Guess Who Once Said Trump Wasn’t a Conservative
The right’s happiest warrior.
When it comes to the 2016 Republican nomination, one man is currently sucking all the media oxygen out of the room.
Erick Erickson of RedState blames Donald Trump’s rise on a failure of leadership in the Republican Party. Matthew Continetti of the Washington Free Beacon has a similar take.
When it comes to assessing Trump’s politics however, one of the right’s happiest and most dearly missed warriors once told us everything we need to know.
Matt Vespa of Townhall takes us on a trip down memory lane:
Flashback: When Andrew Breitbart Said Trump Is Definitely Not A Conservative
In 2011, Juan Williams was filling in for Bill O’Reilly and there was an area where liberal talk show host Leslie Marshall and the late Andrew Breitbart found agreement: a Trump candidacy isn’t a good thing for America. Moreover, the late conservative blogger said the business magnate is certainly not a conservative:
“…Of course, he’s not a conservative. He was for Nancy Pelosi, before he was against Nancy Pelosi…celebrity is everything in this country if these guys don’t learn how to play the media the way Barack Obama played the media last election cycle and the way that Donald Trump is playing the election cycle–we’re going to probably get a celebrity candidate.
Here’s the video:
You should read the rest of the article, as Vespa does a good job of proving Andrew Breitbart’s comments were completely correct.
On a related note, Trump just picked up an endorsement which will undoubtedly impress many conservatives:
@realDonaldTrump has been a great friend for many years. We don't need another politician, we need a businessman like Mr. Trump! Trump 2016
— Dennis Rodman (@dennisrodman) July 24, 2015
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
Go to http://www.fec.gov, click Campaign Finance Disclosure Portal, click Search, click Individual Contribution Search, enter Trump, enter Donald, click Get Listing, see that he is all over the map, from one extreme to the other, no rhyme, no reason.
That said, I live in the present, and Trump is making very uncomfortable people whom I think deserve to be made very uncomfortable. Lay off Trump. Focus on the issues, one of which Trump is being very helpful.
Long before Trump was making headlines, Rush referred to political contributions as “protection money.”
We KNOW Trump isn’t a conservative, he isn’t trying to be one. Not like the Establishment GOP who say one thing to get elected and go right back to Washington enjoined with the Democrats. Trump is doing something that needs doing, doesn’t make him all good, but it doesn’t make him all bad.
He isn’t my first choice by any means, but he isn’t my last either.
FOX is having a fit because their guy, Bush, isn’t getting the attention while Trump is. For that matter, others are, Cruz, Jindal, Carly…Wonder if they think the base will vote for Big Government, cronyism, Common Core supporter, Bush.
It’s early days yet, let Trump be Trump, it will sort itself out, in the meantime, we are having the conversation and messaging the malignant media has kept from happening…
“We KNOW Trump isn’t a conservative, he isn’t trying to be one.”
Then you are a VERY selective listener. He IS saying HE is THE conservative in the race.
Which is a lie. He’s sailing under a false flag, and that isn’t OK.
You may consider him a useful idiot. I don’t. I consider him a dangerous, lying idiot.
rags
You appear to be a selective reader. Go back and read Lady’s post again. See if you can understand the point.
“Which is a lie. He’s sailing under a false flag, and that isn’t OK”
Fits almost every damn R running, with a few exceptions.
Trump is providing a badly needed service. Get the popcorn and enjoy the show.
Rags, my good man, when the greatest English language orator of the 20th Century was asked how he could ally himself with Stalin, he answered with a Russian proverb, “it is permitted to walk with the Devil until you have crossed the bridge”. Surely you and I can walk with the Donald until we have put a good Conservative in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
Yet we have the example of Pres. ScamWOW.
I don’t flirt with devils, and won’t walk with them, because I fear that the devil will dance over the bridge before anything I can do will stop him.
And fear is the operative word.
Rags, nobody could be worse than what we have now. Even if Trump manages to get nominated and elected (a very long shot at this point), he could not possibly do as much damage as one of the others or (perish the thought) a Donkey.
You need to relax, good buddy. A ball game lasts nine innings.
Funny, that’s what Trump said about Bush when Obama was running…”He can’t be worse than what we have now!”
We need a real, reforming Conservative. Another megalomaniac phuc like Trump would be the last straw.
Cruz, Walker, Perry remain my top tier picks.
“Cruz, Walker, Perry remain my top tier picks.”
Mine as well with perry a very distant last. Doesn’t mean trump can’t serve as a political battering ram while I cheer him on.
There was a comment at Instapundit that points out one obvious factor here:
“Trump’s success can be traced to one thing. He’s nothing more than a gigantic FU to the Republican party from their base (which includes a lot of people that don’t self-identify as R’s). They feel zero desire to defend any aspect of current Republican governance.”
But also, as Glenn points out in light of Trump’s latest attack on Walker, “If Trump worries about people thinking that he’s a Hillary shill, maybe he should dispel those rumors by going after Hillary.”
He’s proven that he’s good at attacking Republicans, which fires up a lot of discontented Republicans, but until/unless he starts aiming some of that wrath at those who would be his actual opponents in a Presidential race, the Dems, his doesn’t look like a very useful strategy over all. I don’t think that playing solely to the conservative base who are angry at the establishment GOP is enough to win him a general election against the Dems.
Well he’s going after Hillary today for what she did being criminal, and worse than what General Petraeus did. I’ve found his attacks to be shockingly well informed when he makes them so… my essential problem is, why does he have this kind of gigantic opening? He didn’t four short years ago.
What Petraeus did was “wrong”, but is it really appropriate to put that in the same sentence as anything to do with Hillary Clinton? Yes, Petraeus is guilty of problem pillow talk with a woman who wasn’t his wife. I suspect Jim Gavin did the same while he was enjoying all the delights of Paris with Marlene Dietrich. Let’s put things in perspective, for crying out loud.
Part of our problem is we have people who do NOT identify as Republicans who think they are our base. It makes no sense. But then, most of these are not bright people.
For instance, they defend Trump’s donations to Hillary & the Clinton Foundation, Schumer, and Dinkins as “necessary to do business in New York,” which is false on its face since most NY businesses make no contributions at all.
– –
But they have no answer for his donations to Biden, Pelosi – or just two years ago to Terry McAuliffe. Instead, the nutbars blame the GOP for Cuccinelli’s loss, and worship Trump’s every fart.
I could be mistaken but I think Trump has limited his trashing to current office holders and those GOPers who have bad-mouthed him. He hasn’t picked on Fiorina or Santorum or Pataki or Kasich or …
In other words, he punches back at those who are trying to elevate themselves by attacking him. He doesn’t really start fights except with the current thugs in govt.
Trump is an attention whore, and the GOP offers the biggest bang for his buck. It’s embarrassing to try to respond to my lefty friends who point to his lead in the polls as evidence that the GOP is a group of very nasty people. I know, I know, they should be even more embarrassed that Bernie and Hillary are the frontrunners, but we all know that lefties have no standards, thus no shame, and with the MSM offering excuses left and right (well…I guess left and lefter) for their favorite commies, it’s a steep uphill battle.
Why cede the ground that “the GOP is a group of very nasty people”? That doesn’t come from Donald Trump or any other Republican. It comes from the hysterical liars who immediately try to drown out anything a Repub says because a Repub said it, by swamping it with lying commentary. So, educate yourself, and teach.
I watched Donald Trump’s election announcement, and a lot of his other statements. He hasn’t said anything that the Democrats haven’t been saying. So how is it that his statements somehow make Republicans nasty people?
His election announcement said that our neighbors to the south of us are sending us their problems, which, if you listen to either Democrats or Republicans, is true. Democrats say that, as a matter of charity, we should take in people who are leaving their home country due to bad economic conditions and strife. Further, there is a shooting war between the drug cartels and the Mexican government along our border, and cartel members cross our borders freely. Just how far wrong is it to say “they are shipping us their problems”? Are you going to contend that cocaine and cartel members are not a problem? Nearly all the cocaine in this country comes from a single, Mexican cartel! He also said that some Mexicans are good people.
What the press and Democrats chose NOT to focus on is that our government has no control over what is happening on our border. That was the stinging criticism that hit home, because this is a Democratic administration, so the media focuses on pretending that Donald Trump insulted all Mexicans, instead of stating clearly a real failing on the part of the United States government.
Indeed, he admitted that John McCain is a hero, but took issue with his activities as a Senator. Similarly, what he said about Mexicans is the same as what both parties have been saying, because it’s true. After all the nasty stuff Democrats have had to say about McCain, and all the RINO stuff I’ve read from people who claim to be capital “C” Conservatives, I’d say that he’s about in the middle.
The next time your friends tell you how nasty the Repubs are, ask them “Who told you?” Then, you just might find out that they haven’t a clue about what actually happened, and you can fill them in.
I didn’t cede that ground. I said it’s embarrassing to try to respond to my lefty friends who point to his lead in the polls as evidence that the GOP is a group of very nasty people.
Trump is a blowhard. Calling McCain’s military service (as horrible as he is as a Senator) into question should have ended his campaign alone. Phrasing his criticism of our porous Southern border to sound as if nothing but violent criminals are pouring in was ignorant at best.
Trump is a nasty person, spouting off at the mouth in a most uncouth manner, and when he is rewarded for his boorish behavior by surging in the polls, that does not reflect well on the party. Can you honestly say that you want Trump to represent the party in 2016? If so, there’s really nothing more to say, because I will never support him.
There’s also a cultish dimension to the Trump fandom, in the way it’s impervious to any facts that contradict the fervent belief that Trump is the One and Only who will save the country. Trump fans will even say that his stance on various issues doesn’t matter; he’s a “fighter” and that’s enough.
This cultish devotion is often mingled with the weird fantasy that if Trump succeeds in destroying the GOP, a new and purer party will then magically arise from the ashes and heal the nation — before the leftists (who were thus helped to consolidate their power) take their damage beyond any hope of repair.
This all smacks of religious faith — and it comes from people who seem to regard themselves as well-informed and politically savvy.
You could replace Trump with either Obama or Hillary in your first paragraph and it would still be true. Yes, cultish devotion. That Trump is making such a splash isn’t a good sign for the longevity of the GOP.
Take a look at the Texas crime statistics that J. Christian Adams highlighted the other day. During the time Obama has been in office, up to 2014, there have been over 600,000 crimes committed in Texas by illegal alien criminals who had fingerprints already on file in the U.S. IOW, over 600,000 crimes by illegal alien repeat offenders, including nearly 3,000 murders. And that’s just in one state. Plus, those numbers only included illegal aliens who already had arrest U.S. records; there were undoubtedly many more crimes committed in Texas during that period by more recently-arrived illegal aliens, who’d not yet been caught committing crimes and had their fingerprints put in the system. Take a look also at the federal crime statistics posted on Powerline last week. Illegal aliens account for a hugely disproportionate percentage of the criminals being arrested and convicted on a whole range of federal crimes.
The numbers are absolutely staggering, and the MSM have been pointedly ignoring them for years now — and for the same reason that they attacked Trump so savagely for his remarks: they don’t want the American public to know the truth about Obama’s open-borders lawlessness, because the truth would enrage the public.
Trump may not have phrased his point in the most tactful or politically correct manner, but it is still true: the Obama administration has, in fact, allowed our borders to be overrun by millions of criminal illegal aliens, and American citizens are paying a huge price for Obama’s lawlessness.
I don’t think any sane person disputes the disproportionate crime rate of illegals in this country. Likewise, any sane person cannot suggest that all of them are violent criminals waiting to attack. The question isn’t whether there’s a problem, it’s who do we want to address it and how? If you want Trump to, then prepare yourself for a reality show in which he screams “You’re deported!!” as illegals are herded onto cargo planes, because he hasn’t the imagination, attention span, or restraint to formulate a viable strategy to address such a complex issue. Anyone who thinks Trump is qualified to be President hasn’t learned anything from watching the unqualified disaster occupying the office presently.
Hey windbag, what is wrong with herding them onto cargo planes? Keep in mind we load our military troops onto cargo planes. But why the hell shouldn’t we get illegals out of this country in any way possible, as fast as possible?
They should be glad Jackson ain’t president. The Cherokees can tell them how lucky they are that he’s dead and gone.
Do you recall the title of the story listing the federal crime statistics? I searched three pages of posts with nothing in the title indicating there are federal crime statistics contained in the article.. there are so post about crime, but sifting through them is tedious. How about a link directly to the article?
I said it’s embarrassing to try to respond to my lefty friends who point to his lead in the polls as evidence that the GOP is a group of very nasty people.
What difference, at this point, does it matter anyway?
Give them this reply and report back.
Windbag, your ‘lefty’ friends will never vote for the Republican candidate. That candidate could be Hitler, or he could be Mr. Rogers – it makes no difference to them, and what they think is irrelevant to us if we want to win. In fact, their lunatic hatred of our candidate will probably go a longer way in motivating ‘indie’ voters, who will likely see through leftists’ unhinged attacks — especially in light of our standing strong by our candidate.
The insanity of picking a GOP candidate to appease voters who won’t vote for him or her, is – insanity. And it is the strategy of the idiots hogging the leadership positions in the GOP.
Hillary is looking less and less like the candidate. She has the same problem as Bush. When she talks, her ratings go down, people don’t trust her and the dims could still put in Lieawatha or even Bernie, commie, Sanders. Trump is not my first choice, but is better than about 12 others.
100% correct! Please pardon this digression, but do you have a Ma Deuce or a Barrett?
Well, he’s from Texas so he probably has both. 🙂
I suspect you are correct. I am highly envious, though I couldn’t afford the ammo, and it would be a sin to have either of them sit there, static, like trophies.
There’s no lack of (conservative) leadership. There’s a dearth of establishment leadership, which aligns itself with the media to constrain conservatives’ efforts to lead.
“Whether or not Trump will live up to his words remain to be seen,
that the Republicans refuse to live up to their words has been demonstrated election after election. At this time, I’m willing to take the chance and vote for Trump.” -unknown
In other words, a vote for Trump is an act of faith, not reason. That’s how Obama got elected too.
Meanwhile, we have GOP candidates who are not part of the Republican “establishment”; who have kept campaign pledges in government office; who have successfully stood up to Democrats; who are responding to hostile media in a way that’s firm but graceful; who still have their first wife (or husband) rather than their third, and who don’t come across as blustering egomaniacs.
Is there any solid reason to expect that Trump is more likely to live up to his campaign rhetoric than every other GOP candidate? No, there isn’t. But the fact that he has no record in public office apparently increases the faith of his devotees.
Connect the dots:
Trump Meets With Ted Cruz
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/donald-trump-meet-ted-cruz-2016-120138.html
‘Flat-out lie’: Cruz calls McConnell a liar on Senate floor
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/24/cruz-on-senate-floor-accuses-gop-leader-mcconnell-lying/
Polls: Donald Trump Way out in Front; Ted Cruz Surges
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/07/26/polls-donald-trump-way-out-in-front-ted-cruz-surges-underneath-marco-rubio-keeps-sinking/
I don’t know anyone saying he is.
hes a snake who doesn’t really mean what he says but hes saying things that need to be said right now and forcing the conversation.
so use him for that then dump him when needed.
Yeah, tell that to the kind woman who thawed out the frozen snake.
Of course Andrew B. was right. Trump isn’t a conservative. But the GOP isn’t a conservative party. It’s slightly more conservative than the Dems, but that’s not saying much.
Trump is of value because he’s asking the questions the Dems and the bulk of the GOP don’t want asked. Conservatives do want these questions asked. So I, for one, hope Trumps keeps at it.
On a 360-degree compass, the Democrat Party is 360 full degrees of crazy leftist-fascism, and today’s Republican Party is 359 degrees of the same!
Found a comment by someone else on another site that just about sums it up:
“I don’t like Trump. I DO LIKE TRUMP PISSING all over the GOP establishment. Especially smug MOTHERFUCKERS like McCAIN.”
Before this thread goes completely by-by:
Shocker: Trump leads Bush in FLORIDA, 26-20%
http://www.saintpetersblog.com/archives/236488