1. Trump has been a liberal most of his adult life. He has supported abortion, gun bans, land grabs and liberal politicians. He registered as a Republican in 2009.
2. Trump has contributed generously to some of the most far left democrats in politics including Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Harry Reid (D-NV), Governor Ed Rendell (D-PA), California state attorney general Kamala Harris (D-CA), Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
3. Trump is a crony capitalist, explaining his large contributions to democrats as a necessary tool to conducting business. He apparently believes buying the votes of politicians is an acceptable way of doing business. That, by definition is political corruption. But liberal Donald Trump supports it.
4. Trump supported the ban on "assault weapons", even though there is no such thing as an "assault weapon". Far left anti-gun democrats wanted to ban gun ownership completely. Unable to accomplish that goal they created the term "assault weapon" and applied their own definition for the term so they could ban guns based solely on cosmetic appearances. Being the gullible liberal that he is, Trump both fell for the scheme and supported the ban.
5. As recently as 2013 Trump praised former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg for "Putting his money where his mouth is" in trying to take guns from law-abiding citizens. Michael Bloomberg has spent tens of millions in his quest to disarm America and Donald Trump praised him for it.
6. Trump has been pro-abortion until which time he flirted with running for president. He now claims he no longer is. Believe his campaign rhetoric if you will, but his history says otherwise.
7. While he may claim to be an opponent of Obamacare, Trump is an advocate of single-payer socialized healthcare similar to what is in place in Canada. Yes, Trump supports the worst version of socialized healthcare. He has said, "The Canadian plan also helps Canadians live longer and healthier than America. We need, as a nation, to reexamine the single-payer plan, as many individual states are doing. While we work out details of a new single-payer plan, there are a number of ways to make the health care system now in place work more efficiently."
8. Trump believes in using eminent domain for the taking of private property from US citizens for his personal gain. He proved this when he tried exploiting such laws to take elderly widow Vera Coking's property so he could build a parking lot for limousines. Fortunately, the widow prevailed. He also said he supported the United States Supreme Court's Kelo decision which resulted in the taking of private land from a private party so Pfizer Pharmaceuticals could build a plant. That family lost their land and to date nothing has been built on it. It should be noted that conservatives Rehnquist, Thomas and Scalia all voted against this rotten scheme. Liberals on the court supported it, as did liberal Donald Trump.
9. Trump has said the economy does better under democrat control (we're $18 trillion in debt and climbing thanks to the dems). He also said George W. Bush was the worst president this country has ever had. Worse than the lying rapist Bill Clinton? In the mind of Donald Trump, that answer is YES because he has also said of the past four presidents, Bill Clinton was his favorite.
10. As of 2009, Donald Trump is a registered Republican. But in an interview with CNN's Wolfe Blitzer, Trump said, "I probably identify more as a democrat." His record above lends credence to that comment. You are supporting and putting your trust in a liberal.
11. Liberal Trump supported the bank bailouts. He said, "Now, I did not know about a $700 billion bailout, in all fairness. And I think probably, it is something — it’s sad, but, probably, it’s something that has to get done, because your financial system is most likely going to come to a halt if it does not. So, it is a pretty sad day for this country."
12. And the auto bailouts: “I think the government should stand behind them 100 percent. You cannot lose the auto companies. They’re great. They make wonderful products.”
13. He really liked the stimulus package: “I thought he did a terrific job,” Trump told Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren. “This is a strong guy [Obama] knows what he wants, and this is what we need. First of all, I thought he did a great job tonight,” said Trump. “I thought he was strong and smart, and it looks like we have somebody that knows what he is doing finally in office, and he did inherit a tremendous problem. He really stepped into a mess, Greta.”
Thanks for posting the list, it puts everything into a single easy to reference post.
Cruz is my preferred candidate but I have been inclined to give Trump the benefit of the doubt for all the reasons his supporters list. But I also remain suspicious for all the reasons you list here. He hasn’t disavowed his previous positions or, aside from abortion, described his evolution away from them. Its not enough to simply say someone has evolved, he should be able to explain how and why he evolved. I haven’t seen that from Trump yet.
He keeps saying he is “strong on women’s issues” but he has yet to explain what he means by that. What does he mean by that? He has said he is willing to de-fund the “bad” stuff that Planned Parenthood but will fund the “good” stuff that they supposedly do... what would that be? Why would we fund any of it? Cruz has said he will consider prosecution. Trump was apparently shocked by what he found out about them but can’t quite bring himself to reject them.
So... conservative? No. He is a populist and a nationalist. In our present condition a nationalist would be nice by comparison to what has gone before, but however much we may like some of what he says, he is not a conservative.
Cruz is the guy. He isn’t perfect, but he is almost perfect, he is head and shoulders above anyone we’ve seen in a couple of decades. He and Trump are the only two candidates I pay any attention to. As Trump begins to detail his positions it will become obvious if he is a one-issue candidate.
Immigration is, however, an issue of existential importance that all of the traditional politicians have failed or betrayed. The fact that he keeps reaching out to Cruz, means something too.
McCain survived all these years as a supposed conservative because he has that Loudmouth Uncle Harry persona that people interpret as conservatism. People are interpreting Trump’s persona as conservatism, similarly. I like him and after Obama its tempting to take a gamble on Trump. But, no, he has yet to establish that he is a born-again conservative.