forget. I have no idea what the hell he was talking about.
Agreed. He’s not a populist if you believe the majority of the people in this country are die-hard liberals...the ones who will actually practice what they preach. Trump knows most “liberals” are just fools with other people’s money, but when it comes to their wallet they’re ultra-conservative!
Who in the hell says populism is not part and parcel of true classical conservatism? Maybe Rush should go to college. Disappoing to hear him talk like that.
Trumps’s nomination and election were a repudiation of the GOPe and its policies and an embrace of populist policies that actually help the lives of people down on the ground.
well said
“If the figureheads of “conservatism” - George Will, Charles Krauthammer and Co. - had their way”
It’s a stretch to call either of those two frauds conservatives.
Ronald Reagan in 1980 was the first candidate from the conservative wing since Barry Goldwater got the nomination back in 1964. So did bow-tied poindexter George Will support Reagan in the primary? Of course not. He backed establishment guy Howard Baker, and when Baker dropped out Will moved on to... George HW Bush, the establishment’s other choice.
Charles Krauthammer not only didn’t support Reagan, he wrote speeches for Walter Mondale in the attempt to deny Reagan a 2nd term. That weasel manages to masquerade as a conservative thanks mainly to the efforts of his fellow weasels in what is laughably called “mainstream conservative journalism”- the Hugh Hewitts, Michael Medveds, Jonah Goldbergs etc.
+1
That’s kinda mu point. “Conservatism” is really “establishment” and not really pro-America freedom and limited constitutional government.
Better to lose the “conservative” moniker except for the exception of convenience once in a while. Nobody knows what a conservative is and nobody knows what “conservatism”’s goals are. I don’t believe they have any. Ten different people will give you ten different answers.
“Nobody knows what a conservative is and nobody knows what “conservatism”’s goals are. I don’t believe they have any. Ten different people will give you ten different answers.”
Yep. And you are in good company there.
Russell Kirk was pretty much the first modern, post-WWII conservative intellectual- he began it all with his book ‘The Conservative Mind’ in 1953- a book which many, including Rush, refer to but I have my doubts that any of them ever read it.
It’s been a long time since I read any Kirk but one thing I do remember him saying goes along the lines of ‘conservatism is the absence of ideology’. So whenever you see someone waving around their favorite list of conservative commandments you can at least know that they aren’t in the Russell Kirk camp.
I searched a bit and found a pertinent Russell Kirk essay taken from one of his books:
http://www.kirkcenter.org/detail/ten-conservative-principles/
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