The Trump Conundrum

[toomuchtime_]

The problem is Trump is a pragmatist who leans right, not an ideological conservative, and so he finds what he believes are the best answers to problems regardless of whether other people think these answers are conservative or liberal and he has no patience for others who are not pragmatists.

At first, I thought the same thing about Trump. However, I have watched him swing from right to left on many of the issues he campaigned in the primaries on. For instance, his original tax plan was lauded by many conservatives as great but he has since come out and said the cuts for top marginal rates would be eliminated because we have to "tax the rich" ...a radical left-wing meme. During the debates, he made the argument that increasing the minimum wage would cost jobs and he would not favor it... again, conservatives applauded. Jump ahead to his more recent comments that he wants to increase the minimum wage to $10/hr because "we've got to help people". Another liberal meme. How are you "helping people" by doing something that will kill jobs?

I didn't have a problem with someone who isn't an "ideologue" but I have a real problem with people who are manipulative and say whatever they need at the moment in order to get votes. Like endorsing more ethanol subsidies when they are a prime example of wasteful government corporate handouts that we need to eliminate in order to cut spending.

Trump is telegraphing that he does not plan to govern as a conservative in any fiscal sense. And I really do think that is his "strategy" behind attacking Cruz. He knows that he plans to govern from the left and his biggest opposition will be true conservatives like Cruz. He's trying to eliminate his opposition... take them out now, so they won't have a voice later.

Those who have sold their souls to support Trump have abandoned Conservative principles. This will not end well for them.

Trump's tax plan as laid out on his website.

1. If you are single and earn less than $25,000, or married and jointly earn less than $50,000, you will not owe any income tax. That removes nearly 75 million households – over 50% – from the income tax rolls. They get a new one page form to send the IRS saying, “I win,” those who would otherwise owe income taxes will save an average of nearly $1,000 each.
2. All other Americans will get a simpler tax code with four brackets – 0%, 10%, 20% and 25% – instead of the current seven. This new tax code eliminates the marriage penalty and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) while providing the lowest tax rate since before World War II.
3. No business of any size, from a Fortune 500 to a mom and pop shop to a freelancer living job to job, will pay more than 15% of their business income in taxes. This lower rate makes corporate inversions unnecessary by making America’s tax rate one of the best in the world.
4. No family will have to pay the death tax. You earned and saved that money for your family, not the government. You paid taxes on it when you earned it.

That sounds pretty conservative to me.

Tax Reform

LIKE I SAID... His original tax plan, the one you are citing, conservatives praised! I praised it! It's a great tax plan! ...He has since come out and said that we'll "have to look at the cuts to top marginal rates, I'm not a big fan... those will probably be thrown out because we have to tax the rich." Those are his exact words. He went on to explain, "look, everything is a negotiation... we don't expect to get 100% of what is proposed going in..." But in essence, if he has already caved on cuts to top marginal rates BEFORE we sit down to negotiate, they're gone.... we won't have them, and his tax plan becomes a joke. The top marginal taxpayers are the ones who PAY the taxes. Without their tax cut, you really don't have any tax cuts.

Look.... you keep acting like I am some uninformed boob who hasn't heard any of Trump's agenda.... I'm certainly NOT. I keep up with this stuff... it's my hobby. I know what he says on his website... I know what he has said in the debates and on the campaign trail. He is NOW changing much of that to a more moderate or left position that is completely contrary to what's on his website.

If that weren't his current tax plan, why would he still have it up on his website?

*sigh* ....Are you playing dumb or did you not comprehend what I posted? His "official" tax plan hasn't changed. He's not going to change his website every time he alters or moderates something he has said. Are you really that naive and moronic?

Again, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, the day after Ted Cruz suspended his campaign, he said he was "not a big fan" of "that part" of his tax plan. "That part" meaning, the tax cuts for top marginal tax payers. He said, "we'll have to look at that... I'm not a big fan of that part, those cuts will probably go because we have to tax the rich..." He went on to explain how his tax proposal was a proposal and that it would have to be negotiated. But when you are willing to surrender on the top marginal tax cuts before you even get to the negotiating table, you can rest assured those are gone... won't happen. Again... if you're just too stupid to understand this, I can't fix stupid. So before his tax plan even gets started, the top marginal tax cuts part is DOA. He has already surrendered it. Again... IF you want to point to his website and be naive and stupid... that's up to you.

If you could fix stupid, clearly you wouldn't post such stupid things. Of course the website would have been changed if Trump had changed his tax plan, and of course whatever he proposes will have to be negotiated, and of course a tax cut for the rich will be the most unpopular part of his plan and the most likely to have to be modified, but hardly any legislation is passed in its original form.

What you don't seem to be able to understand is that while Ted Cruz was wholly focused on the way he thought things should be whether it was possible or not, Trump is always focused on getting the best deal - as he would put it - that is possible. That's why Cruz lost and Trump won: no one believed Cruz would be able to get anything done.

 

[Iceweasel]

That's why Cruz lost and Trump won: no one believed Cruz would be able to get anything done.

His single handed shutdown over the budget dispute over obamacare is what got him on the national map. It was a loser from day one, no one wanted in on it. Having principles is one thing but picking losing fights helps no one and only hurt the party.

 

[Preacher]

I can't wait to see you guys on November 9.

The butthurt will be hilarious.

Why's that? If the bitch wins I would just watch people across the country loading their vehicles up getting ready to defend this country from that bitch by making sure she never takes office. She has already proven she will cheat to win so not like its going to be a legit election anyways. We have turned into a banana republic

 

[Boss]

I thought the op said he was gonna vote for Hillary last week?

I guess you're like MarcATL and have an illiteracy problem?

Naw I understood the thread quite well. You were feeling out the waters while claiming to be a conservative. The two ideas do not meld.

Well then you shouldn't have any problem pointing us to the quote from me that says I am going to vote for Hillary Clinton.

I'll wait.

You can back pedal all you like but you were toying with the idea and EVERYONE here knows it.

Backpedaling? How am I doing that? I never said that I was going to vote for Hillary. You're the one now trying to backpedal on the lie you told to start with. "Toying with the idea" is not stating you are "going to do" any damn thing. Are you confused here? What IS backpedaling if it's not changing what you originally said?

 

[Boss]

At first, I thought the same thing about Trump. However, I have watched him swing from right to left on many of the issues he campaigned in the primaries on. For instance, his original tax plan was lauded by many conservatives as great but he has since come out and said the cuts for top marginal rates would be eliminated because we have to "tax the rich" ...a radical left-wing meme. During the debates, he made the argument that increasing the minimum wage would cost jobs and he would not favor it... again, conservatives applauded. Jump ahead to his more recent comments that he wants to increase the minimum wage to $10/hr because "we've got to help people". Another liberal meme. How are you "helping people" by doing something that will kill jobs?

I didn't have a problem with someone who isn't an "ideologue" but I have a real problem with people who are manipulative and say whatever they need at the moment in order to get votes. Like endorsing more ethanol subsidies when they are a prime example of wasteful government corporate handouts that we need to eliminate in order to cut spending.

Trump is telegraphing that he does not plan to govern as a conservative in any fiscal sense. And I really do think that is his "strategy" behind attacking Cruz. He knows that he plans to govern from the left and his biggest opposition will be true conservatives like Cruz. He's trying to eliminate his opposition... take them out now, so they won't have a voice later.

Those who have sold their souls to support Trump have abandoned Conservative principles. This will not end well for them.

Trump's tax plan as laid out on his website.

1. If you are single and earn less than $25,000, or married and jointly earn less than $50,000, you will not owe any income tax. That removes nearly 75 million households – over 50% – from the income tax rolls. They get a new one page form to send the IRS saying, “I win,” those who would otherwise owe income taxes will save an average of nearly $1,000 each.
2. All other Americans will get a simpler tax code with four brackets – 0%, 10%, 20% and 25% – instead of the current seven. This new tax code eliminates the marriage penalty and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) while providing the lowest tax rate since before World War II.
3. No business of any size, from a Fortune 500 to a mom and pop shop to a freelancer living job to job, will pay more than 15% of their business income in taxes. This lower rate makes corporate inversions unnecessary by making America’s tax rate one of the best in the world.
4. No family will have to pay the death tax. You earned and saved that money for your family, not the government. You paid taxes on it when you earned it.

That sounds pretty conservative to me.

Tax Reform

LIKE I SAID... His original tax plan, the one you are citing, conservatives praised! I praised it! It's a great tax plan! ...He has since come out and said that we'll "have to look at the cuts to top marginal rates, I'm not a big fan... those will probably be thrown out because we have to tax the rich." Those are his exact words. He went on to explain, "look, everything is a negotiation... we don't expect to get 100% of what is proposed going in..." But in essence, if he has already caved on cuts to top marginal rates BEFORE we sit down to negotiate, they're gone.... we won't have them, and his tax plan becomes a joke. The top marginal taxpayers are the ones who PAY the taxes. Without their tax cut, you really don't have any tax cuts.

Look.... you keep acting like I am some uninformed boob who hasn't heard any of Trump's agenda.... I'm certainly NOT. I keep up with this stuff... it's my hobby. I know what he says on his website... I know what he has said in the debates and on the campaign trail. He is NOW changing much of that to a more moderate or left position that is completely contrary to what's on his website.

If that weren't his current tax plan, why would he still have it up on his website?

*sigh* ....Are you playing dumb or did you not comprehend what I posted? His "official" tax plan hasn't changed. He's not going to change his website every time he alters or moderates something he has said. Are you really that naive and moronic?

Again, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, the day after Ted Cruz suspended his campaign, he said he was "not a big fan" of "that part" of his tax plan. "That part" meaning, the tax cuts for top marginal tax payers. He said, "we'll have to look at that... I'm not a big fan of that part, those cuts will probably go because we have to tax the rich..." He went on to explain how his tax proposal was a proposal and that it would have to be negotiated. But when you are willing to surrender on the top marginal tax cuts before you even get to the negotiating table, you can rest assured those are gone... won't happen. Again... if you're just too stupid to understand this, I can't fix stupid. So before his tax plan even gets started, the top marginal tax cuts part is DOA. He has already surrendered it. Again... IF you want to point to his website and be naive and stupid... that's up to you.

If you could fix stupid, clearly you wouldn't post such stupid things. Of course the website would have been changed if Trump had changed his tax plan, and of course whatever he proposes will have to be negotiated, and of course a tax cut for the rich will be the most unpopular part of his plan and the most likely to have to be modified, but hardly any legislation is passed in its original form.

What you don't seem to be able to understand is that while Ted Cruz was wholly focused on the way he thought things should be whether it was possible or not, Trump is always focused on getting the best deal - as he would put it - that is possible. That's why Cruz lost and Trump won: no one believed Cruz would be able to get anything done.

Again... if you are such a moron that you don't understand how Trump is now on record saying he will cave on the top marginal tax rate cuts in his tax plan, I can't help you. You're just a moron. This is also evidenced by your liberal parroting of "tax cuts for the rich" like some kind of left-wing idiot. We don't tax wealth... we tax incomes.

Ted Cruz was a conservative who stood on conservative principles. You and Trump seem to be liberal lightweights. The problem with that is, you're about your ass kicked by a liberal heavyweight.

 

[Boss]

His single handed shutdown over the budget dispute over obamacare is what got him on the national map. It was a loser from day one, no one wanted in on it. Having principles is one thing but picking losing fights helps no one and only hurt the party.

If you had any conservative principles you should have stood with him. It's not a "loser fight" until you throw in the towel and capitulate, which is what happened with the RINO republican establishment elite. They didn't want or care about stopping Obamacare. Ted Cruz promised he would go to Washington and fight to stop it and that's what he did.

Your faction rendered themselves feckless because they were paralyzed with fear of shutting down government. Sooner or later, you're going to have to get over that. Don't know what it's going to take, maybe the whole Republican party needs to be torched to the ground? Sooner or later, there will be brave politicians up there who aren't afraid to stand on principles.

 

[EriktheRed]

Trump's supporters have been conned that it's good he's destroying a major American political party.

Talk Radio and conservative internet made this mess, and we'll see if they have to answer for it.
.

Unlikely. Five minutes after he loses, Rush Limbaugh will get on the air and announce that this was a defeat of a candidate, not conservatism.

Because that is exactly what he said in 2012, 2008, 2006 1996 and 1992.

as much of a disaster as Trump is, the fact is, the GOP was going to always get about 45% of the vote no matter who they ran.

In 2018, Democrats will take a thrubbing in the mid-terms and the same voices will proclaim vindication.

Only because Americans aren't smart enough to know they got to vote every 2 years not 4!

Or another way to put it is that too many of them don't understand that the Presidency is not the only important thing to vote for.

 

[EriktheRed]

 

[EriktheRed]

I don't know if that's the case - Conservative media created and exacerbated this rage....

No... the Conservative media didn't cause this. If you want to blame the feckless establishment GOP leadership who repeatedly capitulated to Obama and ignored the voice of the people who gave them the House and Senate... that's a more accurate assessment. The Conservatives TRIED to make a stand and they were castigated and smeared by the likes of Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham.

They fielded several candidates... Cruz, Paul, Walker and Carson, who stood for strong Conservative values and principles but ended up splitting the Conservative vote, while Trump appealed to this new "populist" movement by being brash and politically incorrect. He won with less than a majority of the GOP vote and he's the candidate representing the GOP now.

Now that's all fine and well, but traditionally, the nominee will at least make some gesture or attempt to unify the party... to bring in the various assorted factions to focus on a universal objective which is to defeat Hillary Clinton. But instead of doing this, Trump seems intent on alienating those voters in every way possible. He seems to want to thumb his nose at unification and pretend that his minority of populist support is a unified party who can defeat Clinton. The numbers just aren't there. He cannot win without the support of the rest of the party... he sure as hell can't win by smearing and insulting the hell out of them and on the sole point of not being Hillary Clinton.

hey republicans eat their own whats new... hillary hasn't to really try and do anything she just repeats what he said and trump losses it ... not a person i would want with the nuke codes at his beck and call ...

You would rather have a person who blamed telling the Bosnia lie for over a year on sleep deprivation? Man that kind of thinking is really scary.

I may be wrong but I don't believe one man can pick up the phone and launch a nuclear war. Even on the submarines that launch the missiles one man does not have the ability to launch missiles. I don't want any ONE person having such power.

she was wrong about bosnia ..we get it ...but it did happen the fact that she said bosnia you lap on to that like the lap dog you are she never lied she misspoke about bosnia

i think it's pretty sad how wingnuts like him play the false equivalency game overt this, as if this is somehow on the same level as some of the whoppers Combover Caligula has been caught saying.

 

[EriktheRed]

oh now youre a mind reader ... seems the missed that in the hearing ... what next are you going to try and push she did nothing to help them ... that she went to bed instead of try to save them ??? are you going to try that bull shit story too??? then try to tell us that it was on her emails she erased ??? is this your best to try and get us liberals to vote for trump??/ good luck with the bunch of bull shit

No, I realize you're never going to vote for Trump. I realize you're never going to believe that she was involved in a covert gun-running operation or any other scandal she's ever been involved in. I've written you people off a LONG time ago... unlike Trump who seems to think he can coax the Bernie voters over by adopting the Liberal Progressive talking points.

The main reason these things aren't believed is because they've been scrutinized to death and the only ones who still believe there's anything to them are nutbags such as yourself.

 

[toomuchtime_]

Trump's tax plan as laid out on his website.

1. If you are single and earn less than $25,000, or married and jointly earn less than $50,000, you will not owe any income tax. That removes nearly 75 million households – over 50% – from the income tax rolls. They get a new one page form to send the IRS saying, “I win,” those who would otherwise owe income taxes will save an average of nearly $1,000 each.
2. All other Americans will get a simpler tax code with four brackets – 0%, 10%, 20% and 25% – instead of the current seven. This new tax code eliminates the marriage penalty and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) while providing the lowest tax rate since before World War II.
3. No business of any size, from a Fortune 500 to a mom and pop shop to a freelancer living job to job, will pay more than 15% of their business income in taxes. This lower rate makes corporate inversions unnecessary by making America’s tax rate one of the best in the world.
4. No family will have to pay the death tax. You earned and saved that money for your family, not the government. You paid taxes on it when you earned it.

That sounds pretty conservative to me.

Tax Reform

LIKE I SAID... His original tax plan, the one you are citing, conservatives praised! I praised it! It's a great tax plan! ...He has since come out and said that we'll "have to look at the cuts to top marginal rates, I'm not a big fan... those will probably be thrown out because we have to tax the rich." Those are his exact words. He went on to explain, "look, everything is a negotiation... we don't expect to get 100% of what is proposed going in..." But in essence, if he has already caved on cuts to top marginal rates BEFORE we sit down to negotiate, they're gone.... we won't have them, and his tax plan becomes a joke. The top marginal taxpayers are the ones who PAY the taxes. Without their tax cut, you really don't have any tax cuts.

Look.... you keep acting like I am some uninformed boob who hasn't heard any of Trump's agenda.... I'm certainly NOT. I keep up with this stuff... it's my hobby. I know what he says on his website... I know what he has said in the debates and on the campaign trail. He is NOW changing much of that to a more moderate or left position that is completely contrary to what's on his website.

If that weren't his current tax plan, why would he still have it up on his website?

*sigh* ....Are you playing dumb or did you not comprehend what I posted? His "official" tax plan hasn't changed. He's not going to change his website every time he alters or moderates something he has said. Are you really that naive and moronic?

Again, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, the day after Ted Cruz suspended his campaign, he said he was "not a big fan" of "that part" of his tax plan. "That part" meaning, the tax cuts for top marginal tax payers. He said, "we'll have to look at that... I'm not a big fan of that part, those cuts will probably go because we have to tax the rich..." He went on to explain how his tax proposal was a proposal and that it would have to be negotiated. But when you are willing to surrender on the top marginal tax cuts before you even get to the negotiating table, you can rest assured those are gone... won't happen. Again... if you're just too stupid to understand this, I can't fix stupid. So before his tax plan even gets started, the top marginal tax cuts part is DOA. He has already surrendered it. Again... IF you want to point to his website and be naive and stupid... that's up to you.

If you could fix stupid, clearly you wouldn't post such stupid things. Of course the website would have been changed if Trump had changed his tax plan, and of course whatever he proposes will have to be negotiated, and of course a tax cut for the rich will be the most unpopular part of his plan and the most likely to have to be modified, but hardly any legislation is passed in its original form.

What you don't seem to be able to understand is that while Ted Cruz was wholly focused on the way he thought things should be whether it was possible or not, Trump is always focused on getting the best deal - as he would put it - that is possible. That's why Cruz lost and Trump won: no one believed Cruz would be able to get anything done.

Again... if you are such a moron that you don't understand how Trump is now on record saying he will cave on the top marginal tax rate cuts in his tax plan, I can't help you. You're just a moron. This is also evidenced by your liberal parroting of "tax cuts for the rich" like some kind of left-wing idiot. We don't tax wealth... we tax incomes.

Ted Cruz was a conservative who stood on conservative principles. You and Trump seem to be liberal lightweights. The problem with that is, you're about your ass kicked by a liberal heavyweight.

I understand you perfectly. The problem is you don't understand how ridiculous you are.

You are a defender of the true faith of conservatism, just as Sanders' supporters are defenders of the true faith of socialism, and that makes you both irrelevant to the real world. Your posts show you see the world as a dichotomy of conservative and liberal without realizing the everything that gets done is done by people in the middle. Trump is a pragmatist who leans right and who will get as much of his tax reform plan into law as is possible. Cruz is a rigid dogmatist who is too inflexible to be able to get anything done.

 

[EriktheRed]

As for Cruz, he made a promise and didn't keep it.

What promise was that?

 

[EriktheRed]

Guy, you aren't going to "Change" Trump. Trump is who he has been since the 1980's, a Malignant Narcissist . The problem with your whole premise isthat you think that the problem of Trump canbe fixed with "messaging".

Go to hell you racist bigoted piece of shit, nobody asked you and you don't have any business in this thread whatsoever.

So do you have an actual response to what you just replied to?

 

[EriktheRed]

I don't think we need lectures form a party that referred to a VP candidate as "Caribou Barbie"....

Well, how 'bout Snowflake Snooki or Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods?

 

[Afterword]

Trump and his supporters simply don't act like they want to win this election.

Trump supporters are simply being who they are. They cannot get enough of his hateful and racist banter. He has tapped into what they fear the most - anyone who is needy or oppressed. The thought of sharing terrifies them and Trump plays on this fear. They are nothing more than a means to an end.

As for that end, Trump's running for President of the United States could be nothing more than an entertaining way to pass the time.

 

[EriktheRed]

Trump has a problem because we are all seeing EXACTLY who he is, and what he stands for.

And he could still beat the dog shit out of Hillary Clinton if he'd just stay focused on her.

I mean, she nearly fucking lost her primary to a 74 year old cranky old Socialist nutbag! Save for some inside rigging from her buddy Debbie Whatsername-Schultz, she WOULD have! She is so boring her own husband fell asleep during her acceptance speech and he was sitting beside a hot blonde! That's pretty fucking boring!

No, actually, she didn't "nearly fucking lost her primary to a 74 year old cranky old Socialist nutbag". She was pretty far ahead in the popular vote.

 

[EriktheRed]

Your point is that for you, the election is all about personalities and personal style and not at all about where the candidates stand on the issues or what their specific plans are for dealing with these issues.

Do you even know what the important issues are in this election?

They aren't Mexicans cleaning toilets.


And, yeah, personalities ARE important. How cool is the candidate under pressure. Does she maintain her cool while being accussed of the most horrible things imaginable...

or does he go into a hissy when someone makes a dick joke?

Once you've answered that question, the next question is... which personality do you want with a finger on the button that blows up the planet.

She was perfectly cool and collected as she ignored the pleas from the diplomats in Libya before they were killed and she was perfectly cool and collected as she lied about the email and as she had 33,000 of them deleted to deny the FBI the opportunity to inspect them.

What else did your shiny little hat tell you that countless investigations did not?

 

[EriktheRed]

The most ironic thing about Trump's horrific "campaign" is that his behavior may convince people that we need more experienced people running for national office.

You know, "establishment" types.
.

You mean experienced like Obama?

You mean the current POTUS who's poll numbers are over 50%?

Yeah, I think he does.

 

[Boss]

LIKE I SAID... His original tax plan, the one you are citing, conservatives praised! I praised it! It's a great tax plan! ...He has since come out and said that we'll "have to look at the cuts to top marginal rates, I'm not a big fan... those will probably be thrown out because we have to tax the rich." Those are his exact words. He went on to explain, "look, everything is a negotiation... we don't expect to get 100% of what is proposed going in..." But in essence, if he has already caved on cuts to top marginal rates BEFORE we sit down to negotiate, they're gone.... we won't have them, and his tax plan becomes a joke. The top marginal taxpayers are the ones who PAY the taxes. Without their tax cut, you really don't have any tax cuts.

Look.... you keep acting like I am some uninformed boob who hasn't heard any of Trump's agenda.... I'm certainly NOT. I keep up with this stuff... it's my hobby. I know what he says on his website... I know what he has said in the debates and on the campaign trail. He is NOW changing much of that to a more moderate or left position that is completely contrary to what's on his website.

If that weren't his current tax plan, why would he still have it up on his website?

*sigh* ....Are you playing dumb or did you not comprehend what I posted? His "official" tax plan hasn't changed. He's not going to change his website every time he alters or moderates something he has said. Are you really that naive and moronic?

Again, in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, the day after Ted Cruz suspended his campaign, he said he was "not a big fan" of "that part" of his tax plan. "That part" meaning, the tax cuts for top marginal tax payers. He said, "we'll have to look at that... I'm not a big fan of that part, those cuts will probably go because we have to tax the rich..." He went on to explain how his tax proposal was a proposal and that it would have to be negotiated. But when you are willing to surrender on the top marginal tax cuts before you even get to the negotiating table, you can rest assured those are gone... won't happen. Again... if you're just too stupid to understand this, I can't fix stupid. So before his tax plan even gets started, the top marginal tax cuts part is DOA. He has already surrendered it. Again... IF you want to point to his website and be naive and stupid... that's up to you.

If you could fix stupid, clearly you wouldn't post such stupid things. Of course the website would have been changed if Trump had changed his tax plan, and of course whatever he proposes will have to be negotiated, and of course a tax cut for the rich will be the most unpopular part of his plan and the most likely to have to be modified, but hardly any legislation is passed in its original form.

What you don't seem to be able to understand is that while Ted Cruz was wholly focused on the way he thought things should be whether it was possible or not, Trump is always focused on getting the best deal - as he would put it - that is possible. That's why Cruz lost and Trump won: no one believed Cruz would be able to get anything done.

Again... if you are such a moron that you don't understand how Trump is now on record saying he will cave on the top marginal tax rate cuts in his tax plan, I can't help you. You're just a moron. This is also evidenced by your liberal parroting of "tax cuts for the rich" like some kind of left-wing idiot. We don't tax wealth... we tax incomes.

Ted Cruz was a conservative who stood on conservative principles. You and Trump seem to be liberal lightweights. The problem with that is, you're about your ass kicked by a liberal heavyweight.

I understand you perfectly. The problem is you don't understand how ridiculous you are.

You are a defender of the true faith of conservatism, just as Sanders' supporters are defenders of the true faith of socialism, and that makes you both irrelevant to the real world. Your posts show you see the world as a dichotomy of conservative and liberal without realizing the everything that gets done is done by people in the middle. Trump is a pragmatist who leans right and who will get as much of his tax reform plan into law as is possible. Cruz is a rigid dogmatist who is too inflexible to be able to get anything done.

Here is where you are wrong. Conservatism is not an ideology. Socialism is an ideology. You can even say "social conservatism" is an ideology or "neo-conservative" is an ideology. But Conservatism itself is a philosophy. It is the pragmatic counter philosophy to extreme radicalism. It can encompass several ideologies including libertarian and liberalism. Yes, there are conservative liberals.

True conservative values are time-tested wisdom and experience with a pragmatic and measured approach to problem solving. In essence, this IS the moderate position. You may say you are moderately radical or extremely radical in contrast to conservative. Therefore, you could be an extreme radical social conservative and that's not really a true conservative.

Trump's base are nationalist-populist-agrarians and they are extremists. These types of movements have emerged throughout history and they can be dangerous. This is precisely the type of movement which drove Nazism in Germany and Mao's revolution in China.

Now... over the past 30-35 years, the progressive left has done a successful hit job on Conservatism. They have transformed popular understanding of Conservatism into a Frankenstein ideology comprised of all the worst aspects of radical ideology associated with the right. Indeed, they call Conservatives "far right" when in actuality, there is no such thing in American politics. The so-called "far right" are mostly anarchist types like Tim McVeigh, skinheads, neo-Nazis. These people represent a very small sliver of society and have no political power.

 

[JoeB131]

Guy, you never were a conservative.

Shut up.... just please... shut the fuck up and die.

Sorry, Chief Running Gag, I'm the bringing of tragic truths to the useful idiots of the One Percent.