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| Source:Vanity Fair- Donald J. Trump (Republican, Florida) 45th President of the United States. Thank God, there's only one. |
"Donald Trump has always been a blatant liar, making up stories about everything from his net worth to how many people were at his inauguration, but do people actually like it when Trump lies to them? Amanda Carpenter, author of a new book, Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us, joins Nick Bilton to talk about why Republicans, and evangelicals, still love Trump, even after all these lies; how Trump actually pulls off these outright deceptions; and why they are only going to get worse in 2020 as Trump does everything possible to try to maintain control of the White House."
From Vanity Fair
The conservative case against Donald Trump is pretty clear I believe as a non-Conservative, but the conservative case against Donald Trump might not be the Republican case against him or even a Republican case against him. As Amanda Carpenter ( CNN conservative political analyst ) would agree with me here, Conservative and Republican aren't the same things. What Republican Party was at least pre-Trump was, was a vehicle to promote conservative values and policies.
But not all Republicans are Conservatives ( Donald Trump for example ) and believe in the same things. And as Amanda Carpenter would also agree she's a Conservative first and a Republican second. Just like I'm a Liberal first and at best now an Independent-Democrat second. I'm not a big fan of the Democratic Party right now, which is the subject for perhaps a future blog article.
A Conservative to me at least in the political sense, is someone who believes in the U.S. Constitution and bases their politics around that and sees it as their job to conserve the Constitution and our individual rights and freedom. And not just some of them and try to pretend others don't exist or are not important.
A Conservative is someone who believes in a strong national defense but is conservative in how to use it and bases their national security policy on what's best for America and our allies. Not looking to invade countries simply because they have a bad authoritarian government and are bad to their people. ( Like the 2003 Iraq War ) Who believes in economic freedom, property rights, low taxation and regulation, fiscal responsibility, federalism which is a way of saying that government closest to home is the best government once you move out of national security and foreign affairs.
Donald Trump is pretty much the opposite of all of those things. He wants a large national defense and for us to spend a lot of money on it as a country, but isn't very clear in when we should use it when we're not under attack. Ran as a Nationalist in 2016 but hit the Syrian Assad Regime with missile strikes last year and again this year, when they gassed their own people. Sure, he believes in lower taxes and regulations, but so does the furthest Left Republican in the entire country believes in low taxation and regulation across the board as well.
What Donald Trump represents and what goes against American conservatism, is this Joe McCarthy/George Wallace faction in American politics that claims to be the real Americans and everyone else are just foreigners or traitors, or the Un-Americans, not deserving of the same rights and respect as their tribe. He represents nationalist-tribalism in America and in some cases racism and racists, as well as ethnic bigots and bigotry. He at the very least represents the people who hold racist and other bigoted views towards certain ethnic groups in America like Jewish-American. Whether he's personally a racist or bigot himself, is the topic of a different debate. But those are the people he represents.
What Donald Trump is, is the anti-Conservative Republican President of the United States. Who sees his job as to protect himself and and his political interests. Even if it means doing things that aren't conservative. Like attacking the American intelligence community and our law enforcement. Or attacking military veterans and their families simply because they don't support him. Pardoning people who've already have admitted to committing the crimes that they were charged with, which is the latest examples with his pardons yesterday.
If President Trump thinks it will benefit him politically and personally, he'll do it whether it's conservative, progressive, nationalist, authoritarian, or anything else. He's not just a political opportunist, but the most successful political opportunist that we've ever seen in this country which makes him very dangerous. A man without a core and center, is a man that can always be exposed, because he has nothing protecting and guiding him other than his short-term political and personal interests. Which is what you get with President Donald Trump.
But not all Republicans are Conservatives ( Donald Trump for example ) and believe in the same things. And as Amanda Carpenter would also agree she's a Conservative first and a Republican second. Just like I'm a Liberal first and at best now an Independent-Democrat second. I'm not a big fan of the Democratic Party right now, which is the subject for perhaps a future blog article.
A Conservative to me at least in the political sense, is someone who believes in the U.S. Constitution and bases their politics around that and sees it as their job to conserve the Constitution and our individual rights and freedom. And not just some of them and try to pretend others don't exist or are not important.
A Conservative is someone who believes in a strong national defense but is conservative in how to use it and bases their national security policy on what's best for America and our allies. Not looking to invade countries simply because they have a bad authoritarian government and are bad to their people. ( Like the 2003 Iraq War ) Who believes in economic freedom, property rights, low taxation and regulation, fiscal responsibility, federalism which is a way of saying that government closest to home is the best government once you move out of national security and foreign affairs.
Donald Trump is pretty much the opposite of all of those things. He wants a large national defense and for us to spend a lot of money on it as a country, but isn't very clear in when we should use it when we're not under attack. Ran as a Nationalist in 2016 but hit the Syrian Assad Regime with missile strikes last year and again this year, when they gassed their own people. Sure, he believes in lower taxes and regulations, but so does the furthest Left Republican in the entire country believes in low taxation and regulation across the board as well.
What Donald Trump represents and what goes against American conservatism, is this Joe McCarthy/George Wallace faction in American politics that claims to be the real Americans and everyone else are just foreigners or traitors, or the Un-Americans, not deserving of the same rights and respect as their tribe. He represents nationalist-tribalism in America and in some cases racism and racists, as well as ethnic bigots and bigotry. He at the very least represents the people who hold racist and other bigoted views towards certain ethnic groups in America like Jewish-American. Whether he's personally a racist or bigot himself, is the topic of a different debate. But those are the people he represents.
What Donald Trump is, is the anti-Conservative Republican President of the United States. Who sees his job as to protect himself and and his political interests. Even if it means doing things that aren't conservative. Like attacking the American intelligence community and our law enforcement. Or attacking military veterans and their families simply because they don't support him. Pardoning people who've already have admitted to committing the crimes that they were charged with, which is the latest examples with his pardons yesterday.
If President Trump thinks it will benefit him politically and personally, he'll do it whether it's conservative, progressive, nationalist, authoritarian, or anything else. He's not just a political opportunist, but the most successful political opportunist that we've ever seen in this country which makes him very dangerous. A man without a core and center, is a man that can always be exposed, because he has nothing protecting and guiding him other than his short-term political and personal interests. Which is what you get with President Donald Trump.
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