Trump was never a “Democrat socialist,” although he did used to be a right-leaning moderate (although a self-described “conservative”), who has spent far more time in the Republican Party than the Democratic one. He supported Reagan and then Bush. He almost lost his fortune during the recession during Bush I’s administration, but even so he remained a registered Republican throughout the Clinton era. In his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, he attacked Clinton (later public compliments notwithstanding) and switched to the Reform Party because he was considering a run for President on the Reform Party ticket. Perhaps still resenting the Bushes for all his money loss under Bush I (and later being an opponent of the Iraq War—as I was), he switched to the Dems in opposition to Bush II and stayed there during his administration. When the time came to support the leftist Obama, however, he did not (saying he hoped Obama would be a cheerleader for the U.S. is hardly an endorsement) and switched back his registration to Republican. The reason for all this switching is rather obviously because he is primarily a nationalist-populist, and neither party really represents that viewpoint. He has never been a leftist. In fact, he’s only been a Democrat when George W. Bush was in office, as he apparently really didn’t like Dubya (by late in his term, I wasn’t too crazy about him either).
A lot of Cruzers like to point to his support of nationalized healthcare in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve. But that doesn’t make him a socialist, when most of his positions were conservative. This is supposed to be his great lefty tome, but overall it just isn’t. Even in the book, Trump wrote that although he is conservative, health care was the issue that he was liberal on. By 2011, his attitude on this matter had changed drastically (as seen in his book, Time to Get Tough). If having supported national healthcare (in this case, well in the past) makes one a socialist, regardless of what the rest of your views indicate, then the vast majority of conservatives in Europe and Canada are out-and-out socialists (what does that make their opponents?).
If Kelo is what is bothering you, I simply think that’s being blown out of proportion, whether one agrees with it or not. Considering the use of eminent domain to be actual “socialism” is taking fanaticism altogether too far (do you really believe the U.S. is currently a full-blown socialist nation?). I personally don’t see the point in using the word to mean almost anything. It’s just like the lefties calling Trump a Nazi or Fascist. The words are being used so broadly that they no longer really mean a thing except that the speaker really dislikes the subject being spoken about. People should be able to disagree with Trump without going so wild on the hyperbole and distortions like so many do on this site.
Trump apparently didn’t have a problem with socialism, based on his donations to Rotten, Reid, Shumer and Pelosi, among others. Barf me.
I did want to thank you, before I pressed POST, for your civil and thoughtful discourse. To me, Trump is barely acceptable, and after last night, he has become less so. I truly think that he would be a disaster. We’ll see.