Donald Trump has been the best thing to happen during this endless campaign for the presidency. He has brought issues into the campaign that would never have been discussed without him, and awakened a seething mass of voters who are fed up with business as usual from their rulers. But as much good as he has done up to this point, he should not be President.
Trump says all the things the silent majority wants to hear. Though a pampered billionaire, he shrewdly taps into the frustrations of average citizens, and so far refuses to bow to political correctness. As an ordinary businessman and citizen, I have longed for another Ronald Reagan who champions conservative values, and consistently bucks the Washington establishment.
The difference is that Donald Trump has no conservative values. He is a man of opportunity and advantage, and he will be as unpredictable as President as he is being a candidate. Sorry Donald, I can overlook my disagreements with you on many issues, but I want to know what to expect out of the person I vote for, once he is President.
In truth, I don’t think a single person can predict what Trump will do on any issue. Voting for him would be a lot like voting for Obama in 2008: what the candidate says is not what the President does. Like Obama, the real candidate is not defined by his campaign rhetoric, but by his past.
From not being raised to love this country, to attending a radical, hate America church for twenty years, Obama’s books and actions told us exactly what we would get in a President. He clearly said he intended to redistribute the wealth, kneel to our enemies, change the social fabric, and bust the budget. Yet people deluded themselves into believing his promise to ‘fundamentally transform America’ was well intentioned, and sucked up the meaningless slogan of hope and change.
Trump is also clearly defined by his past. Whereas Obama is a true left-wing ideologue, Trump is a true man of no convictions. His past is an endless stream of position changes. From marriage to immigration, it is impossible to tell what the man truly believes. At any given time he may unapologetically reverse his position, or even stand on both sides of a given issue.
Donald Trump is about The Art of the Deal. In the same way that Obama forewarned Americans about his intentions with his books, so has Trump’s book let us in on what kind of a president he would be. Whatever needs to be done to close the deal is considered fair play, and ethics, principles, and moral values are strictly for losers.
It’s not that Trump is a bad person, it’s just that he is what he is: A man who sees nothing wrong with changing his mind… A man who will contribute to any politician if they can help him… A man who will patronize supporters he sees as inferiors, with childish personal attacks on his opponents…A man who divides people into winners and losers, and like Obama, a man who truly believes he is the chosen one to turn America around.
There is something very satisfying about Trump giving his ‘New York salute’ to the media, establishment Republicans, Democrats, and political correctness. He has especially turned the table on liberals, and treated them to a campaign of hypocrisy without apology, which is exactly what Democrats have done for the past forty years.
As for the presidency, Donald Trump is the mystery man. I feel like I know what we get with every other candidate, but on any given issue he might change his mind in a heartbeat. Still, if given the nomination I will just have to support him with crossed fingers.
Nothing could ever make me support Hillary. We all know exactly what we get with her – another four years of Obama. Republicans who say they will vote for Hillary rather than Trump are foolish, and allowing their personal pique to come before the welfare of America. None of the Republican candidates would be as bad as a Clinton presidency.
Nevertheless, I am still hoping for a Ted Cruz nomination. It is not that I think he even remotely fulfills my desire for another Reagan, but he has proven by his actions that he is a conservative who will stand up to the ‘business as usual’ establishment. At this point it is probably the best we can hope for.
