Does GOP care about Trump's l*****t policies?
May 13, 2016 12:35:17 #
slatten49
Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
Charles Krauthammer
What lies behind Donald Trump's nomination victory? Received wisdom among conservatives is that he, the outsider, sensed, marshaled and came to represent a massive revolt of the Republican rank and file against the "establishment."
This is the narrative: GOP political leaders made promises of all kinds and received in return...during President Obama'a years, major e*******l victories that gave them the House, the Senate, 12 new governorships and 30 state houses. Yet they didn't deliver. Exit polls consistently showed that a majority of GOP primary v**ers (60% in some states) feel "betrayed" by their leaders.
Not just let down or disappointed. Betrayed. By RINOs who, corrupted by donors and lobbyists, sold out. Did they repeal Obamacare? No. Did they defund Planned Parenthood? No. Did they stop Obama's tax-and-spend hyper-liberalism? No. Whether from incompetence or venality, they let Obama walk all over them.
But then comes the paradox. If insufficient resistance to Obama's liberalism created this sense of betrayal, why in a field of 17 did Republican v**ers choose the least conservative candidate? A man who until last week was himself a liberal who donated money to those very same Democrats to whom the GOP establishment is said to have caved, including Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton.
Trump has expressed sympathy for a single-payer system of socialized medicine, far to the left of Obamacare. Trump lists health care as one of the federal government's three main responsibilities (after national security); Republicans adamantly oppose federal intervention in health care. He also lists education, which republicans believe should instead be left to the states.
As for Planned Parenthood, the very same conservatives who railed against the republican establishment for failing to defund it now rally around a candidate who sings the praises of its good works (save for the provision of a******n).
More fundamentally, Trump has no affinity whatsoever for the central thrust of modern conservatism...a return to less and smaller government. If the establishment has insufficiently resisted Obama's big government policies, the beneficiary should logically have been the most consistent, indeed, most radical, anti-government conservative of the bunch: Ted Cruz.
Cruz's entire career has consisted of promoting tea-party consitutionalism in revolt against party leaders who had joined "the Washington cartel." Yet, when Cruz got to his one-on-one with Trump at the Indiana OK Corral, republicans chose Trump and his non-conservative, idiosyncratic populism.
Which makes Indiana a truly historic inflection point. It marks the most radical t***sformation of the political philosophy of a major political party in our lifetime. The Democrats continue their trajectory of ever-expensive liberalism from the New Deal through the Great Society through Obama and Clinton today. While the GOP, the nation's conservative party, its ideology refined and crystallized by Ronald Reagan, has just gone populist.
It's an ideological earthquake. How radical a reorientation? Said Trump last week: "Folks, I'm a conservative. But at this point, who cares?"
Who cares? Wasn't caring about conservatism the very essence of the talk radio, tea party, grass-root revolt against the so-called establishment? They cheered Cruz when he led the government shutdown in the name of conservative principles. Yet, when the race came down to Cruz and Trump, these opinion-shaping conservatives who once doted on Cruz affected a studied Trump-leaning neutrality.
T***p w*n. True, the charismatically-challenged Cruz was up against a prepackaged celebrity, an already famous showman.
True. Trump appealed to the economic anxiety of a squeezed middle class and the status anxiety of a formerly dominant white working class. But the prevailing conservative narrative...of anti-establishment fury...was different is now exposed as a convenient fable. If Trump is a great big middle finger aimed at a Republican establishment that has abandoned its principles, isn't it curious that the party has chosen a man without any?
Trump doesn't even pretend to have any, conservative or otherwise. He lauds his own "flexibility," his freedom from political or philosophical consistency. And he elevates unpredictability to a foreign policy doctrine.
The ideological realignment is stark. On major issues...such as the central question of retaining America's global pre-eminence as leader of the free world, sustainer of Western alliances and protector of the post-WWII order...the GOP candidate stands decidedly to the left of the democrats.
And who knows on what else. On entitlements? On health care? On taxes? We will soon find out. But as Trump himself says of being a conservative...at this point, who cares.
At this point, certainly not the GOP.
What lies behind Donald Trump's nomination victory? Received wisdom among conservatives is that he, the outsider, sensed, marshaled and came to represent a massive revolt of the Republican rank and file against the "establishment."
This is the narrative: GOP political leaders made promises of all kinds and received in return...during President Obama'a years, major e*******l victories that gave them the House, the Senate, 12 new governorships and 30 state houses. Yet they didn't deliver. Exit polls consistently showed that a majority of GOP primary v**ers (60% in some states) feel "betrayed" by their leaders.
Not just let down or disappointed. Betrayed. By RINOs who, corrupted by donors and lobbyists, sold out. Did they repeal Obamacare? No. Did they defund Planned Parenthood? No. Did they stop Obama's tax-and-spend hyper-liberalism? No. Whether from incompetence or venality, they let Obama walk all over them.
But then comes the paradox. If insufficient resistance to Obama's liberalism created this sense of betrayal, why in a field of 17 did Republican v**ers choose the least conservative candidate? A man who until last week was himself a liberal who donated money to those very same Democrats to whom the GOP establishment is said to have caved, including Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton.
Trump has expressed sympathy for a single-payer system of socialized medicine, far to the left of Obamacare. Trump lists health care as one of the federal government's three main responsibilities (after national security); Republicans adamantly oppose federal intervention in health care. He also lists education, which republicans believe should instead be left to the states.
As for Planned Parenthood, the very same conservatives who railed against the republican establishment for failing to defund it now rally around a candidate who sings the praises of its good works (save for the provision of a******n).
More fundamentally, Trump has no affinity whatsoever for the central thrust of modern conservatism...a return to less and smaller government. If the establishment has insufficiently resisted Obama's big government policies, the beneficiary should logically have been the most consistent, indeed, most radical, anti-government conservative of the bunch: Ted Cruz.
Cruz's entire career has consisted of promoting tea-party consitutionalism in revolt against party leaders who had joined "the Washington cartel." Yet, when Cruz got to his one-on-one with Trump at the Indiana OK Corral, republicans chose Trump and his non-conservative, idiosyncratic populism.
Which makes Indiana a truly historic inflection point. It marks the most radical t***sformation of the political philosophy of a major political party in our lifetime. The Democrats continue their trajectory of ever-expensive liberalism from the New Deal through the Great Society through Obama and Clinton today. While the GOP, the nation's conservative party, its ideology refined and crystallized by Ronald Reagan, has just gone populist.
It's an ideological earthquake. How radical a reorientation? Said Trump last week: "Folks, I'm a conservative. But at this point, who cares?"
Who cares? Wasn't caring about conservatism the very essence of the talk radio, tea party, grass-root revolt against the so-called establishment? They cheered Cruz when he led the government shutdown in the name of conservative principles. Yet, when the race came down to Cruz and Trump, these opinion-shaping conservatives who once doted on Cruz affected a studied Trump-leaning neutrality.
T***p w*n. True, the charismatically-challenged Cruz was up against a prepackaged celebrity, an already famous showman.
True. Trump appealed to the economic anxiety of a squeezed middle class and the status anxiety of a formerly dominant white working class. But the prevailing conservative narrative...of anti-establishment fury...was different is now exposed as a convenient fable. If Trump is a great big middle finger aimed at a Republican establishment that has abandoned its principles, isn't it curious that the party has chosen a man without any?
Trump doesn't even pretend to have any, conservative or otherwise. He lauds his own "flexibility," his freedom from political or philosophical consistency. And he elevates unpredictability to a foreign policy doctrine.
The ideological realignment is stark. On major issues...such as the central question of retaining America's global pre-eminence as leader of the free world, sustainer of Western alliances and protector of the post-WWII order...the GOP candidate stands decidedly to the left of the democrats.
And who knows on what else. On entitlements? On health care? On taxes? We will soon find out. But as Trump himself says of being a conservative...at this point, who cares.
At this point, certainly not the GOP.
May 13, 2016 12:59:44 #
F'N Conservatives..... GO HOME... Anything anybody does that doesn't stink of Holy-Water is L*****t activity.
May 13, 2016 13:16:01 #
At this point, it's either Trump or Hillary. I may not agree with some of his policies, but I would never pick Hillary. I don't know what motivates Trump, but the establishment has screwed us over and over again. Trump is not a politician. That's good enough for me. Politicians have ruined this country. Trump may be a risky proposition, but it's a risk I'm willing to take, since the other candidates are also part of the establishment.
May 13, 2016 13:23:04 #
May 13, 2016 13:25:05 #
slatten49
Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
Little Ball of H**e wrote:
At this point, it's either Trump or Hillary. I may not agree with some of his policies, but I would never pick Hillary. I don't know what motivates Trump, but the establishment has screwed us over and over again. Trump is not a politician. That's good enough for me. Politicians have ruined this country. Trump may be a risky proposition, but it's a risk I'm willing to take, since the other candidates are also part of the establishment.
That, I understand.
I would have trouble v****g for either, and will likely write-in a candidate...in protest of our choices. 
I would not give nor deprive Clinton/Trump my v**e in lieu of the other. Neither of them warrant that v**e.May 13, 2016 13:42:07 #
slatten49 wrote:
That, I understand. I would have trouble v****g for either, and will likely write-in a candidate...in protest of our choices.
I would have trouble v****g for either, and will likely write-in a candidate...in protest of our choices. A 'write-in' is a v**e for Hillary.
May 13, 2016 13:42:50 #
Little Ball of H**e wrote:
At this point, it's either Trump or Hillary. I may not agree with some of his policies, but I would never pick Hillary. I don't know what motivates Trump, but the establishment has screwed us over and over again. Trump is not a politician. That's good enough for me. Politicians have ruined this country. Trump may be a risky proposition, but it's a risk I'm willing to take since the other candidates are also part of the establishment.
May 13, 2016 13:46:19 #
slatten49
Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
PoppaGringo wrote:
A 'write-in' is a v**e for Hillary.
I suspect Hillary supporters would claim the same for Trump. I did amend my previous post.
May 13, 2016 13:56:19 #
Ricko
Loc: Florida
PoppaGringo wrote:
LBH-Agree!! Conservatism is a word which is bantered about by the GOP at e******n time and soon forgotten thereafter. I have to chuckle at some who do not like Trump because he is not conservative enough, yet these same people have not seen any sign of conservatism in our government for over 20years and have remained silent. Maybe I missed something along the way but aren't the borders porous, isn't the government bigger, has our military been reduced in size, hasn't our national debt grown, isn't our economy stagnant, are we more respected in the world, isn't our foreign policy in shambles ?? Conservatism where art thou ??? Good Luck America !!!
May 13, 2016 15:21:50 #
May 13, 2016 15:38:37 #
Little Ball of H**e wrote:
At this point, it's either Trump or Hillary. I may not agree with some of his policies, but I would never pick Hillary. I don't know what motivates Trump, but the establishment has screwed us over and over again. Trump is not a politician. That's good enough for me. Politicians have ruined this country. Trump may be a risky proposition, but it's a risk I'm willing to take, since the other candidates are also part of the establishment.
We took a chance with an Actor...... Let's take a chance with a Businessman.......
May 13, 2016 18:24:07 #
kburns50 wrote:
We took a chance with an Actor...... Let's take a chance with a Businessman.......
Trump strikes me as the type of person who h**es to fail. If he says he can fix the economy, and immigration...etc, I believe he'll do his best to get it done. This assumes, of course, that he's not lying through his teeth.
May 14, 2016 06:41:49 #
I once thought Charles was the most brilliant man on the planet, next to Stephen Hawkings, but his hatred of a Trump is simply outstanding. I now tune him out.
May 14, 2016 07:29:09 #
PoppaGringo wrote:
A 'write-in' is a v**e for Hillary.
A write-in is a v**e against Trump and Hillary.
May 14, 2016 09:59:16 #
Little Ball of H**e wrote:
Trump strikes me as the type of person who h**es to fail. If he says he can fix the economy, and immigration...etc, I believe he'll do his best to get it done. This assumes, of course, that he's not lying through his teeth.
Trump doesn't know how to build a hotel and he doesn't know how to design a golf course. But he does know how to assemble the right people for those jobs and he knows how to delegate authority to those people. He never says that he knows it all but I will trust his managerial sk**ls over Hillary's large number of failures any day of the week.
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