Replies

I have never been bashful about "bashing" candidates whom I do not favor. I started this cycle fully expecting to trash Trump.

I do find, however, that on one issue after another, he is convincing me that he is the real thing. I wanted Scott Walker because I very much admire how he has manhandled the left in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, his candidacy was not to be successful.

I now want Ted Cruz. Nonetheless, while I originally would not have voted for Trump even if he were nominated, I have paid attention to his campaign. He is a gifted campaigner and communicator. He is bringing back the "Reagan Democrats" (an incredibly important issue to me). He has established credibility on immigration, an issue on which I am a convert. He is right. I had been wrong. His position paper on the RTKBA arms satisfied me. My impression is that he will resist these infernal "trade" deals that are impoverishing American workers and our nation. I trust him to rebuild the military and particularly the Navy. I trust that he really means to "Make America Great Again."

My remaining doubts are on Right to Life, resistance to perversion posing as "marriage," and similar issues that have always been of great importance to me.

I shall continue to pay respectful attention to him and his campaign. If you are familiar with my posting history, you know I am a quite stubborn fellow on such trash as Willard, McCain, Dole, Bush the Elder,Ford, Nixon and many others.

If Trump turns out to be a phony (which I do not expect him to be), this nation may well be over. I would also bet you that I am not the only hardliner here who is at least tempted by Trump. I believe that you have always been a hardliner as well. Treat us skeptics respectfully if you want our support for Trump and you and he may well get that support. Keep us fully informed and be honest with us if he blunders. We understand that no one since Our Savior has been perfect.

If people are unfair to Trump, I will join you in going after them. JimRob seems supportive of him and that counts for a lot. Many of those who are usually my allies here have gone over to Trump before me and I have not joined them yet but I am prepared to defend him against unjust attacks. I do wish that he had avoided the ungallant attack on Megan Kelly. No one is perfect. Neither is she.

Continue to be the good person and solid conservative that you have always been here (in my experience). Many more than you may suspect will pay attention to your opinions. You have earned that right.

May God bless you and yours!

You know what, so did I. I was approached early on by a person asking if I would support Trump. I told them I couldn't see myself doing that. He asked me to visit a site and take a look. I appologetically stated it wouldn't make any difference. I couldn't see myself supporting him. fired Trump here Shortly after this I heard more and more about Trump in the Media. still doubting doubting but questioning I found myself liking what I was hearing. After a while he was making far too much sense for me to ignore him. expressed here At that point I voiced support for him pretty much solely to provide a basis for others to tell themselves it was okay to listen, to make up their own mind. expressed here In time, I came to the place that I realized it would have to be too big a hoax for it all to be a put-on. You can tell when someone is just voicing something they don't believe in. Look at John McCain when he says something Conservative. He'll trip himself up in hours if not days. Trump has been consistent for months. Each new policy paper falls well within my comfort zone I also follow the people who support him. For the most part they are people who are good Conservatives. They don't make outlandish claims. If they challenge another candidate's beliefs, they do it on point. They don't need to lie or make stuff up. I wish I could say that about some of the 5 percenter's supporters here.
I have never been bashful about "bashing" candidates whom I do not favor. I started this cycle fully expecting to trash Trump.

I agree with this thought. Illegal aliens, Government Spending/the National Debt, Defense: the Military, Defense: Veterans, Obamacare, the Department of Education / Common Core, jobs, reasoned trade... Most of it is right out of Reagan's playbook. As for Scott Walker, I liked his activity against the unions very much. He seemed a strong leader. Somewhere along the way, I lost faith in him. It didn't help that I saw people supporting him that had also supported Perry in 2012. That sent up a major red flag for me. I thought Perry was a RINO, and was fairly sure 'the team' was in the tank for another guy they thought would tow the GOPe line. I may have been wrong, but I wasn't the only person to percieve of hm that way.
I do find, however, that on one issue after another, he is convincing me that he is the real thing. I wanted Scott Walker because I very much admire how he has manhandled the left in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, his candidacy was not to be successful.

I started out on the Cruz ping list and had to rethink my emphasis once I realized it would take more than just being right on the issues. You have to get the nomination. Can Cruz do that? I don't think so. He will be selected with the votes of Demcrats, Independents, and Moderate Republicans, as well as the votes of Conservatives. Who wins that battle? Who has the numbers? If it's Cruz, I don't think he gets the nomination during the primary process. If it's Trump and he's pulling crossover votes, maybe. Carson may be the fly in that ointment. I hope not. It will defeat our best chance in over 30 years if he defeats Trump for the nomination.
I now want Ted Cruz. Nonetheless, while I originally would not have voted for Trump even if he were nominated, I have paid attention to his campaign. He is a gifted campaigner and communicator. He is bringing back the "Reagan Democrats" (an incredibly important issue to me). He has established credibility on immigration, an issue on which I am a convert. He is right. I had been wrong. His position paper on the RTKBA arms satisfied me. My impression is that he will resist these infernal "trade" deals that are impoverishing American workers and our nation. I trust him to rebuild the military and particularly the Navy. I trust that he really means to "Make America Great Again."

He tells a believable line of progression on Right ot Life. He has changed his mind over the years. He now considers himself pro-life. What that means in real terms, and what it means for a president anyway, remains to be seen. Could we expect Carson, Rubio, Fiorina, or Bush to be solid on it? I doubt it. Cruz would be, but then again you run into the nomination issue. It does none of us any good to push a guy for the nomination against all odds. If he's still down in the 5-10% range, it's asking a lot to go on blind faith and push only him. I think you have to go for the guy that actually has a chance and supports most of what we believe in. Bush took measures to end government funded abortions in the military. Beyond that, not much happened. (Sorry if I am forgetting more here) At any rate, I'm not sure what folks expect Trump to do with regard to right to life. Maybe Cruz can tell us what he'd do. Perhaps he has a plan in mind. Beyond defunding Planned Parenthood, I'm not sure what else a president can do, and even then it has to get through the Capital Hill process..
My remaining doubts are on Right to Life, resistance to perversion posing as "marriage," and similar issues that have always been of great importance to me.

I don't think in terms of you being stubborn. I think in terms of you having core beliefs and remaining constant. All the time we are confronted with choices that make us have to determine what path to take. It isn't easy in these the days of "the lessor of two eveils" dilemas. If folks think it is easy for me to back Trump, they're wrong. I back him with reservations. I can't sit idly by and watch another flaming Communist/Islamacist be elected. Right now I am doing my best to make sure we have a choice in November 2016. That is more vital this election than ever before. And while that is said every election, we are not $20 Trillion dollars in debt every election. This has to stop NOW!
I shall continue to pay respectful attention to him and his campaign. If you are familiar with my posting history, you know I am a quite stubborn fellow on such trash as Willard, McCain, Dole, Bush the Elder,Ford, Nixon and many others.

I try to be honest about my guy's faults. I linked a problem I had with him early on above. The one where "fired Trump here". Like you I had to take a look at him overall, and also realize that he has already corrected two mistakes he made withing 24 hours. He's learning. He's a big enough man to realize his doesn't know it all, and change his mind publicly. As you say, nobody is perfect.. I expect him to make mistakes. All the others have.
If Trump turns out to be a phony (which I do not expect him to be), this nation may well be over. I would also bet you that I am not the only hardliner here who is at least tempted by Trump. I believe that you have always been a hardliner as well. Treat us skeptics respectfully if you want our support for Trump and you and he may well get that support. Keep us fully informed and be honest with us if he blunders. We understand that no one since Our Savior has been perfect.

I apprecaite that. I've even gone so far as to defend Cruz to a Cruz supporter while they were posting the same types of lies about Trump on the forum. Some people have no class at all. They think they're doing "the Lord's work" by doing stuff like that. What they are doing is embarrassing their own candidate and others who support him. I try to be factual when taking on Cruz or others. As for Megan Kelly, she really pushed the boundaries with me. I don't go down this "misogynist" path with women. When there isn't even a word to define women who disrespect all men, that sets up a red flag for me. Kelly brought up a public spat from over nine years before between Trump and Rosie O'Donnell to smear Trump as a misogynist. Trump has a very good record of hiring women. His upper management team had excellent representation in the early 90s. I'm not talkin inferior jobs here. One woman was the lead on his his largest project. His first wife was the manager at Trump Towers. I believe his top level management teams are about 50% female. Kelly couldn't discover this on her own to avoid that low road tactic? If not, she's not a very good reporter. He has a great relationship with his daughter. Again, for the record. I have since heard trump use that blood shooting from thier eyes comment or a varient with about four other people. It's a term he uses. Some folks thought he was making it up to trash Kelly. No. He was merely giving her the same treatment he would a man. All the other people I heard him use in on were men. So much for the blood coming from the wrong place charge. It was all a big media ploy to take him down. They couldn't do it. I am happy this guy has the temerity to challenge their narrative. Good for him. Good for us.
If people are unfair to Trump, I will join you in going after them. JimRob seems supportive of him and that counts for a lot. Many of those who are usually my allies here have gone over to Trump before me and I have not joined them yet but I am prepared to defend him against unjust attacks. I do wish that he had avoided the ungallant attack on Megan Kelly. No one is perfect. Neither is she.

I apprecaite the kind comments. They are flattering. I blow it too.
Continue to be the good person and solid conservative that you have always been here (in my experience). Many more than you may suspect will pay attention to your opinions. You have earned that right.

The same to you. Again, I appreciate your note.
May God bless you and yours!

I took longer to reply than I had meant to. I wanted to look up some comments I had made on the forum, to link in. I spent several hours looking for one conversation from the May time frame talking about my chances of supporting Trump. It was more expressive than the ones I did find. but I couldn't find it.