Just what is it about Donald Trump that continues to fascinate conservatives and Republicans?
He was a speaker at CPAC in March. He was also a speaker at the AFP sponsored ‘Freedom Summit’ in New Hampshire this past weekend, and he’s speaking at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans at the end of May. With all that is mighty and holy I feel like screaming
“Why?!?!”
There is no nice way to say this: Donald Trump is a clown. He’s a charlatan who cares about one thing, and one thing only: Donald Trump.
Republicans and conservatives should be embarrassed that he pretends to be one of them. They should be more embarrassed that they continue to invite him to speak at national events. Donald Trump is yet another person on a long list of people who have flirted with the idea of running for public office. I say “flirt” because they rarely – if ever – run. Their goal is nothing more than self promotion. It’s free PR to run for an elective office, particularly for President.
With 24-hour news, the Internet, and social media, these people can make their ill fated runs, get millions of people to sign up for their mailing lists and finance their travel through donations. In the end, such poseurs fall out of the race before a single vote is cast. They quit because none of them want to see how badly they’d do in front of the actual voting public.
There are a number of reasons that Republicans and conservatives should tell Donald Trump to take a hike. Here are several:
1. He espouses idiotic viewpoints on major issues, and he’s a noted birther.
Trump recently tweeted this ignorance about vaccines and autism:
If I were President I would push for proper vaccinations but would not allow one time massive shots that a small child cannot take – AUTISM.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2014
His absurd descent into birtherism – and not just the passé, “Well, it’s possible the birth certificate is not real” type of birtherism, but the “Obama was born in Kenya/The birth certificate is a fraud/The illuminati are part of this” type – is just as credible as the belief that an alien ship landed in Roswell, NM in the 50′s.
Granted, the birther craziness was actually started by Hillary Clinton supporters, but it has been adopted by people with such personal hatred for Obama that they’d believe any accusation against him. They’ve taken it to a whole new level. For the most part, these people were marginalized within the conservative movement and the GOP. But Trump used his platform to attempt to give it legitimacy.
2. He’s given money to a slew of Democratic candidates and officeholders.
He has given money to the following Democrats: Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Tom Daschle, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, Rahm Emanuel, Hillary Clinton, Anthony Weiner, Charles Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Charles Rangel.
What kind of conservative gives money to that many Democratic politicians?
3. He favored positions that no conservative would ever support.
He was a supporter of universal health care and abortion. On taxes, he wanted to implement a 14.25% tax on “wealth” – not on income, but on net worth. Meaning, money that had already been taxed.
As for his allegiance to the GOP, this is what he had to say in 2008:
“I think [Obama’s] going to lead through consensus,” continued Trump. “It’s not going to be just a bull run like Bush did. He just did whatever the hell he wanted. He’d go into a country, attack Iraq, which had nothing to do with the World Trade Center and just do it because he wanted to do it.”
Conservatives wanted Jon Huntsman excommunicated for having served in the Obama administration, but Trump is still inexplicably courted by them.
4. Finally, “Of course Donald Trump is not a conservative.”
Do you know who said that? Andrew Breitbart. That’s why it’s really disappointing to see the website that bears his name playing kiss-ass with Trump as of late. Here’s the video of Andrew saying it:
It’s time for conservatives to stop playing footsie with Donald Trump. Neal Dewing was making this argument nearly a year ago, yet sadly here here we are talking about Trump giving speeches – not at some local American Legion talking to the local birther set, but sharing the stage with such people as Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz and Rick Perry.
Enough already.
I’ve never taken Trump seriously, and I have no fears at all about him winning the GOP nomination in 2016. But it’s increasingly difficult to take seriously the organizations and media outlets that allow this buffoon to pretend he’s actually a conservative.
If they’re stupid enough buy the snake oil he’s selling, I don’t want any part of it.