Posted on 10/27/2020 5:05:28 AM PDT by billorites
Four years ago, the media enjoyed covering the phenomenon of so-called Never Trumpers; Republicans who wouldn’t vote for Donald Trump.
There was speculation that these voters, many well connected to the Washington establishment, would put the icing on the electoral cake for Hillary Clinton. Of course, this notion proved fanciful. The Never Trumpers are back in 2020. They’re no greater in number, but the media has gobbled it up again.
But there’s another group of Republicans: those who enthusiastically supported GOP candidates other than Donald Trump before he was nominated. They remained cautious about Trump even after the Republican National Convention. Ultimately, though, they pulled the lever for Trump over Hillary. Call them “Reluctant Trumpers.”
They’re still around, too. But’s there’s a difference: they are now enthusiastic Trumpers. I know. I’m one of them.
Four years ago, I was national co-chair of Carly Fiorina’s fledgling campaign. She and I had served on the board of the American Conservative Union together, and I wanted a conservative candidate. Having supported conservatives since my days on Ronald Reagan’s campaign staff, I wasn’t yet convinced of the bona fides of former Democrat Donald Trump.
The other chairman of Carly’s campaign was Joe Schmuckler, a highly successful businessman. Schmuckler served as John McCain’s campaign treasurer in 2008. For some obvious reasons, he was something less than full-throated in support of Trump in 2016.
When I met up with Joe this year, however, I was interested to find that, like me, he’s “all in” for Donald Trump. No longer reluctant in his support, Joe Schmuckler is suggestive of two things: the significant number of Republicans whose support for Trump has moved from tepid to enthusiastic and a growing wave of intensity in overall support for Trump.
“I missed it,” Schmuckler told me
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Yugely encouraging message.
Yes we ARE!
I’ll admit it. I was like, “A casino tycoon? A NY real-estate developer? A Friend of Bill? Are you serious?” I can’t believe this guy’s accountant/personal lawyer tried to flip and had NOTHING... NOTHING!!!! You can’t walk a dog in Manhattan and not commit 36 misdemeanors!
I must admit to being in this category. Obviously I wasn’t going to vote for Cankles in 2016, so I pulled the lever for Trump, but I was certainly skeptical. He wasn’t my choice in the primary (Cruz), and I really thought he was all bluster and would be lucky to accomplish a quarter of what he promised.
I’ll admit when I’m wrong, and I certainly was wrong about Trump. I am now enthusiastically supporting him.
I’m one of those converts. In 2016, I reluctantly voted for Donald Trump because he wasn’t Hillary and hoped for the best. President Trump has been successful beyond my wildest expectations. He has earned my enthusiastic vote this year.
Many of these “NeverTrump” voters are really Democrats trying to move the GOP back to the plantation.
Carly is clearly one of them and almost as dumb as Harris.
Voted in NH primary and intended to vote for Cruz. Voted for Trump and still can't tell you why.
Voted for Trump in the fall election hoping he'd turn over tables and break things in Washington. He did not disappoint.
I'm hoping for four more years of mayhem.
Me too. That’s exactly what I thought, even though I had lived in New York and saw how he powered through city stupidity to do good things there (like Wollman Rink, for which he still receives no credit). But I thought he was just a lot of self serving bluster when he moved into politics.
I was wrong. Not only did he actually have good, creative ideas, he managed to carry them out - against all opposition and despite the learning curve of how to get things done in DC.
So I’m in the enthusiastic column now!
Ultimately, though, they pulled the lever for Trump over Hillary. Call them “Reluctant Trumpers.”
They’re still around, too. But’s there’s a difference: they are now enthusiastic Trumpers. I know. I’m one of them.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
An example: Took my dad to the doc & he was seeing the PA. They were talking about how the world has changed over his lifetime (he’s going on 98) & he said it certainly had. She commented that with all that’s going on (riots, Dementiacrats, etc), he’s probably not happy about a lot of the changes. Dad then brought up politics .... this PA said that she absolutely could not vote for Hilly & very reluctantly voted for Trump. HOWEVER, this election she is happily voting for Trump - he surprised her by keeping his promises and of course, she likes what he did with the economy.
Even though I am an irredeemable uneducated deplorable chump I have been a huge supporter of Trump since the beginning.
He is not a politician. He is an American that wants the country to do well without worrying about lining his pockets for years like the lifers do.
I must admit that I was kinda one of those in that group.
I was voting more against the putrid PIAPS than for Donald Trump at the time. Now? MAGA!!!!
The question remains are there others who didn’t vote for Trump
out there who will come onboard and push his candidacy this election?
We still need 270 EC Votes to win. Popular vote is one thing but
EC vote in each state determines the winner.
Hillary won the POPULAR VOTE in 2016 but lost the EC Vote
Hillary....65,845,063
Trump....62,980,160
Ralph Reed was interviewed on Bannon’s podcast last week. Seems Bannon had an idea many of Reed’s 24-million plus coalition had doubts about Trump in 2016 and sat out. Reed informed Bannon that the energy to vote among the coalition this time is a many-fold increase over 2016. The voters in his coalition are not only willing to vote for Trump, but are calling others, knocking on doors, and employing their massive GOTV operation. Reed said he hadn’t seen this much enthusiasm and participation from his group since Reagan. And these are people who don’t vote by mail and they don’t talk to pollsters. The gist seemed to me that Reed’s view of them was that they didn’t know what to make of a guy like Trump in 2016, so they did not vote. Trump’s keeping his promises, and his SCOTUS nominees seemed to have sealed it for him among Reed’s group. Reed went further to say that his coalition has spent 3 decades honing and developing their ground game of getting the vote out, and it’s a fairly well-oiled machine today. In contrast, he said it’s far too late for the D’s to get any ground game going, using the metaphor that it would be trying to build a 747 while its in flight. So if Reed’s cautious optimism on what he’s seeing and hearing the members of his coalition intend to do comes good, then that alone could get Trump over the finish line.
Amen to that. I am one of them. I fly the banners and honk every time I pass one. Get loud America
time to support pro America news outlets!!!
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I don’t disagree but we still need to be aware of what
the others are saying/publishing in our efforts to win.
I was another who was very uncertain about him. I voted against Hilary but without any real enthusiasm for Trump. I was suspicious of his change of party and being a billionaire from New York, naturally assumed he was faking it and didn’t mean anything he said. The Republican Establishment taught me over many years not to expect the Republican candidate to do any of what he said.
Not since Reagan have I seen a Republican follow through on what he said. I was amazed at how Trump actually kept his promises.....which were excellent btw. Seeing the absolutely hysterical reaction of the Democrats of Hollywood and of the MSM to him I started changing my tune. Well....if THESE @-holes hate him that much then he must be the real deal.
Exactly!!!
And the ones who felll for the fear mongering he would destroy the nation and stayed home or voted Hillary out of fear of that will mostly vote for home this time..
And
Those that remained cynical that Trump was just another politician making promises he was never going to keep, and stayed home in 16... now see he is not and many of them will show up in 20.
This has been the reality this entire cycle... Trump will outperform 16 across the board. I see zero path for any Democrat to the White House.
The only person who can beat Trump, is Trump. If his base feels he has abandoned them, he will get crushed, but otherwise he’s winning handily.
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