Posted on 01/26/2016 5:36:15 AM PST by Kaslin
I understand why people like Donald Trump because I was a big fan of his as well.
I loved the fact that he's a charismatic, politically incorrect fighter and a successful businessman. I am also genuinely grateful to him for changing the debate on immigration and starting a conversation about Muslim immigration that we should have had a long time ago. I don't believe a ban on Muslim immigrants would ever pass Congress nor do I think it's practical (How would you realistically implement it?), but I do think blocking future refugees and immigrants from countries where Al-Qaeda and ISIS hold sway is more doable because of Trump. That's a little ironic because he was initially in favor of bringing in Syrian refugees, but it's true. Additionally, after years of being ignored, scorned and poorly represented by Republican leaders in Congress, it's nice to have a politician who actually goes overboard to pander to conservatives.
Additionally, I find it OFFENSIVE when Trump is called a fascist or people attack his supporters. At the end of the day, to beat Trump you have to convince his supporters to go elsewhere. You don't do that by insulting people for their choice of candidates.
That being said, the support for Trump reminds me of an old Jeff Foxworthy joke that went something like this.
Kid: Look up in the sky, mama, it's a plane! It's a plane!
Mother: Oh, look, he knows that! He's just so smart, isn't he?
Jeff Foxworthy: Smart? He's 12 years old!
When you have genuine affection for someone, it's easy to block out his faults. In Trump's case, this is being taken to such an extreme that it's starting to feel like we're in Jonestown a few days before the Kool-Aid is handed out. Tell me I'm wrong if you like, but even Trump made reference to that when he said,
"And you know what else they say about my people? The polls! They say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters. It's incredible."
Since when do conservative engage in this type of blind loyalty towards ANY politician?
Similarly, Donald Trump talks incessantly about polls that are favorable to him, but the polls have also consistently shown that he loses to Hillary Clinton. Worse yet, his favorable/unfavorable ratings are 33/58. That's the same as Jimmy Carter in early 1980. It's WORSE than Walter Mondale. Trump even has a higher unfavorable rating with the general public than Nixon AFTER Watergate. It would be easier to rehabilitate Enron's image than to make Trump President with those poll numbers.
Saying that a candidate with those poll numbers couldn't win an election without a miracle is something that anyone who knows something about elections would normally agree on. Yet, with Trump, many people seem unfazed. Basically, they think he's going to use some kind of "Trump magic" that will guarantee a victory.
The problem with that is that successful though Donald Trump may be, he fails all the time. He's had four bankruptcies. Then there's Trump steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump the Game, Trump Magazine, Trump Mortgage, Trump Airlines, Trump University, Trump Casinos, the New Jersey Generals and happily, he also lost a lawsuit and was unable to take a widow's home via eminent domain so he could build a limo parking lot. Trump has been a successful businessman, but an awful lot of investors who put money into his ill-advised projects because they just assumed he'd find a way to win have gotten burned doing business deals with him. Again, barring a miracle, that's what would happen to all of his supporters if he becomes the GOP nominee in 2016. Many of them don't see it for the same reason Ron Paul's fans couldn't see it in 2012. Sure, Paul had a diehard following that voted for him in Internet polls and showed up at his events, but he alienated too many people to ever win a general election while he was building up his fanbase. Trump has done the same thing, except a little bigger and better.
Getting beyond that, early on, I was willing to give Trump an opportunity to flesh out his policies and prove he's a conservative. Unfortunately, he never did that and there's little reason to think that a man who has switched political parties 5 times in his life and has never voted in a Republican primary suddenly became a diehard conservative in his mid-sixties. People who wouldn't buy this from any other politician are swallowing it hook, line and sinker with Trump even though his positions on some issues have switched from week-to-week.
Keep in mind that the most consistent political position Donald Trump seems to have held over the last 15 years is that we need a full government takeover in healthcare, which incidentally, would be WORSE than Obamacare. Trump was still pushing that less than six months ago, but now says he supports a free market plan. Do you believe him? If so, why?
In 2013, Ted Cruz was leading the fight against Marco Rubio's gang-of-8 amnesty bill while Trump was talking up amnesty, the Dream Act and comprehensive immigration reform. Nobody with half a brain in his head would believe any other politician claiming to be tough on immigration if he was fighting for amnesty three years ago. So, why believe Trump?
After having read several of his books, I can tell you that Trump has core principles that he believes in personally and in business, but that doesn't seem to be the case with politics. Since Trump is first and foremost a dealmaker, what makes you think you'd like the deals someone who doesn't share your principles would cut on your behalf any more than you liked the deals John Boehner made? What makes you think Trump would be any different than another celebrity like Arnold Schwarzenegger who talked a good game and then ended up governing from the left-of-center once he was in office?
Also, as entertaining and successful as Trump may be, he doesn't have the right temperament to be President. It's a serious, sober job and even if you like him, you have to admit that he's crude, mean-spirited, narcissistic, unpredictable and conspiratorial. Would you consider any other candidate who trashed POWs, "I like people that weren't captured," made fun of the disabled (He's done this more than once), said he never asked God for forgiveness and keeps making creepy comments about how he'd like to date his daughter, "(Ivanka) does have a very nice figure. I've said if Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her?" Even if you're willing to overlook those comments because you love Trump so much, people who aren't Trump fans will not give him a pass. That will be doubly true after the Democrats hammer him with a billion dollars' worth of negative ads that he won't be able to effectively respond to because even Trump admits that he doesn’t know how he would finance his campaign in a general election.
Trump also spends an inordinate amount of time insulting people on Twitter. It amazes me that anyone complains about people hammering Trump when these are just some of the comments on his Twitter account over the last three days….
"@Rketeltas: Rubio isn't experienced enough to be Commander in Chief. Rubio is a carbon copy of Obama. We need a true leader Vote Trump"
"@red77angelluis: @realDonaldTrump @NeilTurner_ @YouTube LET'S GET TRUMP!! GO TRUMP!! USA!USA!"
"@Knight276: @C4Constitution trump right again #With_Cruz_you_lose! Nobody supports Canuck Cruz #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #trump2016
"@M0ther0f2kids: @meetthepress @NBCNews @clewandowski Everyone B smart! U know deep down Trump is the ONLY 1 able to best LEAD"
A wonderful article by a writer who truly gets it. I am for the people and the people are for me. #Trump2016…
"@realOllieTaylor: Isn't it time we had a president? Let goofy Glen keep Canada Cruz who can't win. The American people have Trump!"
"@WhiteGenocideTM: @realDonaldTrump Poor Jeb. I could've sworn I saw him outside Trump Tower the other day! "
Trump wants to be the GOP nominee, but he sounds like one of the mean kids running for third grade class President.
Incidentally, the last tweet is from a white supremacist who spends a lot of time raving about Hitler and "Jewmerica." Despite the fact there were numerous articles criticizing Trump for retweeting a white power nut, he did not take down the tweet. If, let's say, you're black or Jewish, ask yourself how comfortable you are with Trump now that he's knowingly retweeting white supremacists?
Look at all of this and tell me that you trust someone who is this petty, immature and erratic with the responsibility of handling the IRS, the DOJ, the DHS, our military and our nuclear codes. I certainly wouldn't. It's fine to say that you don't trust Sanders or Hillary either, but if even many Republicans don't think he's together enough to handle it, why would the American people?
It's great to be supporting a candidate who you believe is winning, but I think back to the saying, "Play stupid games, get stupid prizes." The prize for getting Trump to the finish line as our nominee would be losing to whomever the Democrats nominate and then watching helplessly as Obamacare stays in place, all of Obama's executive orders stand and the Democrats pick four more Supreme Court Justices.
If we nominate Trump, we'll have our third straight lose/lose election where most conservatives will have a candidate who doesn't truly represent their views as the GOP nominee. Of course, if Trump is our nominee, I will vote for him and I will try to do what I can to help him win, but it would be easier to ski uphill than to get a wildly unpopular Rockefeller Republican like Trump into the White House.
So you plan to sit the election out if Trump or Cruz are not nominated? If everyone thinks like that say hello to the criminal president Hillary Clinton, or the socialist Bernie Sanders who wants to raise our taxes.
The blinders fell off as I once supported Trump (only by 2nd choice) Cruz was always my TRUE first choice.
Bye the Grace of GOD through faith and prayer we will have Ted Cruz as our President. To once more restore Morality and decency as we once had with Ronald and Nancy Reagan.
For those that want to bash this post on MY opinion, it will not be responded to, God forbid I get down in the gutter with you.
No.
I oppose Trump because I don’t believe he’s anything close to conservative. That’s why.
I respect your polite reply and actually agree with some of it. That is why I say he is not perfect as is no man.
The Constitution is a social contract among "We the people of the United States of America." We AGREE to uphold its rights and responsibilities and obey its laws not to violate the rights of others.
As a limiting document, the laws and rights recognized under the Constitution only apply to US. The laws regarding naturalization are meant to protect US per the specifications of OUR representatives. Hence, said rights do not appertain to aliens or foreign nationals.
Islam, in its central document, holds any person who has spoken the Shahada bound to uphold its tenets under penalty of death. Among its responsibilities is to institute Sharia. Under Sharia any adherent to Islam is bound to violate the rights of free exercise followers of any other religion. They CANNOT therefore be participants in the social contract that is the Constitution and are therefore undeserving of its protections.
There's the argument. One cannot expect people to uphold laws they are bound to violate by a death penalty.
Why would they? This guy comes right out of the box with a contrary-to-fact "concern." i.e. Presidential authority over immigration.
BTTT
That, and the lie this guy opened with....
“Due to personal insults from Cruz supporters, I will NEVER vote for Cruz for ANY office.”
My experience with Cruz supporters has been a bad one. If you don’t agree with them they are loud and obnoxious. They don’t want to debate. They demean.
I’ve seen most trump supporters say if it’s not trump then I’ll support Cruz. Not Cruz supporters. They’ll stay home or even worse, vote for hitlery. Cruz supporters sure seem to have the persona of their candidate. It’s making it real hard to want to support their guy.
I don’t discount your feelings, but I just wanted to point out that there is no connection between Trump and Mitt Romney or John McCain in terms of ideology. Stating ‘third straight’ loss to me implies that he sort of ‘fits’ with the ideology or provenance of the prior two.
Trump is, like you say, undefinable at this point and there are aspects of his experience that would serve us well. I, for one, am willing to take a gamble on him - much more than any of the others - even Cruz who I did support until recently. But if either Trump or Cruz gets the bid, I’ll vote for them. I just think mentioning Trump or Cruz in context with McCain or Romney is a heretical travesty that taints them wrongly.
A Cruz supporter insulted you so you would vote for a communist or a pathological liar and criminal instead of Ted Cruz should he be the nominee? That speaks volumes about you.
In responding, briefly, the first question to John Hawkins is: if you really feel this adamantly that he is a walking, talking one-man disaster, why did you ever support Trump in the first place?
To address some of the more serious claims, consider the following:
* Trump has been a long, long time supporters of military veterans and their causes. I know this from a friend of mine who leads one of the largest veteran organizations in the country. So “doesn’t care about POWs†stuff is nonsense. He was speaking FOR the POWs and their compatriots who feel that McCain betrayed them.
* As to his alleged weakness against Hillary in the general election, until Trump got on the campaign trail everybody expected her to win the presidency. He is the only one with the balls to call her and her husband out on the countless rapes and cover-ups. In an election between a disliked, untrusted treasonous felon, and a reality television star, who do you think will win?
* The same can be said of the two major issues that confront us in our time: uncontrolled immigration and jihad/the Muslim Brotherhood. Before Trump made these issues plain topics of discussion, before he broke the fever of political correctness, the debate around the two most important of the day was bland and unproductive. He did that, not any other candidate.
* Regarding whether he is a “true†or “real†or “National Review†conservative, the likely answer is no. His candidacy is issue-driven. It is not based on an ossified theoretical ideology that has not been in practice since the late 1980s. We can keep talking like pseudo-scholars about the virtues of the free flow of capital and labor, and this will be used as an excuse to continually import foreigners, many whom are uneducated and have no intention of swearing allegiance to the United States. LEGAL immigration should be embraced.
* As for the charge that he is a dealmaker, that is a trait, not a flaw. Deals can be good or bad. The ability to strike the right deal is priceless. Striking the wrong one could be catastrophic. If Donald Trump strikes the right deals on immigration, the economy/budget, and defeating ISIS/Iran/jihad/Muslim Brotherhood, he will rank as a GREAT president, without any doubt whatsoever.
Agreed. Ted Cruz has come apart in the last three weeks. Imagine how he would come apart against the Clinton/DNC/MSM slime machine...with Fox News either supporting the slime machine, or sitting it out to be fair and balanced!
‘Trump has this thing walking away, why doesn’t he see that?’
Excellent question. Got me thinking.
Trump wants to do more than win the White House. He wants to transform the Establishment [reform it to be patriotic] as quickly as possible.
His strength is in boldness. He’s not giving that up. The mandate is the reason for winning, not a tool for winning.
His goals:
Defeat Islamo-terror.
Revitalize the US economy. [Essential to victory.]
Increase border safety. [Essential to victory.]
I reserve civility for those who are NOT craven shills maligning their opposition with demonstrable falsehoods.
No, it speaks volumes about you. I never once called Cruz a ‘pathological and criminal’ like you so willingly call Trump. Why don’t you contact the Cruz campaign and offer your services? You are EXACTLY why I decided to no longer support Cruz.
Than you must not be able to reply to Trump supporters with any civility since they are all the things you mention.
He sure was and like he wrote at the end of the article that he will vote for Trump if he is the nominee and will try to do what he can to help him.
The problem being that Trump is a deal-maker... and the biggest issue we have had is sending GOP reps in who simply start making deal with the Dems and the establishment. Nothing.... NOTHING exists to let us believe that Trump won't also make deals, since that's what he does, and who he is.... and even worse, hi aims and goals in making thee deals may not be what mot Conservative would be hoping for.
I LOVE that he takes the fight to the enemy... Dems, media, and GOPe.... but we need actual Conservatism in office far more than we need the joy of watching them all take a black eye on a weekly basis.
Hawkins reveals himself to be an A-Hole of the first order, a prime candidate for views at DU.
He says he started out liking Trump, and then began a process to not like him.. Bullshit.
Most people start out not liking Donald and then come to a realization that he makes one hell of a lot of sense, and he has the balls to say it.
No sale Hawkins.
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