Is Donald Trump a conservative?

[Phony Moderate]

Indeed, he epitomozes the American conservative. Conservatism is a way of being these days, not a coherent ideology. Sorry to those old school "conservatives" who have a bit of logic and sense, but the movement has left you behind. You do not have the sufficient numbers to define what conservatism is, and you are certainly no longer representative of self-identifying conservatives in general.

This. But expect one of the main excuses for his loss to be "it was because he wasn't conservative enough". If that were the case then you have to wonder how he managed to win the nomination in the first place.

[Cruzcrew]

He's an opportunist.

[PresidentSamTilden]

- Anti-abortion zealot: Check.
- Advocates tax cuts for rich: Check.
- Climate Change denier: Check.

Yep, sounds like a conservative to me. Just because he sucks at business too much to be a fiscal conservative doesn't disqualify him.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

No, thank God.

[BuckeyeNut]

Authoritative populist and proto-fascist. Right wing, but not exactly conservative.

[rafta_rafta]

He's an undisciplined demagogue

[Young Conservative]

Of course not.

[RINO Tom]

No, thank God.

Drop your fetish of ruining a party you don't belong in and try to start a new one, please.

[ag]

He is a reactionary.

[ag]

No, thank God.

Drop your fetish of ruining a party you don't belong in and try to start a new one, please.

Alas, they may have succeded.

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

Of course not.

Silent Cal.  The best screen name in all of Atlas.  And he's right; Trump's not a conservative.  The reality is, however, that a huge swath of the GOP consists of loyal Presidential Republicans (many of whom are also downballot GOP supporters) who are no more "conservative" than Trump is.

Trump's a cross between Rockefeller Republicans and Social Conservatives.

[RINO Tom]

No, thank God.

Drop your fetish of ruining a party you don't belong in and try to start a new one, please.

If we're being real here, his views are more representative of the 2016 Republican Party than yours. You can take that as a compliment, I guess.

And here's where we'll disagree, because the same GOP electorate elected Mitt Romney that elected Donald Trump  I don't think it was a strict policy-by-policy embrace of either man.  No one was saying these social conservative populists needed to find a new party when the GOP nominated a venture capitalist from Massachusetts because it didn't fit any Democrats' narrative of elitism.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Yes, quite obviously. He's more of a conservative than most Republicans. Trump seeks to conserve the hierarchies of nation, market and family. How does that not make him a conservative?

[RINO Tom]

Yes, quite obviously. He's more of a conservative than most Republicans. Trump seeks to conserve the hierarchies of nation, market and family. How does that not make him a conservative?

I suppose if we have to use that simplistic definition, he fits it in some ways.  But the American right hasn't generally been defined in that way.

Conservatives don't want to conserve the four-decade old institution of Roe v. Wade.

[Sir Mohamed]

No, he’s a thin-skinned, sexist, xenophobic, narcissistic clown who doesn’t have a clue about politics (and many other things as well). His permanent flip-flopping shows that this dude has no core beliefs. His only ideology is narcissism and bullying.

[HisGrace]

No, he's a populist nationalist. AKA a fascist with two words instead of one.