Constitutional Conservatives vs. the Trump Mob

In the beginning, like so many others, I wanted to like Donald Trump. I really did, until I started to really listen to what he had to say. Then I became uneasy… then worried… then alarmed… then convinced the man is not who he claims to be. He says just enough of the right things, so that you overlook all the really egregious things he puts forth.

It’s more than true that Americans are fed up with corrupt elitists on both sides of the political aisle. It is what has driven so many to Donald Trump. It is also true as this lady put it: “There’s nothing short of Trump shooting my daughter in the street and my grandchildren — there is nothing and nobody that’s going to dissuade me from voting for Trump.” Really? Careful what you wish for. This fight is no longer just between the establishment and Republicans… it is also between constitutional conservatives and the Trump mob. There are those of us who very much object to what Trump stands for in certain areas. We are for closing the border and stopping the refugee resettlement program… but we are also for gutting Obamacare and stopping Planned Parenthood. We are for smaller government, less taxation, the Constitution and the rule of law. We are not ‘flexible’ as Donald Trump now says he is. We are conservatives.

This is a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. People would love to see Trump smack the establishment and media around, but I’m far from certain that is what he will do. Conservatives have one more chance to get this right and that means electing Ted Cruz. That will rock the Republicans even more. He’s the only one who can right this ship. Trump is now saying that Cruz is too strident on stopping illegal immigration. He’s shifted his stances so much and so often he has everyone confused. Romney’s speech was reprehensible… but that doesn’t mean that Donald Trump should be president. He’s not inevitable and this is now a two man race… between a conservative and a Progressive. Who will you choose?

It now looks like Donald Trump is not inevitable after all. His poll numbers and popularity have peaked and are dropping. He’s vacillated on so many issues now, I’ve lost track. He’s trying to have everything both ways and he calibrates to whatever stance of the day that seems most popular. He’s lost in his own populism. You can only realign your values so many times before it becomes painfully obvious you have no principles. You really cannot re-calibrate a principle; it serves as a benchmark around which a framework is anchored. Many predicted that this would happen… that as the race tightened and intensified, Trump would not hold up under the onslaught and, as he was forced to get specific on issues, he would deflect and dance. That is exactly what’s happening… that and an unmitigated meltdown on the campaign trail which amounts to a political tantrum. Leadership it is not.

From National Review:

It looks like Donald Trump is unraveling. After months where his Republican competitors treated him with kid gloves — often afraid to tangle with him on the debate stage and foolishly spending hundreds of millions of donor dollars attacking one another — Trump is now experiencing a real presidential race. He’s learning what it’s like to be in the crosshairs in every debate, the subject of hammering attack ads, and the target of a concerted activist effort to derail his candidacy.

And he’s not handling it well. Not at all. The emotional strains are clear. What man in his right mind brags about the size of his penis during a presidential debate? Yet if that now-infamous incident had been the only sign of a crack-up in Thursday night’s debate, we could write it off as a more extreme example of Trump being Trump. But it wasn’t, not by a long shot. Under fire, he simply lost his bearings.

Trump has flip-flopped several times now on the H-1B Visa topic as well as the military interrogation issue. Immigration was his cornerstone and it is beginning to crumble as Trump touts that he is ‘flexible’… you know, just like Obama with Vladimir Putin. Trump bailed on CPAC because they wanted to ask him questions just like the other candidates and because over 1,000 conservatives were going to walk out on his speech. Bad optics, but not as bad as constantly changing political positions and pulling stunts reminiscent of a dictator, telling his followers to raise their hands and vow to vote for him. You’re kidding me right? That’s straight out of Hillary’s playbook. Have you noticed that Donald Trump doesn’t reference the Constitution? Ever? Cruz references it constantly along with the rule of law and the three branches of government. Above all that, he stands on his faith… that is an afterthought with Trump and not an honest one at that. Then we have the shady dealings with Russian mobsters and the Trump University lawsuits. Not good.

Newt Gingrich once again comes to the defense of Donald Trump and it is widely rumored he will have a place on Trump’s team. Gingrich said that Trump was right to skip CPAC… that the votes were in Kansas. He was dead wrong and this hurt Trump a great deal. Cruz trounced Trump in Kansas and won the coveted CPAC Poll by a landslide. He also won Maine. Trump squeaked by in Kentucky and Louisiana, but didn’t win by much at all. This is definitely a two-man race now. Trump has 382 delegates and Cruz has 300. Rubio has 128 and Kasich has 35. If conservatives rally around Cruz, he can win this. Gingrich thinks Trump is a phenomenon, but he’s not a conservative one by any means and he is not inevitable.

Romney really stepped in it over Donald Trump. Sean Hannity came out and slammed him on being willing to maul someone in his own party, but wasn’t willing to go after Barack Obama. There are a couple of reasons for that. One, none of the weenies in the GOP dare to go after someone who is black. They are terrified of being called racist. Second, Romney is a Progressive just as Obama is. He’s not as much of one, but he quietly agrees with a number of stances of those on the left. Third, he views Donald Trump as a direct threat to the power structure of the GOP. So, hypocritically he goes out and attacks one of our own in a way he would never savage the left. It’s despicable.

While I am not a fan of Donald Trump’s, you just don’t do this. I also think this is a calculated move on Romney’s part and that is even worse. He asked people to vote for any candidate but Trump that they figured could win in their state. That move was meant to fracture the party even further and to deliberately result in a brokered convention. He didn’t call for Cruz and Rubio to unite over Trump… he called for party divisiveness. This is exactly the type of thing that has resulted in the rise of Donald Trump. The manipulation, the corruption, the underhandedness, the dishonesty on both sides of the political aisle is epic. Trump is a Frankenstein of the GOP’s own making. Romney’s lambasting of him was disgraceful and showed the true face of Republican elitists.

I’m tired of sandbox politics where the size of a candidate’s junk seems to be the hot topic. That last debate was a disgrace. Ted Cruz was the only one who actually acted presidential. He’s roundly ignored by the media and he is the one the establishment fears above all else, followed closely by Trump. Trump is a wild card, but with Cruz, they know the jig is up.

This race should not be populist, it should be constitutional in nature. Trump is promising anything and everything to everyone to get elected, but he will not deal harshly with our enemies. He will negotiate the border and will not roll back socialist mandates such as Obamacare. Those following him are going to get a heavy dose of reality if he is elected. You can’t promise everybody his heart’s desire and then actually deliver on that; you’ve now made conflicting commitments, and you’re about to disappoint a substantial chunk of your constituency. He may be just as bad as the leftists, if not worse. If you believe in the Constitution and conservatism, then please vote for Ted Cruz. The Republic depends on it and time grows very short.

I have watched as people that I call friends and respect come simply unhinged over Ted Cruz. They say he can’t get anything done in DC because he’s hated there. I consider that a resume enhancement! They say he is not natural born, which is — besides being dishonest — just silly. They call him a nasty person and a liar. All of that is simply untrue. He is a man of faith and a good man. He’s a true Reagan conservative… someone Ronald Reagan would have been proud to stand with. He has fought the establishment all the way and will bring them to their knees if he is elected. He will do it without vulgarity and bragging about his manhood. Our enemies will fear us once again and our allies will trust us.

As Andrew McCarthy says, a sick society breeds gutter politics. Well, you’re looking at that now. Like Michelle Malkin, I am not a “compassionate” conservative. I am a constitutional conservative and I believe in the elegance and civil demeanor of Reaganesque politics. That doesn’t mean I’m not willing to fight for what is right here and that is Ted Cruz being elected.

Cruz is surging. The biggest takeaway from last night’s victories for Cruz is if the other candidates dropped out, Cruz would easily win in most of the remaining states. Most of the delegates would go to Cruz, not Trump and the race would sharply swing in Cruz’s favor. Kasich is a spoiler and Rubio is holding out for a brokered convention. Conservatives must win this time or this nation may never again know true conservatism as they did under Reagan. If the blindly devout StormTrumpers win over constitutional conservatism, the US will morph into something we do not recognize. It’s not just the Republican Party at stake here… it is our country as we have always known her. This is the tipping point for America… choose wisely. Choose Ted Cruz.