Posted on 12/17/2015 4:26:22 PM PST by VinL
Are you a conservative? Are you rocking so much conservative street cred that you chose to stay home rather than vote for Republican nominees Mitt Romney in 2012 or John McCain in 2008 because you consider them undercover liberals, a couple of donkeys outfitted with fake trunks? Do you look at the big government left and the big government right and have trouble telling them apart? Do you currently support Donald Trump?
If you answered "yes" to the above questions, this intervention is for you.
I don't want to make you angry. I don't want you to make you scream at me on Twitter. I don't want to make you call Rush Limbaugh and tattle on me. I just want to show you how your support for Trump is affecting the people who care about you and what the consequences will be.
According to the Mayo Clinic, you can't argue with facts or with my "emotional response to the problem," so I'm going to try to do this using Mayo Clinic intervention-approved "I" statements.
I was upset and hurt when you supported Donald Trump because ...
No real conservative has emerged from a Republican primary since Ronald Reagan. George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, George W. Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney — let's face it, the establishment has dominated the primary for a long time. No surprise. That's whom it was invented to cater to.
But now — thanks to President Obama's incompetence — the pendulum is swinging hard to the right. According to the Realclearpolitics average, only 43 percent of Americans approve of the job the president is doing. This is finally the time!
Right now, you, the conservative base of the Republican party, have the best candidate they've ever had. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) is smart, he's a great debater, he isn't afraid to mention Jesus in his ads and he never backs down on his positions. He's Voldemort-level character in the minds of most Democrats (Voldemort is the bad guy from that book you probably told your grandkids not to read. They read it anyway).
Cruz outshined every other candidate in last night's debate. He was strong on foreign policy without promising to trample the Constitution. You love the Constitution! Remember?
Cruz schooled Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) on illegal immigration:
There was "a time for choosing," as Reagan put it. Where there was a battle over amnesty and some chose, like Rubio, to stand with Obama and [Democratic New York Sen.] Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan. Others chose to stand with [Republican Alabama Sen.] Jeff Sessions and [Iowa Rep.] Steve King and the American people and secure the border.
He outlined conservative priorities:
Cutting taxes, cutting regulation, unleashing small businesses and rebuilding the military to defeat radical Islamic terrorism — our strategy is simple. We win, they lose. We've done it before and we can do it again.
Cruz is the first bona-fide conservative candidate I've seen in my lifetime who stands a chance of making it all the way to the White House. But, instead of seizing the opportunity to elect a true conservative, you have chosen to cast your primary vote for Trump.
I was upset and hurt when you supported Trump because ...
Trump wants to grow the size of government, spend massive amounts of taxpayer money and trample the Constitution.
He uses Democratic Party talking points to attack true conservatives. Last week, he called Cruz a "maniac." Last night, he walked it back, but only because it gave his conservative supporters a glimpse of who he really is.
Cruz believes what you believe. Trump pretends to believe some nasty caricature of what polling data told him you believe.
I was upset and hurt when you supported Trump because ...
The big-spending establishment Republicans failed us. The politically correct, identity-politics-obsessed bigger-spending liberals failed us. In 2016, America will finally be ready for a conservative voice, but that voice won't be there. Instead, we'll hear the voices of Trump and probably Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton arguing over whose version of single-payer universal healthcare is better. There will be no conservative voice and, ironically, it will be you who silenced it.
Getting the wall will be a major improvement over what anyone else is offering.
But if conservative judges are not appointed and the tyranny of the judicial branch addressed, there is nothing any President can do for conservatives that the courts won’t undo, including control the borders.
You do know how your support for the republiCrats is hurting the nation, right? Search for Omnibus bill, it was passed by your party at 2AM, I wonder why?
The problem is, if you get your wish, the election is lost before it begins.
Yep. At least they're consistent. :)
What I need to know is-where does he stand on the Second Amendment? I don’t have a clear picture at all regarding that. That is our last line of defense, that is the one thing (though Hussein’s working on it hard before he leaves office) that the left has not only not been able to eviscerate, but has actually unwittingly caused to be embraced by ever-more Americans. We need that Second Amendment more than we ever have, for more reasons-not just a treasonous government which has sold us out to anyone who wants a piece of America-and American lives for that matter-criminals, terrorists, violent illegals, etc, but tried to take our one means of defense from all of these attacks from every direction, away from us. This one affects every other right we are trying to hold onto, or regain.
Your timing isn’t very good, posting this when the sting of Ryan’s treachery hasn’t even begun to fade.
Trump or Hillary.
Deal with it.
Exactly. That's the way it is for me now. There may be a tiny bit of influence by the time it gets to us, but it is greatly diminished if it is there at all.
Well Trump is on track to be the next US President so lets hope you are wrong. :-)
I can hardly give credence to that when I see Yeb named as the second-best choice to handle the threat of terrorism.
That is a good point. We need to lay out where all the candidates stand on that.
If Trump does what he’s talking about with trade, taxes, and immigration, it will be the most progress towards conservatism that this nation has made since Calvin Coolidge.
If there’s something else he does I happen to agree with, that’s just icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned. Otherwise, I’ll take whatever else comes with it.
Except tariffs and the evil rich.
You just lost every single Trump supporter who made it through that ridiculous screed of an article.
Sophomoric crap like this isn't winning Senator Cruz any converts, and is only driving a further wedge between the two camps in this community.
You may be correct, which would only mean that there aren’t enough conservatives left in the country anyway to save it.
Please don’t blame Cruz for what some brain-dead supporters may say, I’m not blamimg Trump for the way the disingenuous media tries to spin his remarks.
PROTECTING OUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN
Donald J. Trump on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
The Second Amendment to our Constitution is clear. The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed upon. Period.
The Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental right that belongs to all law-abiding Americans. The Constitution doesn’t create that right – it ensures that the government can’t take it away. Our Founding Fathers knew, and our Supreme Court has upheld, that the Second Amendment’s purpose is to guarantee our right to defend ourselves and our families. This is about self-defense, plain and simple.
It’s been said that the Second Amendment is America’s first freedom. That’s because the Right to Keep and Bear Arms protects all our other rights. We are the only country in the world that has a Second Amendment. Protecting that freedom is imperative. Here’s how we will do that:
Enforce The Laws On The Books
We need to get serious about prosecuting violent criminals. The Obama administration’s record on that is abysmal. Violent crime in cities like Baltimore, Chicago and many others is out of control. Drug dealers and gang members are given a slap on the wrist and turned loose on the street. This needs to stop.
Several years ago there was a tremendous program in Richmond, Virginia called Project Exile. It said that if a violent felon uses a gun to commit a crime, you will be prosecuted in federal court and go to prison for five years – no parole or early release. Obama’s former Attorney General, Eric Holder, called that a “cookie cutter†program. That’s ridiculous. I call that program a success. Murders committed with guns in Richmond decreased by over 60% when Project Exile was in place – in the first two years of the program alone, 350 armed felons were taken off the street.
Why does that matter to law-abiding gun owners? Because they’re the ones who anti-gun politicians and the media blame when criminals misuse guns. We need to bring back and expand programs like Project Exile and get gang members and drug dealers off the street. When we do, crime will go down and our cities and communities will be safer places to live.
Here’s another important way to fight crime – empower law-abiding gun owners to defend themselves. Law enforcement is great, they do a tremendous job, but they can’t be everywhere all of the time. Our personal protection is ultimately up to us. That’s why I’m a gun owner, that’s why I have a concealed carry permit, and that’s why tens of millions of Americans have concealed carry permits as well. It’s just common sense. To make America great again, we’re going to go after criminals and put the law back on the side of the law-abiding.
Fix Our Broken Mental Health System
Let’s be clear about this. Our mental health system is broken. It needs to be fixed. Too many politicians have ignored this problem for too long.
All of the tragic mass murders that occurred in the past several years have something in common – there were red flags that were ignored. We can’t allow that to continue. We need to expand treatment programs, because most people with mental health problems aren’t violent, they just need help. But for those who are violent, a danger to themselves or others, we need to get them off the street before they can terrorize our communities. This is just common sense.
And why does this matter to law-abiding gun owners? Once again, because they get blamed by anti-gun politicians, gun control groups and the media for the acts of deranged madmen. When one of these tragedies occurs, we can count on two things: one, that opponents of gun rights will immediately exploit it to push their political agenda; and two, that none of their so-called “solutions†would have prevented the tragedy in the first place. They’ve even admitted it.
We need real solutions to address real problems. Not grandstanding or political agendas.
Defend The Rights of Law-Abiding Gun Owners
GUN AND MAGAZINE BANS. Gun and magazine bans are a total failure. That’s been proven every time it’s been tried. Opponents of gun rights try to come up with scary sounding phrases like “assault weaponsâ€, “military-style weapons†and “high capacity magazines†to confuse people. What they’re really talking about are popular semi-automatic rifles and standard magazines that are owned by tens of millions of Americans. Law-abiding people should be allowed to own the firearm of their choice. The government has no business dictating what types of firearms good, honest people are allowed to own.
BACKGROUND CHECKS. There has been a national background check system in place since 1998. Every time a person buys a gun from a federally licensed gun dealer – which is the overwhelming majority of all gun purchases – they go through a federal background check. Study after study has shown that very few criminals are stupid enough to try and pass a background check – they get their guns from friends/family members or by stealing them. So the overwhelming majority of people who go through background checks are law-abiding gun owners. When the system was created, gun owners were promised that it would be instant, accurate and fair. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case today. Too many states are failing to put criminal and mental health records into the system – and it should go without saying that a system’s only going to be as effective as the records that are put into it. What we need to do is fix the system we have and make it work as intended. What we don’t need to do is expand a broken system.
NATIONAL RIGHT TO CARRY. The right of self-defense doesn’t stop at the end of your driveway. That’s why I have a concealed carry permit and why tens of millions of Americans do too. That permit should be valid in all 50 states. A driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state. If we can do that for driving – which is a privilege, not a right – then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a right, not a privilege.
MILITARY BASES AND RECRUITING CENTERS. Banning our military from carrying firearms on bases and at recruiting centers is ridiculous. We train our military how to safely and responsibly use firearms, but our current policies leave them defenseless. To make America great again, we need a strong military. To have a strong military, we need to allow them to defend themselves.
https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/second-amendment-rights
Awesome article.
There is no defense by Trump’s supporters.
All they can point to is “Trump says, Trump says”
Cruz “does”.
Cruz’s debate win means it’s intervention time for Trump supporters The Hill ^ | 12/1715 | Ed Zipperer
Mr Zipperer needs to see a psychiatrist about that Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.