By John F. Di Leo -
I cannot speak for everyone who uses a hashtag. I didn’t invent it; I didn’t start it… but I agree with it, and I see so many people in social media and the press either intentionally mischaracterizing it or honestly misunderstanding it, I believe it might be helpful if I laid out a simple list of points to clarify what #NeverTrump means to the Republicans who identify with the term, at least to those I know and share it with.
This, therefore, must obviously be a personal statement. There is no manifesto anywhere about it, so this is just my position on the matter, as a lone Midwestern blogger; take it for what it’s worth…
1: #NeverTrump means #NeverHillary too.
Many Trump supporters accuse us of trying to undermine Donald Trump so that we can help Hillary Clinton win. They couldn’t be further from the truth. If we didn’t mind Hillary Clinton winning, we wouldn’t be bothering to complain; we’d just let Trump get the GOP nomination, and then Hillary Clinton would win, and that would be that. We’re certain that Donald Trump is the one person who can’t beat her.
In fact, we oppose Hillary Clinton – we know that her presidency could be even worse in some ways than the disastrous Obama presidency has been – so we must do everything we can to make sure the GOP nominates someone who can and will beat her. And that requires #AnyoneButTrump.
2: #NeverTrump means we care about the downballot.
Donald Trump doesn’t talk like normal candidates at the head of a ticket do. He bashes “the Republicans” as much as he bashes “the Democrats”… sometimes even more.
But we know that the job of the guy at the top of a ticket is to do the best he can to lead a united front for his party, so that we can win on election day at ALL levels, not just his. An election isn’t just about the presidency, after all.
The Republican party is currently in the best position it’s been in for a century. At present, Republicans control half our states completely (both the governor and both halves of the legislatures), and Democrats only enjoy such control in a smattering of places. This dominance at the state level is critical, both in determining boundaries for the next decade’s remaps and for resisting federal overreach.
The #NeverTrump movement knows that with Donald Trump at the top of our ticket in November, that dominance at the state level isn’t just threatened, it’s almost certain to evaporate. Donald Trump is not toxic to all voters, but he is so toxic to a portion of the GOP base, it’s likely that many will simply stay home on election day… not just skip the presidential line, but stay home in disgust. This loss of critical base votes would arguably cost us most, if not all, of our swing seats – at every level – in November.
We want someone on the top of the ticket who can not only have a chance at winning, but will be a supportive team player, a respectable party champion, someone to secure the votes downballot. Even if we won the White House with Trump, that would be no victory if we lost our dozens of state houses, state senates, and governorships. The Republican party needs someone at the head of the ticket who will preserve this crucial record-setting position.
3: #NeverTrump understands compromise.
The #NeverTrump faction is routinely accused of being sore losers, upset that Senator Cruz didn’t win, so we’re taking our ball and going home. That too could hardly be farther from the truth!
In fact, Conservatives have learned to handle disappointment. We've only had two conservative nominees since Coolidge, after all. We can HANDLE nominating mushy moderates. We put up with Nixon, Ford, Bush I, Dole, Bush II, McCain, Romney…. we weren't HAPPY about it, but we voted for them. We even walked precincts for them, donated to them, tried to elect them, hoping for the best, again and again.
After eight years of Barack Hussein Obama in the White House, we could have gotten behind any of the legitimate candidates in the primaries, from the right to the middle. We could have united behind a governor or a senator, had one of them been the winner.
But this is different. If Donald Trump heads up our ticket across the country, his presence on the ticket will so repel a good part of the Republican base, we will lose seats we should never lose, up and down the ballot. Sure, we’ll lose the US Senate too, and possibly even the US House, but in addition, we are certain that with Donald Trump as the GOP nominee, swing seats will go Democrat, and normally safe seats will become swing. We'll lose almost every state house we have now. We'll lose state senates. We'll lose governorships.
Donald Trump is a millstone around the neck of the party. We oppose him because we have the common sense to SEE it.
We insist on overthrowing Donald Trump, not out of some frustration that it wasn’t “our guy” – whether that guy was Senator Cruz or Senator Rubio or Governor Kasich or Governor Perry. We insist on overthrowing Donald Trump because we can and will compromise on any real Republican dark horse the convention chooses in his place, it just needs to be a real, legitimate Republican.
4: #NeverTrump respects the voters’ wishes.
Primary election seasons are very different from the General election. The Primary season is an intra-party decision-making process, in which the party members announce the issues that are most important to them, and select delegates to help pick the best possible candidate to serve as the party’s champion for the fall contest. The goal is for this top delegate winner to be a unifier, the best possible compromise of the candidates running.
The primary system failed this year, that’s all there is to it. Rather than selecting the best from a great field of experienced and principled candidates, the primary delegate winner was, by almost any measure, the worst. We had governors who had saved their states, senators who could eloquently enunciate the principles of our noble party and our honorable philosophical movement. But the frontrunner is a reality show carnival barker and “crony capitalist” who is in many ways the embodiment of all the unfair Democratic Party caricatures of Republicans for a century.
A nominee must represent the majority of the Republican base, both those who voted in the primary and those who didn’t. Donald Trump cannot, and has no interest in this. He has said point blank that he’ll win without conservatives. Even if that’s possible – and sure, anything’s possible – what does it say about the downballot? What does it say about his policies if he wins?
The man doesn’t care about the team – the principled, hardworking members of the party base, from precinct committeeman to state rep, from envelope-stuffer to donor, the people who have carried water for the elephant all our lives.
Donald Trump’s formula may have won him the necessary minorities to win delegates in a relatively low-turnout primary season, but it’s no way to march toward a November victory.
The #NeverTrump faction understands this, and calls for a compromise candidate at the convention who will unify the party again. No other Republican leader has ever been as divisive as Donald Trump in the 172 years of the party’s history. We need a candidate who represents the Cruz voters and the Bush voters and the Kasich voters and the Rubio voters… and all the also-rans as well, the supporters of Huckabee and Perry and Santorum and Graham too.
This is a diverse party, with clear and principled philosophical positions on foreign policy, domestic policy, economics and culture. We must at least try to nominate someone who speaks to the party’s beliefs with respect and support.
The Trump faction declares that if he is overthrown at the convention, they will bolt and vote for Hillary Clinton in November, to spite us… or not vote at all.
Well, we believe that many of them were going to do so anyway.
Many of the Trump voters this spring were genuine Republicans, and many of them have admitted regretting their choice. Many others of the Trump voters are Democrats who came over to our side to meddle, hoping we would nominate our weakest candidate, so that their weak candidate would still have a chance of beating us. And many others among the Trump voters are the uninformed voters who don’t know the issues, and frankly don’t necessarily belong in a primary at all, but who vote out of some sense of civic duty alone. While honorable, that’s not particularly helpful, when our party is trying to choose its best nominee for November.
The percentage of the Republican base that has been dissed by Donald Trump and his supporters is therefore far greater than the percentage that actually cast votes for him in the primaries. If we respect the party’s base, yes, we must throw over Mr. Trump, and start from scratch, with an open convention dedicated to picking a legitimate, capable, winnable Republican for the head of our ticket.
5: #NeverTrump pays attention.
Finally, we must stress that Donald Trump was given a chance he should never have been given. Despite never having so much as run for alderman before, this man’s ego allowed him to run for his first political office at the absolute top, the most important political office on earth. We allowed him in our debates, we allowed him to run in our primaries and caucuses, and gave him the chance to prove his merit.
He has failed.
Throughout the primaries, Donald Trump won votes by promising to be self-funding. Since clinching the delegate count, we’ve seen that the campaign spends a lot of its money on Donald Trump properties. He’s not behaving like the self-financed candidate he promised to be.
Throughout the primaries, he won votes based on the largely solid Republican proposals published on his website. Since clinching the delegate count, we’ve seen him dismiss his own tax plans, his own issue promises, as “just an idea” or “just a starting point for negotiations.” He’s not wedded to the ideas he won votes with.
Throughout the primaries, he made speech after speech – exciting rallies in stadiums and convention halls – stressing his commitment to stop the unassimilatable levels of immigration, to evict the hordes of illegal aliens dragging down our nation and endangering our culture. But since clinching the delegate count, we have seen him backtrack on such commitments, clarifying his position to favoring a touchback amnesty, clearly being willing to compromise on the matter far more than his voters dreamed at the time.
People inclined to give people the benefit of the doubt have been frustrated to see him make the same mistakes, day after day, clearly refusing to be educated on issues that he needs to understand in order to do the job he’s seeking. The man is not ready, and every day that goes by, more voters realize it.
In conclusion…
The #NeverTrump faction knows that the GOP must win in November. We have watched past campaigns and seen what missteps lose November elections. We watched John McCain admit that he didn't understand economics, taking the entire economic argument for voting Republican off the table in 2008, and losing. We watched the party nominate Mitt Romney, a good man whose nomination, as creator of Romneycare, took Obamacare off the table in 2012, and therefore losing. Donald Trump, as a lifelong financier of Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, takes dozens of issues off the table. His lifelong support of Democratic Party policies, candidates, and worldview denies him the moral high ground a candidate must have to define his party and make the case in a November election.
The decision to serve as a convention delegate – and to agree to be bound to the winner of a district or state’s vote – is not a suicide pact. It must not run contrary to conscience; it must not result in the late-July rubber-stamp of errant early-spring voting. We have these conventions specifically to pick the right candidates; if the primaries are found to have made a mistake, this is the chance to correct that mistake.
The #NeverTrump movement knows that this nation is in crisis. Eight years of an Obama residency in the White House, frankly, on top of a century-long slide away from the Limited Government principles of the Constitution, have left us in our most severe jeopardy. We must win back the White House this November. And we must retain as much of our current gains at the local, county and state levels as we possibly can.
We in the #NeverTrump faction believe that, no matter how hard we may work, we cannot possibly hope for such a result if Donald Trump is on the top of our ticket this November. We believe that our only hope to salvage this awful year is if our Republican convention delegates have the courage and wisdom to unbind themselves and return to the open conventions of old, in which they select a fresh, exciting compromise candidate who can appeal to both Republicans and independents as we push on to November.
It is the only hope for America. And that means, by extension, it’s the only hope for the free world.
#FreeTheDelegates
#NeverTrump
#NeverHillary
Copyright 2016 John F. Di Leo
John F. Di Leo is a Chicago-based international trade lecturer, writer, and actor. A former county chairman of the Milwaukee County Republican Party, he has now been a recovering politician for nineteen years.
Permission is hereby granted to forward freely, provided it is uncut and the IR URL and byline are included. Follow John F. Di Leo on Facebook or LinkedIn, or on Twitter at #johnfdileo.
This is all bull, and here’s why:
1) the person you are hoping to nominate by CHANGING THE RULES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME have either ALREADY BEEN SOUNDLY REJECTED BY A RECORD NUMBER OF REPUBLICAN VOTERS or DID NOT HAVE THE CAJONES TO RUN A CAMPAIGN IN THE FIRST PLACE.
2) the down ballot WILL NOT MATTER if Clinton is elected and gets to appoint the next several Supreme Court justices.
If you REJECT THE BELIEFS OF THE RECORD NUMBER OF REPUBLICAN VOTERS and you blow up the convention, a good percentage of that RECORD NUMBER will stay home, and you thereby achieve your desired Clinton nomination.
3) Yes, we all know you establishment politicians and cronies “understand compromise”, as we see you consistently bend WAAAAAAYYYYY over in order to ‘cross the aisle’ and accommodate Democrats.
But there is no need to compromise here: Mr Trump beat your guys – by YOUR RULES!
And now you want to change the rules because your guys lost?
You people are beyond scurrilous – you are completely corrupt.
4) “#NeverTrump respects the voters’ wishes” – hahahahaha, good one!
Just wondering, WHICH voters, exactly, do you speak of?
Certainly not THE MAJORITY OF A RECORD NUMBER OF REPUBLICAN VOTERS.
5) “…..pays attention”
Apparently not TO THE MAJORITY OF A RECORD NUMBER OF REPUBLICAN VOTERS !
In conclusion …..
Your case is weak.
You have to CHANGE THE RULES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME, AFTER BEING BEATEN NUMEROUS TIMES BY THE RULES YOU AND YOURS ORIGINALLY SET FORTH, IN ORDER TO DEFY THE WISHES OFA RECORD NUMBER OF REPUBLICAN VOTERS IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE YOUR DESIRED RESULT.
A sad state of being, you NeverTrumpers are …..
I think you never Trump folks are completely wrong and will hand the presidency to Hillary. Trump appeals to many Democrats as well — those who can’t stomach Hillary — and he DOES appeal to a huge portion of the GOP base. On what basis do you say that “conservatives” reject Trump? That’s not what I hear on talk radio at all. We don’t want some “compromise” candidate, another weak Romney or McCain type. This truly is a time of war and Trump gets people revved up. That’s what you need in your voters..excitement. Go ahead. Keep trashing Trump and YOU will be responsible for a Hillary presidency. We won’t forget. The old GOP party is completely done for.
I think a particularly interesting statement is from Lake County Conservative, above… you say the downballot doesn’t matter if hillary wins.
I would argue that a party must ALWAYS assume the worst… what if we do lose the white house, no matter who we run? I’m almost certain that trump cannot win, so I’m extra certain that it’s imperative we save the downballot.
With anybody else, we could at least retain our 25 or so fully controlled states… we could still retain the majority of the legislators and governors mansions and county boards we have…
But with trump on top of the ticket, we risk losing EVERYTHING.
Now, that being said… as for the big question of what’s sure to happen in November:
There’s no way to tell. Any pollster who tells you that November is predictable is smoking crack at this point.
We have never before seen a race where both candidates’ negatives are over 50%.
And the only time either party was ever stupid enough to run someone without any government experience was 1940, when we ran a charismatic big businessman who’d never held elective office… Wendell Willkie. and he went down in flames.
The wise move is to be cautious. To assume that the odds are against November victory, so we MUST do everything we can to shore up our positions in the states.
JFD
JFD,
All sounds nice. What is your solution for the November election. YOU will not stop Trump from getting the nomination.
I was a strong Cruz supporter. My side lost.
Again, what do you do in November????
No philosophical meanderings please.
Do you truly want to “shore up our positions”?
I suggest we go the way of the message sent by A RECORD NUMBER OF REPUBLICAN VOTERS.
Support a candidate who has drawn definitive, hard lines between himself and a certifiably corrupt Democrat rather than support a squishy, typical, evasive on the real issues establishment candidate.
Seems really, really simple to me.
The primaries are over – time to support the nominee with the EARNED delegates.
I agree with the majority of John’s above opinions.
Too many people say that a vote for a conservative third-party candidate will help Clinton. That’s usually incorrect. Because of the electoral college, it depends upon the state in which that voter lives. If I think the race, in Illinois, will be close, I’ll vote for Trump, since I don’t want to help split the anti-Clinton vote, helping her win all of Illinois’ 20 electoral votes, by receiving 45%-49% of of the Illinois popular vote. If I think the race won’t be close, in Illinois, I’ll vote for whichever candidate usually agrees with me. So far, I think that Clinton will easily win IL, CA, WA, OR, MN, MA, and CT. Trump will easily win TX, AZ, UT, GA, TN, AR, and KS. In those states, conservatives can vote for third-party candidates, knowing that they won’t help Clinton. In the swing states, especially WI, MO, IA, MI, OH, VA, and FL, I hope all anti-Clinton voters will vote for Trump.
I believe Horace Greely in 1872 had no government experience either.
A big difference with Wendell Willkie was the dearth of primaries back in 1940. Willkie won the nomination through a propaganda campaign including staged events and raucous supporters at the convention in Philadelphia. Taft or Dewey were the more likely nominees and I believe both had more initial delegates than Willkie.
In 2016, Donald Trump travelled around the country building support. The voters of the party by a clear plurality want him. It is not a majority of all of the primary GOP voters but in a race with many candidates a majority is unlikely to occur. Remember there were 17 candidates who started this race and it was contested through early May.
I also love how so many in the GOP keep saying that the party must expand its tent and get new voters but that is only code for bending over to what La Raza wants and then hope that the party can win a few more percentage points among Hispanic voters. Why re-converting the Reagan Democrats back in to the GOPm does not count as party building is mystifying.
Why are you so obsessed with losing? Why is your every proposal a commitment toward defeat? Sure we want the down ticket to do well but how does one say that with a straight face when Mark Kirk’s name appears on it? I don’t see any #NeverKirk movements by you folks. I’m sure you’re all happy with his back stabbing efforts and comments towards those who actually try to make the Republican party a real and viable alternative to progressivism.
Your actions are in no way in support of the Republican ticket. Undermining the top of the ticket undermines the entire ticket. Get over your hurt that your guy or gal didn’t get the nomination and start working for the overall ticket. It is effort and action that wins campaigns, not hand wringing and whining.
I don’t know what I will do in November, Frank.
I am hoping that the delegates will do the right thing and nominate a real Republican… one of our many wonderful governors, for example. Walker, Pence, Jindal, Abbott, Haley, etc. We have lots of people who’d be fantastic.
Here’s the thing… Maybe I should’ve been clearer about this in my column… the trumpers are worried about what the #NeverTrumpers will do in November, and it really doesn’t matter.
Let’s say there are a million of us. It doesn’t matter whether we hold our noses and vote for the orange buffoon or not. We won’t make the difference.
The problem in November is that the presence of Donald Trump on top of the ticket will cause many millions of people, both our base and the independents, to stay home on election day.
There will be so many millions who are utterly disgusted by the presence of Trump and Clinton on top of their ballots, they won’t just skip the top line, they’ll skip the whole thing. They’ll stay home and drink. Or watch TV. Or cry.
And with so many millions staying home, we will likely lose the White House anyway, EVEN if every #NeverTrumper takes a bottle of antacid and votes for him.
Everybody in the country who likes Donald Trump has ALREADY voted for him. That’s a huge number in a primary. It’s a drop in the bucket in November.
The man is a millstone.
Ishep, I agree with you on Kirk. I had a few columns against Kirl last year. Google my name and Mark Kirk, and you’ll see a few of my hit pieces on the jerk.
Now, Frank, I’d like to clarify that I AM a huge supporter of winning back the Reagan Democrats. I wrote a column in the 2012 cycle about the Santorum campaign, and how nominating a coal mining immigrant’s son who was close to labor would be a WONDERFUL way of reaching out to the Reagan Democrats.
I agree completely with you on that. Who did you support in 2012? Were you on Rick’s team, I hope?
That being said… Trump is a different matter. Everyone knows he’s the least trustworthy person in politics. To think that a Manhattan blowhard jet-setter is the way to bring back the Reagan Democrats is to live in Dreamland.
JFD
“I don’t know what I will do in November, Frank.”
Well, thanks for answering. Unless Trump drops dead after the convention (and he will get the nomination), I hope you end up holding your nose and voting for him. The alternative for the nation is far, far worse.
Yes, even though I think he is right on the big issues I still am scared of him and his impact, I will vote for him.
I thought you were reading Illinois Review as far back as the 2010 election cycle. You must not have been if you didn’t see the tremendous amount of anti-Kirk posts.
The Washington Post did a story on why Trump has a following. Psychologists picked the Republican candidate. Trump does not appeal to individuals who study and analyze government. He appeals to the average, everyday person. Average Man looks for someone with these characteristics:
“We like people who talk big.
“We like people who tell us that our problems are simple and easy to solve, even when they aren’t.
“We don’t like people who don’t look like us.”
It’s pretty clear Trump talks big, in giant leaps from one topic to another, with adjectives that make everything huge. How much bigger can his self image of himself be, that which he sells to followers. He is surrounded by billions of dollars, lots of gold, big buildings and pretty women.
Oh yes, it’s got to be kept simple. Even you, John, said you were keeping your write up simple for readers. LakeCoConserv wrote, “Seems really, really simple to me.” We like it simple. No matter the national or international problem, Trump lays it out in short sentences, small words and two sentence paragraphs. No thinking needed. Problem solved.
And yes, the general public wants people who look like themselves, or at least how they want to think they look. Where looks are concerned, Trump could fit in on any bar stool or at any Chamber of Commerce meeting. He’s the lumpy dumpy used car salesman on television. Ah but his wives and daughters and sons are pretty which he reminds us of over and over again.
What more does someone want in a presidential image? Whoever got Trump on the Republican ballot in all of the states knew what they were doing. The voting public doesn’t want to identify with a scholar or statesman. When deciding who would get all of that controlled press free time they remembered the Ad Man’s basic rule..KISS Keep It Simple Stupid. And they did!
Why not nominate Mark Kirk? Is Kirk “establishment” and gutless enough for you?
I just LOVE how the GOP claims it wants “The Big Tent,” but that tent isn’t supposed to include first-time candidates.
Tents even have a door, but that door would be closed by the Establishment Republicans to shut out the candidate GOP voters overwhelmingly selected!
I can’t believe what I am hearing from so-called intelligent people, who even dare to predict that because Trump will lose anyway in November, why vote at all.
This is sheer stupidity. I used to consider myself a conservative Republicans, but now find it impossible to think of myself in this way. Here after I’m just a patriot. I’m ashamed of the RINOS, the moderates, and now the conservatives in what used to be a party whose members had some common sense. How could anyone think that lying and crooked Hillary is fit to be president?
You have definitely become a big disappointment to me, John. For your information, if Cruz had won the primaries he would have had less chance to win over Hillary than Trump. He would have been crucified as a absolute right wing nut! Even Reagan wasn’t a perfect Republican as conservative like to make him out as being.
How is Trumpster trash good for this country all all? Trump is the next Hitler… you are on record as backing the next Hitler.
What will YOU do after the election when that finally sinks in and folks have ZERO respect for you and your Hitler loving opinions.
A patriot? Is that defined as one who believes the words of a carnival barker (who also happens to be a slimeball supporter (except when it is politically inconvenient) of Hillary)?
I will match my academic credentials against you anytime. Yet, I still vote for Trump.
No, he is not my ideal candidate. No one was. Cruz came the closest. The Bush and Kasich types I have no use for as they represent the mess that has REALLY destroyed the Republican Party.
By the way, I went to a one room school. I have two Masters (U of I Springfield and University of Southern California) as well as a Doctorate (University of Southern California). I was a professor at a public university for 30 years and made Full Professor at age 36- which is rather unusual to obtain that rank at that early of an age.
So please do not be so condescending about ‘us’ uneducated rubes out there in fly over country. You really are out of your league and sound like the tripe copied from the Huffington Post.
My first Choice was Ben Carson for his high moral values.
Ben aligned with Trump. I followed Ben. In God We Trust
Carl Lambrecht
847 432 8255
Where are they now, Sam?
Wow. You don’t know what you will do in November? Geez. I was hoping you would vote for the Republican candidate. Why don’t you just vote for Hillary and be done with it? Then you can whine for the next 4 years. Has it ever occurred to you establishment types that if you just accepted Trump and did everything to promote him instead of tearing him down that he just might win? He needs the full support of ALL Republicans, even you weak, wimpy ones. If we rallied around him he might actually be a great president with his strong private sector experience. Stop whining and vote for Hillary.
My father uses this exact logic Mr. Lambrecht.
He is no fan of Trump, but he sees the Clintons for what they truly are and says “this election is too important to sit out”.
My father is 86, he realizes that it may be his last Presidential election.
He choses NOT to be a sore-loser-NeverTrumper-DiLeo-type.
He is an elder of his church, he is a very good Christian man living in the middle of central Illinois cornfields.
He is not at all conflicted where this election is concerned.
I think the term patriot is accurate. The vessel may certainly be flawed but their hearts are certainly in the right place. I don’t see many other options available. While Trump is flawed as we all are he’s certainly better than the divorced Dole, the alcoholic Bush, the divorced McCain, and the cultist Romney. All of whom favored the displacement of Americans to benefit corporate America.
Read “The Hidden Hitler” a book in the Highland Park Public Library. It is about the Homosexual life style of Hitler and the national socialist elite. These values are now in the White House.
It is hilarious that John Di Leo, who ostensibly considers himself a regular Republican, is totally content with the the disaster that was Juan McCain in 2008 but now is worried about losing a couple of Congressional seats. The McCain loss gave a filibuster proof majority to Obama and DILeo is apparently ok with that from what this article states. But an America First protectionist is too much to bear.
Wow. Just wow.
They were most certainly there. Only Rauner-phile types were were supporting Kirk on this site.
Thank you. About the best thing I can say about Mr. Trump is the FACT that he can win against Ms. Clinton. We do not need another liar in the White House. A third-party candidate, or a disruptive GOP convention, will ensure Clinton’s victory. Yes, he exaggerates with his tweets, he has had multiple wives, he has made some bad business decisions, etc. Nowadays, name recognition iseems to be what counts. Both have that. I’ll be voting for him, but, at my age of 75, I can’t afford to ‘donate’ to anyone.
“Toot, toot, toot, toot.”
Frank Goudy, I would be more impressed with your credentials if you asked the source of the information. Here is the article. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/15/i-asked-psychologists-to-analyze-trump-supporters-this-is-what-i-learned From the article: “From a psychological perspective, though, the people backing Drumpf are perfectly normal. Interviews with psychologists and other experts suggest one explanation for the candidate’s success — and for the collective failure to anticipate it: The political elite hasn’t confronted a few fundamental, universal and uncomfortable facts about the human mind.”
It may be that those who support other candidates go beyond the three basics listed. As far as Trump supporters, those are the three big things that Trump supporters find attractive. I’m not sure whether you are now pleased to find yourself one of the average normal people rather than in your own puffed up image category.
Chase, I didn’t say I was “content” with McCain, just that the idiotic primary choice of a 30 year senator named John McCain didn’t merit up-ending the process the way that Donald Trump does. I detest John McCain, but he was a lifelong Republican who had consistently voted for the construction of the House and then Senate as Republican, when Trump was funding Democrats, talking like a Democrat, and talking up the Democrats.
I supported Pat Buchanan in 1992.
Obviously I wouldn’t have such a problem with an America First protectionist if he was a Republican.
My problem with Donald Trump is that he is not, in any way shape or form that I can sense, a Republican.
In addition, you said I was worried about losing a couple of congressional seats this fall with Trump on the top of the ticket. You apparently didn’t read my column.
If I am right in my suspicion – and believe me, I hope I’m not – then we will lose dozens of state houses with this colossal orange mistake on top of our ticket. That’s a heck of a bigger deal than “a couple of congressional seats.”
JFD
Frank Goudy, I would be more impressed with your credentials if you had asked for the source of the information which was https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/15/i-asked-psychologists-to-analyze-trump-supporters-this-is-what-i-learned/ The author pointed out that these traits are common to all normal people. Trump’s political credentials don’t go further. What you are saying when you make it a point of saying he isn’t your ideal candidate is that your standards mean nothing and they will flush away as needed. If the Republicans gave you a pile or horse manure and said vote for that or vote for Clinton, you would vote for the horse manure, saying well it’s not what i would ideally choose. As I see it Trump’s flaws, which you so chillingly overlook, are even more dangerous than Clinton’s flaws. As long as he’s big enough, simple enough and looks somewhat like you, that’s enough to make him president. You really aren’t as smart as you think you are.
That’s good Dorothy, keep telling the Trump supporters how dumb we are.
That type negative campaign message ALWAYS works as intended, correct?
Please, keep that message alive and circulating.
And keep signing your name to the message, so we know who to ignore once our guy wipes the floor with your guy(s) AGAIN.
I can absolutely believe it, when considering that NeverTrumpers and Cruzbots are completely deranged individuals.
And then when you combine both groups, the result is a zombie-like mindset with only one goal:
Destruction of anyone and anything that gets in the way of their ideas.
These people are VERY much like Hillary’s followers of 8 (and prior) years ago – and just like Hillary’s zombies they will continue to work against THE NOMINEE WHO WON THE DELEGATES WITH A RECORD NUMBER OF VOTES for years to come.
Again, because they are deranged.
Two things –
1. I honestly never would have guessed that you would have supported Buchanan. I respect that.
2. I would be willing to wager a steak dinner at Ruth’s or Gibson’s or wherever that the GOP will not lose dozens (meaning more than 24 that they already control) state houses in November. They currently control 31 state houses. If they lose dozens they will be down to 7 or less. If they lose any (which I’m not sure they will) it would be less than a dozen. We have a higher chance of colliding with an asteroid than the GOP controlling 7 or fewer state houses after November.
Chase, what concerns me most about your last note is that it surprises you that I supported Pat Buchanan over George HW Bush in 1992, after Bush’s (expected) four year slide away from Reaganite Republicanism made it impossible for a principled conservative to support the incumbent in the primaries.
Either you haven’t been reading my stuff, or I haven’t been writing clearly enough. Heck, the last time I was mistaken for a moderate was when I was born, and the doctor pointed out my crib – which was in between two others in the maternity ward – and said “John’s the one in the middle.”
I assure you, that hasn’t been said since!
JFD
I’ve been reading. I don’t think it’s at all clear that you would have voted Buchanan. You come across as a Kemp type that pro-business, anti-regulation but cares little to nothing about the culture, displacement of American workers, immigration, etc. as long as business is good.
Well, Chase, you’re mistaken, but that’s not your fault…. I probably just haven’t written on some of those issues as much, because I only write about things I think I can say something about that’s different from what others are saying.
I think there are others out there who say what I think about some of these issues you mentioned, and I can’t top them, so I don’t try. Also, when you only write once a week, not daily, you can’t cover every issue.
But if you’re interested, here are a couple of my columns on immigration and on the need to win back both manufacturing and the manufacturing vote.
And by the way, I’m not remotely a Kemp type. Not in the least. I respected his oratory, but… he was my third choice in 1988. And barely even that.
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2013/05/comprehensive-immigration-reform-from-euphemisms-and-buzzwords-to-genuine-progress.html
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2012/01/rick-santorum-and-the-need-for-a-new-coalition.html
Anyway… if you’re interested… here they are, for your reading pleasure. (I’d at least like you to give them a chance, so that you’ll give ME a chance, on these issues! 🙂 )
JFD