VII. Trump Will Lose the General Election

I’ve voted for Libertarian and Independent candidates many times, so I’m familiar with voting for a lost cause, but if you are more practically minded voter who wants to win so much, “You’ll get bored with winning,” then Trump is the last guy you should ever support.  

The numbers simply don’t add up in Trump’s favor. 

Out of the three GOP candidates who have a real chance of winning, Trump is the only one who loses to Hillary Clinton in general election polling. Cruz edges out Clinton by a hairsbreadth with a .2% margin whereas Rubio wins with a solid 4.2 points over Hillary, yet Trump loses in a messy 4.7 point defeat in a head-to-head with Secretary Clinton. For comparison, Obama defeated Romney solidly in 2012 with a smaller edge of 3.9%.

Trump's polling against Sanders is even more disastrous as Trump is projected to lose by a staggering 9.7% points. You have to go back thirty-two years all the way to Ronald Reagan’s second Presidential election in 1984 to find a blowout comparable. 

Looking closer at the numbers, the reason for Trump’s predicted defeat is obvious. Last July, one-third of Republicans and two-thirds of Independents stated they would not vote for Trump under any circumstances. Though I cannot find an updated poll of the exact same type, recent favorability ratings indicate those numbers may have shifted a bit in the intervening months. As of January, Trump had a favorability of +27 with Republicans possibly indicating a slight increase in his support. Among Independents, Trump’s favorability ratings are at negative twenty-seven indicating a likely rise of disapproval. Looking at the nation as a whole, 56.2% of the American electorate holds an unfavorable impression of Donald Trump which gives him the highest unfavorable ratings in the entire Presidential field. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the other 43.8% of the electorate is favorable towards Trump; 5.5% are undecided and could go either way.

All of these boring statistics add up to say one obvious thing,Trump is not well-loved by anybody outside his diehard supporters, and he faces a tremendous obstacle in that the vast majority of the independent voters Trump needs to win have already decided that they hate him.

Of course, we have another nine months before the general election. Anything can happen, right?

The problem is that we have every reason to expect Trump’s popularity to decline if he wins the primary. 

Thus far, the media has been pushing Trump hard. Analysis of the nightly news on ABC, CBS and NBC between January and November of 2015 revealed that 234 minutes were dedicated to Trump whereas Rubio received a mere 22 minutes and Cruz a paltry 7 minutes. This disparity of coverage is huge, and if it is reflected throughout the rest of the media, then this coverage is worth as much as thousands or perhaps even tens of thousands of political ads. Considering the glut of free publicity, it’s amazing Trump has any competition in the primary.

This all changes the second Trump wins the primary. At that point, every non-conservative media source will end the preferential treatment of Trump and unsheathe their claws.

I know many have been awed by Trump’s apparent ability to withstand criticism and weather any political storm, but the obvious truth that many have been overlooking is that the media has not yet unleashed on Donald Trump. 

I know some refuse to see this. They say Trump is constantly being criticized by the media, and this is true in a sense, but the criticism has been scattered and faint. Trump has routinely said something outrageous, media personalities chatter about it for a few days, then the light sprinkling of outrage passes like a misty Spring shower and the news cycle moves to a new story. The mainstream media has certainly tsked their disdain, but they haven’t whipped out the carving knives, grabbed hold of an issue and carved a visionary, destructive narrative around Trump. 

Consider the narratives the media created during the past election cycles. Bush was an idiot, and yet they never call Trump an idiot despite the way he rambles incoherently, reveals vast ignorance on important policies and makes inaccurate boasts that most ten-year-old boys would find unseemly. McCain was branded a warmonger, yet despite the fact that Trump says we should kill the families of terrorists and steal Iraq’s oil, I’ve never heard the media say Trump is a warmonger. Romney was labeled anti-woman and elitist, and yet Trump is rarely challenged on his plethora of sexist acts and infrequently accused of being a one-percenter despite Trump infinite opportunities for the typical class warfare tactics. 

If you’ve read my previous articles on Trump, you’ve likely learned much more about The Donald from me than you’ve learned from months of mainstream media coverage, but when the gloves of the media come off (and they will come off), the media will throw every single attack they have at Trump, and if you think the stuff I pointed out was harsh, please realize that I left out an innumerable amount of Trump’s potentially damaging acts, positions and statements because they were somewhat ambiguous. The mainstream media will not be so generous, and they will drudge up every person Trump has ever wronged and give them hour-long documentary specials where the tear-jerking music will swell at just the right moment to leave all of America with righteous anger towards Donald Trump.

Trump will not win the general election. The numbers already look nigh impossible, and when the full force and fury of the media unleash on him, he will not stand a chance. 

In the most literal sense, Trump is a loser. 

If you enjoyed this article, you'll be happy to know I've written a whole series on Trump. Click Here to Check them Out. 

Cruz or Rubio?

Tuesday, conservative voters have a choice, but that choice is severely limited. Clearly, the admitted socialist Sanders and the de facto socialist Clinton are off the table. Despite whatever virtues Carson and Kasich might have brought to the race, neither one of them have a snowball’s chance of winning the GOP nomination at this point. Some small government folks have fallen for the siren song of Trump, but I’ve already done all in my power to expose this folly. You can check out my two-minute argument against a Trump presidency Here, but suffice to say that nobody who favors small government would consider voting for him if they knew his record and were voting for principles rather than personality. 

That leaves only two option, Cruz and Rubio. I believe Cruz is the superior choice for two reasons. 

1. Cruz is a consistent small government Constitutionalist whereas Rubio is a moderate compromiser in the mold of George W. Bush. 

Cruz cosponsored legislation limiting the unconstitutional abuses of the Patriot Act whereas Rubio opposed any NSA reforms and argued we should permanently implement the program. Rubio, who ran on a platform of opposing amnesty, infamously crafted the Gang of Eight bill which would have given illegal immigrants legal status. Cruz crafted a set of poison pill amendments for the Gang of Eight bill which helped thwart Rubio’s scheme. Cruz has promised to greatly reduce the size of government including complete closures of the IRS, the Departments of Education, Energy, Commerce and Housing and Urban Development. In contrast, Rubio speaks of shrinking government power, yet he actually expands government control. Remember Bush’s Medicare Part D? Rubio wanted prescription drug benefits expanded even further and proposed a new law to increase federal involvement in mental health. 

Rubio follows the establishment and Cruz stands firm as the true outsider. In a field originally split fifteen ways, Rubio has collected endorsements from over a dozen senators and a dozen governors. Combining these two categories, Cruz has only had four endorsements. George W. Bush himself spoke pleasantly about every candidate except for Cruz of whom he said, “I just don’t like that guy.” Bush doesn’t like Cruz because Cruz doesn’t play ball. Rubio does. 

If you want more of the same old Republican nonsense, Rubio is your guy, but if you want a guy to radically reduce the size and scope of government, Cruz is your only choice. 

2. Cruz stands a better chance of blocking Trump. 

If you prefer Rubio’s policies but would be open to a Cruz presidency and opposed to Trump, you need to seriously consider switching to Cruz for the block. Trump has a large lead already, and if current polling holds true, that lead will become near insurmountable as of Super Tuesday. There are more than enough votes in the GOP to stop Trump, but the problem is that those votes are split between Cruz and Rubio. Neither man can win with the other doing well in the race. 

If the idea of a Trump presidency sickens you, you need to back the stronger horse, and Cruz has the advantage. Cruz won Iowa which has traditionally served as a bellwether state and proves Cruz has some appeal with the GOP base and polling for Super Tuesday reaffirms this as Cruz is favored to win Texas and Arkansas and is highly competitive in a few other states. Rubio, on the other hand, is favored to win zero states on Super Tuesday. Let’s repeat that for emphasis, Rubio is not projected to win even one measly state on Super Tuesday. Under these circumstance, Rubio has almost no chance of winning. 

The choice is simple. You can vote for a consistent conservative who has a better chance of winning or a moderate Republican with a worse chance of winning. We can debate which candidate would be better for the United States, but on one point there can be no doubt. If GOP voters do not coalesce around one of these two candidates, Trump will be the face of the Republican Party for the next four years. 

VI. Trump Is A Horrible Person: Part 2

Previously, I discussed Trump’s willingness to take things that don’t belong to him, his habit of ruthlessly attacking anyone who is misfortunate enough to stand in his way and his propensity for using lies to promote his agenda. Sadly, that is not where Trump’s moral failings end. 

Sexual Sleaze

There have been persistent rumors that Trump cheated on his first wife, Ivana Trump, with the woman who would become his second wife, Marla Maples. Though The Donald has never confirmed these rumors, it’s impossible to argue Trump has deep respect for marriage vows considering he bragged about having sex with married women.

Even if philandering doesn’t bother you, you should still prepare for your sexual ick meters to hit their peak. Trump has twice mused over how he’d want to have sex with his daughter were she not his daughter. One instance occurred in 2006, “She does have a very nice figure. I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her,” and the other happened in 2015, “She’s really something, and what a beauty, that one. If I weren’t happily married and, ya know, her father . . . ” I’ve never had a daughter, but I’m guessing few non-incestuous dads have spent much time thinking about how much they’d like to bang their daughter.

Briber

Trump represents the pinnacle of crony capitalism freely admitting he gives politicians money in exchange for kickbacks. “I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And do you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me.” Amazingly, many people think Trump’s willingness to admit he engages in these illegal and unethical bribes makes him the perfect guy to fix the broken system. I can only assume that these people also believe admitted pedophiles make the best babysitters. 

Egomaniac

Trump’s ego and braggadocio know no bounds. I can’t imagine the torture of being trapped in an elevator with the man for four hours much less being trapped with him as the President for four years. Trump has literally claimed he’s never done anything wrong. “I think apologizing’s a great thing, but you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize, sometime in the hopefully distant future, if I’m ever wrong.” It would be easy to dismiss this as a joke with most people, but during the countless hours I’ve spent researching these articles, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Trump admit to a single error. To believe oneself to be perfect is literally delusional. 

Racist 

Trump famously launched his campaign by accusing many Mexican illegal immigrants of being drug dealers, rapists and killers. Trump is correct in that there are many of those people coming across the border, but his follow up thought, “and some, I assume, are good people,” implies that drug dealing, raping, killer Mexicans are the rule rather than the exception. Many of Trump’s statements ride this line implying much but falling just short of clear cut bigotry. 

However, there are some Trump remarks that have been less widely reported which should raise even more concern such as Trump's statement at the Republican Jewish Coalition. You’re not going to support me because I don’t want your money…Look, I’m a negotiator like you folks, we’re negotiators.” Another set of racist remarks can be found in a tell-all book written by a former employee of Trump, John R O’Donnell. According to O’Donnell, Trump said, “Laziness is a trait in blacks.” This could easily be dismissed as hearsay if The Donald had not later admitted, “The stuff O'Donnell wrote about me is probably true.” In the same book, Trump managed to stereotype two groups at once saying, “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are little short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” In an interview with the Rolling Stone, Trump again specifically said that this comment was, “Probably true.”

Faux Christianity 

There is no religious test for office in the United States, but there should be a, “Let’s Not Elect Obvious Liars,” test, and when it comes to his religious testimony, Trump clearly fails the exam. It’s not hard to find reasons to be skeptical of Trump’s Christian pretense; we could point to his general unapologetic immorality, his ignorance that the second epistle to the Corinthians is called “Second Corinthians” rather than “Two Corinthians,” or his unwillingness to share a single scripture verse that was meaningful to him despite his claims that The Bible is his favorite book, yet we have no reason to speculate on how genuine Trump’s faith might be since Trump himself has admitted he’s never asked God for forgiveness. The need for humbling yourself and asking forgiveness of God for your sins is THE CENTRAL DOCTRINE of all of Christianity. You can no more be a Christian without asking God’s forgiveness than you can be a Muslim without acknowledging there is no god but Allah. 

Even if we ignore the fact that Trump is lying about being a Christian, the religious right should be disgusted by the actions of Trump. In addition to all the many sins I’ve already discussed for which Trump has never repented, Trump has a litany of actions that violate Biblical principles. Trump runs casinos, married multiple times, interviewed with Playboy, operates strip clubs and praises the virtue of greed. The fact that Trump garners any support among Christians is a slap in the face to God.

Conclusion: Not a Nice Man

I started off writing these articles disliking Trump’s policies but not the man, yet it’s impossible to examine Trump’s actions and fail to understand that Trump is a wicked person, and when wicked men run the world, the people suffer. 

Click Here for More Articles on Trump. 

In Two Minutes, The Ultimate Case Against Trump!

I’m going to make the case against Trump in less than two minutes. Check it out. You can find links for the evidence for each and every attack I make Right Here. 

1. Trump is an egomaniac. He will not admit he has ever made a mistake. He is not just confident and prideful. He has a serious mental illness. The man is deluded. 

2. Trump’s positions are bad. Trump supports government run healthcare, a pathway to citizenship for illegals, a take over of the banks, government stealing private property to help businessmen, the bailouts, the stimulus packages, Affirmative Action, tariffs, murder, welfare, the Patriot Act and killing Snowden. 

3. Trump is mean. He returns attacks on his policies with personal attacks. He betrays friends the second it helps him. He even cut off insurance to his ill grandnephew out of anger. 

4. Trump is inconsistent. In the last fifteen years, Trump has done a 180 on drugs, abortion, taxes, civil unions, Social Security and gun control. In the last six years, Trump has done a 180 on Democrats, Obama and Hillary (by the way, he gave an endorsement to Hillary in 2008). In the last year, Trump has changed on campaign funding, the War in Iraq, the War in Afghanistan, the War in Syria and Syrian refugees. You can’t trust him.

5. Trump doesn’t understand big government or the Constitution. Trump doesn’t criticize the size of government. He says the power is in the hands of “stupid” people when it should be in his hands. He never stand up for the Constitution but proposes policies against the Constitution. 

6. Trump is a bad person. He lies, he abuses people, he steals, he’s sexually gross, he bribes politicians, he’s prideful, he’s racist, and he claims to be a Christian while refusing to admit his faults to God and repent for his sins!

7. He will lose. Trump has much lower popularity ratings than Cruz and Rubio, and he fails in head-to-head polling against Hillary. If Trump wins the Republican nomination, the mainstream media will roll out their stack of attack pieces on Trump that they’ve been keeping off the air. The points I’ve mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg. Trump will lose. 

VI. Trump Is A Horrible Person: Part 1

It’s harsh, but it needs to be said. Trump is simply a bad guy, and nobody wants a bad guy leading the United States of America. 

We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get right to it. 

Liar

Trump lies frequently. Trump claimed he saw thousands of people in New Jersey celebrating the attacks on 9/11. This was a lie. Trump said 82% of white people who were murdered were killed by black people. This was also a lie. Trump said Marco Rubio was Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Senator and then denied he had ever made that statement. This again was a lie. 

Trump’s lies sometimes result in painful failures such as when he, the purported savior of our nation’s financial institutions, demonstrated his profound lack of financial sense and integrity when he bought the Taj Mahal casino. Trump acquired the struggling casino after promising the gambling authority he would only use prime rate loans to cover the cost. He was lying, and within a month of making these empty promises, Trump covered his debt with junk bonds featuring a staggering 14% interest. To nobody’s surprise, Trump defaulted on the loans. The bankers were screwed and the casino employees suffered, but Trump felt none of the pain since he pegged the loans to the company rather than his personal pocketbook. Trump has since bragged about exploiting the system and admits, “I would do it again.” Let this be a lesson to those who think Trump will save the U.S. from our financial woes; Mr. Business Savvy doesn’t care if his own team fails as long as he personally profits.

Ruthlessly Cruel

I’ve previously discussed Trump’s tendency towards malice, but it deserves repetition and examination from new angles. 

Trump will mercilessly attack anyone without justification if they get in his way. Trump spoke highly of Ben Carson early in the campaign saying he is, “a really fine man" and "a friend of mine,” yet when Carson became Trump’s chief rival, The Donald accused Carson of having a, “pathological temper,” and asserted, “you don't cure that ... as an example: child molesting. You don't cure these people.” After the former neurosurgeon’s support dissipated, Trump again buddied up to Carson using the Iowa-Vote pseudo-scandal to attack Donald’s new GOP rival, Ted Cruz. Previously, Trump had also called Cruz, “a friend of mine and a good guy,” but once Cruz gained in the polls, he became, “A nasty guy. Nobody likes him.” This should show any Trump fans just how much they can count on his loyalty. If Trump treats high profile people he considers friends this way, he won’t hesitate to betray you.  

Trump’s attacks are in no way bound by good taste. Trump mocked John McCain for being a POW and mocked a disabled news reporter who disagreed with him by mimicking the reporter’s deformed hand motions. Trump then lied about mocking the reporter.

Trump’s is willing to insult anybody for any reason, but his comments towards women seem especially malicious as he often objectifies them by targeting their looks or sexuality. When Megyn Kelly asked Trump difficult questions during a debate, Trump suggested she was on her period. Later, Trump said Fiorina’s face excluded her from winning an election. “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?” Throughout his life, Trump has referred to women he dislikes as, “fat pigs,” “dogs” and “disgusting animals.” With no provocation, Trump once mused on air about the idea of a woman on The Celebrity Apprentice giving him a blowjob. Responding to media criticism, Trump once shared his philosophy by saying, “You know, it doesn’t really matter what (media people) write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of a**.”

Even when it comes to his own family, Trump is cold-blooded. When Trump’s nephew filed a lawsuit against Trump over an estate dispute, Trump responded by cutting off health insurance benefits to his nephew’s family despite the fact that those insurance benefits were paying for lifesaving healthcare treatments for Trump’s chronically ill grandnephew. In case there is any doubt to his motivation, Trump clarified that he dropped the benefits out of an unflinching desire for revenge. “I was angry because they sued.” 

Thief

Trump also has a bad habit of taking things that don’t belong to him. 

When interrupted by protestors at one of his rallies, Trump instructed his security officers to take the protestors’ coats and throw them out in the cold. Ejecting protestors from his rally is Donald’s right, but stealing property is illegal even for the rich.

Of course, there’s an exception to every rule, and the abuse of eminent domain does allow for legally sanctioned theft for the wealthy or at least for the well connected. On multiple occasions, Trump tried to use eminent domain to forcibly take land from the elderly in order to provide new ground for Trump’s building projects.

People can speculate all day long on whether Trump has the best interests or the best plan for the United States, but there’s no denying that Trump is a lying, vindictive thief. These are facts.

To read more on why Trump would be a horrible President, Click Here. 

V. Trump Understands Neither the Problem We Face nor the Solution We Need

See if you can spot the common theme in these Trump quotes.

On Illegal Immigration - “Our politicians are stupid, And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don’t want to pay for them. Why should they, when the stupid leaders of the United States will pay for them?” (Source)

On Obamacare - “It’s been incompetent from day one. The way it got passed was horrible…It’s not bureaucracy. It's gross incompetence.” (Source) 

On the State Department’s Claim of Bringing Peace to Syria -“It is the level of stupidity that is incredible. I’m telling you, I used to use the word incompetent. Now I just call them stupid.” (Source)

Sorry Mr. Trump, but you’re wrong. Stupidity is not causing the woes of the American people.

Washington didn't fail to stop illegal immigration because they’re idiots who can’t understand complexities of building a wall. The politicians have intentionally chosen not to address illegal immigration because Mexican immigrants take farming jobs at low wages that save Republican farmers a lot of money and because Mexican immigrants have children who vote overwhelmingly for Democrat candidates. Both sides benefit from allowing the crisis to continue.

Obamacare is not failing because the designers are incompetent. It is failing because it was designed to strain the healthcare system even further, collapse private healthcare and pave the way for universal healthcare. 

The State Department didn’t claim they brought peace to Syria because they are dumb enough to believe their own nonsense. They claimed to bring peace to Syria because they wanted good press, and they knew there would be no real consequences for lying.

I will gladly condemn leftist policies as destructive, dangerous, oppressive, foolhardy, manipulative, detrimental, and corrosive, and perhaps after exhausting my lexicon I might even call their ideas stupid, but the people who implement these policies are not, as a rule, dumb. I don’t make this distinction because of political correctness but because anyone who intends to turn the tide in Washington must understand that the true nature of the problem in D.C. is corrupt ideology and corrupt ethics not a corrupt IQ. 

If I brought together experts in a multitude of fields, provided them a schematic for a machine, and gave them a massive budget, it would not matter how smart, competent, well-managed, well-organized, dedicated, determined, noble or respected they were, their project would inevitably fail if the designs were flawed. 

The United States has been following a flawed design for more than a century. Every time a new crisis faced the nation, the political elites decided they needed just a little more power in Washington to get things done for the good of the citizenry. Of course, there was that pesky Constitution which kept the government from doing everything politicians pleased, but the new radical philosophy of Progressivism offered a way to defeat the Constitution. Progressivism taught that the Constitution was outdated, and when it stood between politicians and their desires, it could simply be reinterpreted to mean whatever the politicians found convenient. This philosophy took root in the political class, and soon legislative, judicial and executive branches all ignored the Constitution to make way for bold new government initiatives that consolidated federal power. This power corrupted those who wielded it, and our elected leaders became obsessed with furthering themselves rather than serving the people. 

It doesn’t matter if the man in the White House has the intelligence of Kanye West or Stephen Hawking. As long as the Progressive design is being followed, the United States will continue to deteriorate. We need a President who understands that progressivism is the disease and the Constitution is the cure.

With this in mind, does Donald Trump understand the Constitution?

No. No he does not. 

If there’s an exchange where Trump has demonstrated any depth of understanding of the supreme law of the land, I haven’t seen it. It’s difficult to find any time he’s ever referenced it except to vaguely and incorrectly accuse people of lacking American citizenship. He’s certainly never spoken passionately on the subject or praised the value of limiting executive power, and he rarely bothers so much as to pay the Constitution lip service.

Trump’s policies affirm his lack of concern on Constitutional matters. Trump just says whatever he wants to do without paying heed to what he’s constitutionally allowed to do. At various points, Trump has supported universal healthcare, abusive eminent domain practices, the Patriot Act, gun bans, bailouts, nationalization of the banking system and a host of other programs that would cause our Founding Fathers to run screaming to the nearest dock and vent their frustrations on some unlucky shipments of tea.

Trump has had some very bad moments that further indicate Constitutional apathy. Trump called for shutting down parts of the internet to battle ISIS and he mocked those who brought up concerns over freedom of speech before he eventually clarified that he only wanted to stop the internet in foreign, hostile nations. Trump also advocated a mandatory registration system for Muslims. The fact that he seems to have been referring to new immigrants mitigates Constitutional concerns a smidge, but it’s not hard to imagine the bad places forced religious registration could go. When he later decided all Muslims should be banned, Trump defended his position by saying his proposal was no different than one of FDR’s worst Presidential and least Constitutional acts, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

We don’t need a smarter guy in Washington who promises to fix our problems for us. We need an honest and honorable guy in Washington who will restore the Constitution and give the power back to individuals so we can begin to fix problems for ourselves. 

To read more on why Trump would be a horrible President, Click Here. 

IV. Trump Is a Flip-Flopper: Part 2

For Flip-Flopper Part 1, Click Here

I’ve previously discussed how Donald Trump has completely reversed himself on the political ideology he advocates, on the high praise he once heaped on President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton and on other crucial political concerns, but I’m far from done. Trump has changed on many other important issues.

Afghanistan 

Though there are a lot of issues that divide voters in the United States, you can find nigh universal agreement that the U.S. was right to send the military into Afghanistan to knock out Al Qaeda, but Trump was one of the few exceptions saying.“We made a terrible mistake getting involved there (Afghanistan) in the first place,” but Trump reversed himself within two weeks stating, “Iraq was a disaster. Not Afghanistan, because that's probably where we should have gone in the first place.”

Withdraw from Iraq

When asked in 2007 about the need for U.S. withdraw from Iraq, Trump rejected the idea that any particular exit strategy was needed arguing, “You know how they (U.S. forces) get out? They get out. That's how they get out. Declare victory and leave. Because, I'll tell you, this country is just going to get further bogged down. They're in a civil war over there, Wolf. There's nothing that we're going to be able to do with a civil war,” yet when President Obama did exactly as Trump suggested by declaring victory and withdrawing U.S. forces, Trump said, “When Obama took us out (of Iraq), the way he took us out, that was a mistake.”

War with ISIS

Trump has changed his stance on battling ISIS in Syria. In February 2015 in the midst of yet another civil war in the Middle East and the continuing war in Iraq, Trump said, “On ISIS…nobody would be tougher than Donald Trump. I would hit them so hard and so fast that they wouldn't know what happened.” In August, Trump explicitly stated that we need, “boots on the ground…any place where they (ISIS) have oil.” Since ISIS has control of oil in Syria, that would obviously include action in both Iraq and Syria, but a month later in September, Trump changed his mind saying we should, “Let Russia fight ISIS if they want to fight them. Let them fight them, in Syria. Now we can fight them in Iraq.”

Notice that while Trump has changed his view on U.S. forces in Syria, Trump has been consistent in calling for decisive action in the battling ISIS terrorists and establishing stability in Iraq, yet this is the same Trump who regularly brags that he opposed U.S. attempts to battle terrorists and establish stability in Iraq during the Bush administration. 

Middle Eastern Immigrants 

Trump won praise from some when he called on a ban on all Muslim immigration to the United State, yet this position was reached through yet another flip-flop. 

On September 9th, 2015, Trump was asked if he would allow people fleeing from the Middle East into the United States. Trump responded, “I hate the concept of it, but on a humanitarian basis with what’s happening you have to.” It took Trump less than a month to pull a 180 on the issue. On October 3rd, Trump said, “If they (Syrian refugees) come in, and if I win, they're going back. They're going back.” It wasn’t until December 8th that Trump called for a complete ban of all Muslim immigration. 

Corporate Donations

One thing that seems to excite many Trump fans and set him apart from the GOP field is Trump’s purported ability to run purely on his own wealth and refuse all donations. If this attracted you to Trump, I’ve got bad news for you.

Trump did indeed claim that he would only use his own money for his campaign. In June 2015, Trump stated with his signature humility, “I’m using my own money. I’m not using the lobbyists. I’m not using donors. I don’t care. I’m really rich.” In July, he elaborated saying, “Every single person that gave every single dollar is expecting something for that money, every single person. And that’s not good for the country. Somebody that’s reliant on all of these lobbyists and special interests and donors, they have no power to make a decision, because they feel obligated to all these people.”

It was still July when Trump went to a fundraiser full of wealthy Trump donors sponsored by the Make America Great Again super PAC. While gathering his newly acquired bags of money, Trump said, “There are so many people wanting to contribute and I am so grateful for their support. I appreciate the moral investment in my vision to Make America Great Again.” In August, Trump admitted he was open to taking donations of all types, “as long as they don’t expect anything.” Since people who make political contributions always claim they don’t expect anything in return, this stipulation is meaningless. Even though Trump has prominently displayed a donations page on his official campaign website and has several super PACs spending money on his behalf, Trump still laces his speeches with comments that strongly imply that he refuses all contributions. In August, he said, “I’ve got a lot of money. I don’t need people funding me, like the other candidates. I have people coming up all the time, wanting to give me millions of dollars— $5 million last week I turned down, from one man! I said, ‘I don’t want your money,’ and I think that resonates with people.”

Conclusion: The Head Flip-Flopper

It seems to me that Trump has no real values beyond self-promotion and simply says whatever he feels will earn him votes at any given moment, but admittedly, that’s my unprovable and cynical view. Perhaps someone more trusting of those running for elected office might conclude that Trump is making these changes for principled reasons. Regardless of his motivation, the fact remains that Trump does change frequently and without warning or explanation. If you like Trump’s current positions, you have absolutely no reason to think he’ll still hold those positions one month from now much less when he’s three years into his first presidential term.

For more articles on Trump, Click Here.