sombear said:
Oldbear83 said:
Mothra: "Many left much to be desired. He spent like a liberal, never built his border wall, and his COVID policies were atrocious."
Which policies, specific polices, were poor?
And it's pretty dishonest to blame Trump for the Wall issues when it was Congress which stopped the work.
As for COVID, it's my understanding that Pence told him to trust Blix and Fauci. And frankly, very few people understood before 2021 what those characters were up to.
Now what exactly did Trump want to spend money on, that you think was so bad? I honestly don't recall him 'spending like a liberal'.
If you judge Trump by what he accomplished and what he was trying to get done, he was very effective. You don't have to like him or vote for Trump to give him his due.
The problem with making up reasons to hate Trump, is that - again - you need the support of people who believe in secure borders, in common-sense trade policies with China and Russia and Canada et cetera, a proper ridicule of this 'woke' nonsense and the damage caused by it, judges who follow the Constitution as written ... and so on. Those people don't trust the empty promises of Establishment politicians like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and their ilk.
And for the record, if he runs and the primary were today, I would support DeSantis. But the message needs to be focused on continuing what Trump did right, not pretending his policies were wrong.
I opposed his tariffs and other anti-trade moves and agree he did a poor job on COVID, although I've always said most get a free pass on that given all the unknowns and uncertainty. Also opposed his tax policy, as there was no reason for anyone to pay more taxes. And, yes, the deficit/debt skyrocketed. I also don't like how he demonized anyone who even brainstormed entitlement reform.
He was outstanding on deregulation, judges, and far underrated on int'l/military policy. Many of his supporters don't like to hear this, but Trump also moderated considerably on immigration. He was willing to accept the same deals over which he criticized his primary opponents - i.e., greater border security exchanged for some amnesty. I credit him for that.
I'm curious, what does establishment mean to you? Which prominent Republicans do you find acceptably non-establishment? Rubio, for example, was a Tea Party hero who is aligned with Trump on virtually every issue. I'm not saying this is your position, but to many Trumpers, virtually everyone not 100% aligned with Trump is "establishment."
I submit that a GOP establishment no longer exists. It's all split. Media, think tanks, prominent politicos, big business . . . they are no longer aligned, certainly not in any organized fashion. To the extent there is an establishment, I'd say it's fairly pro-Trump.
I liked his tariffs, and had he won a second term we would be immensely better in our trade position. But I speak with knowledge of some China companies - when Trump put the tariffs in place, a lot of Chinese companies started changing their policies to comply with what they saw as a resolute United States.
Biden undid all that.
I also think twenty years from now, Trump's foreign policy will be seen as a bright spot in a dismal wasteland from 2003 to whenever we get a sane POTUS again.
The problem of Establishment is the way politics is played in D.C. The District is the oldest of Old Boy Clubs, where everyone is expected to '
pay their dues' before they get any real power. And that power comes with wealth.
One metric I recommend to anyone wondering who has been corrupted, is to figure up how much a Congress critter or Senator has made from their salary over time, then compare it to their gain in estimated wealth since taking office.
And no, the Establishment is not pro-Trump. Not because I believe Trump was a serious reformer of the system, so much as Trump wanted his own people in place, the same way Obama replaced a lot of Clintonites in the DNC when he took over. The difference was, of course, that Obama's efforts worked and he effectively runs Democrat policy now, while Trump was not able to oust the mandarins at the RNC.
That which does not kill me, will try again and get nastier
