Opinion of Romney-Hillary voters?

[MT Treasurer]

Even before Trump, most of them were pretty terrible fits for the Republican Party of today. They should just join the Democrats (where their heart belongs) and quit bragging about how voting for Clinton (whether it is in 2016 or 1996) was the only morally acceptable thing to do and that every Republican voter in 2016 is a Dixiecrat, racist or populist. They also seem to have this strange idea that the Republican Party was literally perfect in the age of Bush and appreciated the values of small government and conservatism back then, which is simply not true.

[MT Treasurer]

It's not like Trump was the first GOP politician who is/was a fraud. Bush basically ran on a "small gubmint", somewhat isolationist platform in 2000, and we all know what happened to that. He pandered to social conservatives because that was the only way he could win reelection in 2004, and we all know that he doesn't give a fyck about issues like abortion and gay marriage. But I guess Trump is a monster because he's said mean things and hurt their feelings and Bush is a "nice guy ff " despite all the damage caused by the Bush presidencies.

[MT Treasurer]

LOL

Anyway, FFs, much better than the rubes who voted for Trump.  Can't wait until "Trumpism" - to the extent it means anything, haha - is discredited.  Trump was a last stand for people like Eharding and TN Vol, and the future of the GOP is gonna be a LITTLE less White trash, friends.

"White trash"? Wow... you really want the GOP to be a big tent party, huh?

[MT Treasurer]

Again, that wasn't my point. People like you seem to have this idea that the Republicans have cherished the values of small government in the past and that the party was totally perfect until Trump came around and "hijacked" it, but it's simply not true. Bush's 2000 campaign was in many aspects similar to Trump's: Populist, outsider, "compassionate conservative", somwhat isolationist... and you know what? He turned out to be a fraud, just like Trump (to a certain extent). Of course I have never seen you or any other Rockefeller Republican criticize Bush, but that's not surprising.

[MT Treasurer]

Well, TD, we'll just have to agree to disagree here. I'm not a big fan of neocons and neoliberalism, and the idea that the US brought democracy to Iraq is obviously very dumb. The worst thing Trump has done so far is drone strikes, which of course are terrible as well, but at least he hasn't invaded another country and killed hundreds of thousands of people. The judges Bush appointed to the Supreme Court are a mixed bag, to say the least. We'll have to wait and see how Gorsuch turns out (I'm hoping he won't be another Souter).

[MT Treasurer]

I can respect that and we'll agree to disagree.

One question - how do you reconcile the fact that Reaganism is neoliberalism and the basis of the Republican Party?  It seems to me that you're rejecting, in part, Reagan's ideology in a sense (remember he was the father of NAFTA, just to give an example).

Thanks. Always nice to argue with someone who doesn't call you (and basically all people that voted Republican in 2016) "White trash".

I wouldn't call myself a hardcore Republican or a Reagan fanboy. Reagan was a much better president than the Bushes, but that's about it. When it comes to issues like free trade, I'm probably closer to the "populist" side of the argument, but on social issues (abortion, death penalty, etc.) I'm definitely much, much closer to the GOP. The reason I don't have a Green avatar is because there are so many green avatars here that are more partisan than the most hackish Democrats/Republicans, which is quite annoying. Heck, I'm probably closer to the Greens and the Libertarians when it comes to foreign and environmental policy, but all in all I definitely see the Republicans as "the lesser of two evils". Unfortunately, I think Trump has turned out to be a fraud for the most part, but that doesn't mean that the Democrats (who are basically the party of the Clintons today) are any better. They really aren't.