Did Donald Trump Admit He’s Not Conservative?

Ben Shapiro of Breitbart sure thinks so

Donald Trump has now made clear that the thrust of his campaign will not be conservatism. It will instead be populism and nationalism.

For those looking for a governing philosophy of The Donald, his checkered political history has provided little guidance. He’s seemingly endorsed single-payer healthcare; he’s said he rejects Obamacare. He’s blasted money in politics; he’s talked about the necessity for government use of eminent domain to help private parties. He’s ripped overregulation of capitalistic enterprises; he’s talked about tariffs on foreign goods. Trump isn’t conservative, and he never was.

I’ve written before that American conservatism is more about beliefs in government, using the maxim “the government that governs least governs best” as a foundation rock, along with “government only governs when in need”. Government should only apply the minimum/appropriate force necessary to deal with an issue. It should stay out of our private lives as much as possible. The same applies to the economy, where government should act more like a referee on commonly approved laws. There should be minimal restrictions on voting. This is all known as classical liberalism. When you start getting into issues, such as abortion and tariffs, those are not necessarily core CL issues. But, taking private property for private use is. So is wanting single-payer.

Trump’s move here is calculated. He’s going to campaign as a post-ideological candidate. All he wants, as he said in his next tweet, is to “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.” If that means bigger government, that means bigger government. If that means more interventionism in the economy, that means more interventionism in the economy. Trump believes he can restore American greatness in his personage – he can make terrific deals, he can “win” on behalf of America. (snip)

Trump stands up for America; Trump Hulk Smashes for you. He cares about America, and that’s enough – he wants to restore American greatness, and that’s enough. How will he do it? He just will. And he won’t be held back by any conservative vision of a small government nation founded on individual liberty. Sometimes he’ll do conservative things. Sometimes he won’t. But he’ll act with “common sense” and “do what needs to be done.”

At the end of the day, Trump appears to be better than any Democrat, but, many of his leanings are decidedly in favor of increasing the size and scope of government, particularly the federal government. Shapiro also mentions how rabid many Trump supporters are, and how these supposed conservatives no longer seem to care about limited government. I ran into this yesterday, when I tweeted

https://twitter.com/WilliamTeach/status/697869496690810880

Trumpbots came at me hard, telling he has lots of plans, to go to his website. OK. I see a total of 5 positions. Some are detailed, such as immigration, though we still don’t know how he will make Mexico pay for the wall. Then we have issues, which are simply just a bunch of videos. At the end of the day, though, Trump has been more in attack mode than in “here’s a good idea” mode. In all fairness, this is a race to be the next GOP presidential candidate, and politics is a nasty affair. But, how about more attacks on Democrats, which we rarely ever see, and policy?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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