Republicans, has Trump been a good conservative president?

[TPIG]

I would say, on the whole, yes. Donald Trump has accomplished quite a few important conservative agenda items. He nominated a conservative/originalist Supreme Court Justice, removed the US from the Paris Climate Deal, slashed a number of regulations, reinstated and broadened the Mexico City Policy, approved the Keystone XL Pipeline, pushing for major tax cuts, among other things.

There have obviously been failures too (not repealing Obamacare, no real change to immigration policy etc.). So, how would you rate his performance in terms of its effectiveness at enacting conservative reforms?

 

[TheSaint250]

I would give him a score of ~0%.  While he may announce these proposals, his involvement in creating, instituting, and negotiating them are nonexistent.

[Sir Mohamed]

Not a Republican, but all he has done is by executive action. There is zero legislative accomplishment because he hasn't a clue how government functions. He's also not really a conservative.

[Santander]

Doing nothing is still better than a third term of Obama.

[Dr. Arch]

I would give him a score of ~0%.  While he may announce these proposals, his involvement in creating, instituting, and negotiating them are nonexistent.

I'm not a Republican, but this is clear. He's done nothing but create division, insecurity, and distrust for the United States and its citizens, both from domestic and foreign perspectives.

[Deblano]

Not a Republican, but all he has done is by executive action. There is zero legislative accomplishment because he hasn't a clue how government functions. He's also not really a conservative.

[ProudModerate2]

Conservative ?
LMAO !

[pbrower2a]

Doing nothing is still better than a third term of Obama.

After Trump, many of us will want the first term of the political equivalent of an Obama clone.

I am trying to understand how conservatives can support someone who does and says what he does. Maybe the more thoughtful ones who recognize the need (as did Edmund Burke) to ensure that people have something worth conserving so that there be no reprise of the French Revolution of 1789 -- or worse, the Paris Commune of 1871, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Nazi Revolution of 1933, or other overthrows of capitalism as in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959.

Religious conservatives? Obama is the man of faith, his actions consistent with Christianity tempered by the rule of law. He does not wear his religion on his sleeve. Donald Trump is as godless as a Stalinist. Obama has apparently a very conventional family life. Could he get away with anything else? Donald Trump is a serial philanderer, twice divorced and twice remarried. It is true that men and women make wrong choices in selecting a mate and must get divorces if one or the other is to have any dignity. There can be cultural clashes, but  Obama dealt with that well. (Obama's father was an African and his mother was a white American; his wife had no connections to Africa except her genes, as is true of most slave-descended American blacks).

Let me address another aspect of conservatism: conservatives are anti-fascists. Conservatives as a rule recognize Mussolini, Hitler, and most Ku Kluxists as the thugs that they are. Shake hands politically with them or people who believe what those creeps like them believe, and you may be lucky to lose only a hand. Fascism is the antithesis of every noble tendency in American life from the Founding Fathers of the American political experiment to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The pogrom, the torture chamber, and the site of mass killings are all un-American. Religious bigotry does more harm than good. In the town in which I live there is a sizable Muslim community. Would I prefer that this community build a mosque or that someone establish a whorehouse or even a strip club? You guessed it!

There is no moral equivalency between the fascistic Alt Right and the vast majority of people. People who believe that slavery or the Holocaust were good things (or in the latter case did not happen and Jews are exploiting a non-existent injustice for... I need not go into that absurdity).  Most conservatives are good people who have no use for the evil-doers in history.

[Bismarck]

Doing nothing is still better than a third term of Obama.

After Trump, many of us will want the first term of the political equivalent of an Obama clone.

I am trying to understand how conservatives can support someone who does and says what he does. Maybe the more thoughtful ones who recognize the need (as did Edmund Burke) to ensure that people have something worth conserving so that there be no reprise of the French Revolution of 1789 -- or worse, the Paris Commune of 1871, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Nazi Revolution of 1933, or other overthrows of capitalism as in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959.

Religious conservatives? Obama is the man of faith, his actions consistent with Christianity tempered by the rule of law. He does not wear his religion on his sleeve. Donald Trump is as godless as a Stalinist. Obama has apparently a very conventional family life. Could he get away with anything else? Donald Trump is a serial philanderer, twice divorced and twice remarried. It is true that men and women make wrong choices in selecting a mate and must get divorces if one or the other is to have any dignity. There can be cultural clashes, but  Obama dealt with that well. (Obama's father was an African and his mother was a white American; his wife had no connections to Africa except her genes, as is true of most slave-descended American blacks).

Let me address another aspect of conservatism: conservatives are anti-fascists. Conservatives as a rule recognize Mussolini, Hitler, and most Ku Kluxists as the thugs that they are. Shake hands politically with them or people who believe what those creeps like them believe, and you may be lucky to lose only a hand. Fascism is the antithesis of every noble tendency in American life from the Founding Fathers of the American political experiment to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The pogrom, the torture chamber, and the site of mass killings are all un-American. Religious bigotry does more harm than good. In the town in which I live there is a sizable Muslim community. Would I prefer that this community build a mosque or that someone establish a whorehouse or even a strip club? You guessed it!

There is no moral equivalency between the fascistic Alt Right and the vast majority of people. People who believe that slavery or the Holocaust were good things (or in the latter case did not happen and Jews are exploiting a non-existent injustice for... I need not go into that absurdity).  Most conservatives are good people who have no use for the evil-doers in history.

I don't often agree with you but I think this is an excellent post. Conservatism is supposed to be about keeping a steady ship, resisting momentary whims of the masses, protecting individual rights, and governing resposnsibly. While not everything Trump has done is bad, he (and much of the current GOP) don't represent what conservatism should be in a society.

[Classic Conservative]

I mean all of this is subjective, but he's done a good job with the Congress he's been given as the President is not supposed to craft legislation, that's up to Congress, I would rate him a good B+ could be better. I like some of the agenda that he has been trying to accomplish and some of the rhetoric and achievements on the foreign policy field. With that stated, I wish he accomplished and pushed for more of his promises specifically on trade, Christian persecution, and moving the embassy to Jerusalem.

[Inmate Trump]

I mean all of this is subjective, but he's done a good job with the Congress he's been given as the President is not supposed to craft legislation, that's up to Congress, I would rate him a good B+ could be better. I like some of the agenda that he has been trying to accomplish and some of the rhetoric and achievements on the foreign policy field. With that stated, I wish he accomplished and pushed for more of his promises specifically on trade, Christian persecution, and moving the embassy to Jerusalem.

I am a Christian, and while Christians certainly do get persecuted in the world, it is nearly non-existent in the US.  On the other hand, Trump actively persecutes and denigrates Muslims; that is real religious persecution happening within our borders, and you should be just as upset about it as Christian persecution taking place elsewhere.  As long as religion exists, there will always be a religion to hate and to persecute--all Christians should stand beside persecuted Muslims (etc) because one day it'll be Christianity that is under persecution.

Off on a tangent, sort of, (and this isn't directed at you) but many Christians want things like prayer in school, the Ten Commandments on government property, etc.  What they fail to realize is that it will always work both ways.  If those things are allowed on/in public institutions, then you will have no recourse should there ever be a move to bring something symbolizing, say, Islam onto government property or into public schools.

[Maxwell]

He's, by a pretty good margin, the most conservative modern President despite popular perception of him as the most moderate GOP Presidential candidate in recent memory. It's precisely because of doubts about his true conservatism, and how much he owes his allegiances to "true conservative" organizations that make him such a conservative president in my mind - he's dedicated to being President for another term so is unwilling to stab them in the back.

[Green Line]

Former Republican, but I will speak for them.  He has been PERFECT for the modern conservative moment.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Maybe the more thoughtful ones who recognize the need (as did Edmund Burke) to ensure that people have something worth conserving so that there be no reprise of the French Revolution of 1789 -- or worse, the Paris Commune of 1871, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Nazi Revolution of 1933, or other overthrows of capitalism as in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959.

There seems to be an incomplete thought here, "Maybe the more thoughtful ones who recognize the need...cited examples of need not being met..."


Maybe what? What do you expect them to do or explain?

[Hindsight was 2020]

I just would like reps here to understand that Reagan is not Reagan without Tip. The reason people people like him built his legacy is he worked with and was friends with those across the aisle. Trump and RW attit of "mummy liburl tears" is not sustainable and will likely lead to the next Dem president being bitter towards you guys

[uti2]

I just would like reps here to understand that Reagan is not Reagan without Tip. The reason people people like him built his legacy is he worked with and was friends with those across the aisle. Trump and RW attit of "mummy liburl tears" is not sustainable and will likely lead to the next Dem president being bitter towards you guys

Reagan was able to work with Tip, because democrats were more conservative and supported much of his agenda in the first place. The parallel to that in the context of the modern Dem party would be a centrist president like a Charlie Crist, not a Tea Party president.

[Hindsight was 2020]

I just would like reps here to understand that Reagan is not Reagan without Tip. The reason people people like him built his legacy is he worked with and was friends with those across the aisle. Trump and RW attit of "mummy liburl tears" is not sustainable and will likely lead to the next Dem president being bitter towards you guys

Reagan was able to work with Tip, because democrats were more conservative and supported much of his agenda in the first place. The parallel to that in the context of the modern Dem party would be a centrist president like a Charlie Crist, not a Tea Party president.

Tip was as bleeding heart as they come

[uti2]

I just would like reps here to understand that Reagan is not Reagan without Tip. The reason people people like him built his legacy is he worked with and was friends with those across the aisle. Trump and RW attit of "mummy liburl tears" is not sustainable and will likely lead to the next Dem president being bitter towards you guys

Reagan was able to work with Tip, because democrats were more conservative and supported much of his agenda in the first place. The parallel to that in the context of the modern Dem party would be a centrist president like a Charlie Crist, not a Tea Party president.

Tip was as bleeding heart as they come

You can't say the same for his Blue Dog underlings. Case in point, Pelosi is to the left of Tip, despite being to the right of her modern caucus.

[RFayette]

I'd give him mixed reviews. 

[Shadows]

Conservatives all over the world support Paris Deal. Every country bar Syria is part of it. You have to be a mentally retarded person to oppose it as the deal places the least amount of % Renewable energy requirements to the US vs every major Developed & Developing country. The deal is woefully insufficient as a whole but is atleast a starting step bringing global consensus for small-scale progress. The deal is not even binding, there are no penal charges if you fail.

And most of all the deal is pivotal to protect the earth has habitable for future generations. Even Taliban or ISIS will probably acknowledge climate change. There is nothing conservative about that globally. You are mentally retarded & an extremist lunatic if you are a Climate Change Denier.

[pbrower2a]

Maybe the more thoughtful ones who recognize the need (as did Edmund Burke) to ensure that people have something worth conserving so that there be no reprise of the French Revolution of 1789 -- or worse, the Paris Commune of 1871, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Nazi Revolution of 1933, or other overthrows of capitalism as in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959.

There seems to be an incomplete thought here, "Maybe the more thoughtful ones who recognize the need...cited examples of need not being met..."


Maybe what? What do you expect them to do or explain?

Very basic needs on Maslow's hierarchy of needs -- food, shelter, clothing, protection from climatic extremes, basic dignity of life...

Happy people do not need revolutions.   

[Frodo]

Oh, by the way, remember this gold nugget from the 2016 GOP primaries?



Projection at its very best!

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Maybe the more thoughtful ones who recognize the need (as did Edmund Burke) to ensure that people have something worth conserving so that there be no reprise of the French Revolution of 1789 -- or worse, the Paris Commune of 1871, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Nazi Revolution of 1933, or other overthrows of capitalism as in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959.

There seems to be an incomplete thought here, "Maybe the more thoughtful ones who recognize the need...cited examples of need not being met..."


Maybe what? What do you expect them to do or explain?

Very basic needs on Maslow's hierarchy of needs -- food, shelter, clothing, protection from climatic extremes, basic dignity of life...

Happy people do not need revolutions.   

that is not what I meant. Are you asking said people to explain a Conservative justification for Trump?

[RINO Tom]

Doing nothing is still better than a third term of Obama.

After Trump, many of us will want the first term of the political equivalent of an Obama clone.

I am trying to understand how conservatives can support someone who does and says what he does. Maybe the more thoughtful ones who recognize the need (as did Edmund Burke) to ensure that people have something worth conserving so that there be no reprise of the French Revolution of 1789 -- or worse, the Paris Commune of 1871, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Nazi Revolution of 1933, or other overthrows of capitalism as in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959.

Religious conservatives? Obama is the man of faith, his actions consistent with Christianity tempered by the rule of law. He does not wear his religion on his sleeve. Donald Trump is as godless as a Stalinist. Obama has apparently a very conventional family life. Could he get away with anything else? Donald Trump is a serial philanderer, twice divorced and twice remarried. It is true that men and women make wrong choices in selecting a mate and must get divorces if one or the other is to have any dignity. There can be cultural clashes, but  Obama dealt with that well. (Obama's father was an African and his mother was a white American; his wife had no connections to Africa except her genes, as is true of most slave-descended American blacks).

Let me address another aspect of conservatism: conservatives are anti-fascists. Conservatives as a rule recognize Mussolini, Hitler, and most Ku Kluxists as the thugs that they are. Shake hands politically with them or people who believe what those creeps like them believe, and you may be lucky to lose only a hand. Fascism is the antithesis of every noble tendency in American life from the Founding Fathers of the American political experiment to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The pogrom, the torture chamber, and the site of mass killings are all un-American. Religious bigotry does more harm than good. In the town in which I live there is a sizable Muslim community. Would I prefer that this community build a mosque or that someone establish a whorehouse or even a strip club? You guessed it!

There is no moral equivalency between the fascistic Alt Right and the vast majority of people. People who believe that slavery or the Holocaust were good things (or in the latter case did not happen and Jews are exploiting a non-existent injustice for... I need not go into that absurdity).  Most conservatives are good people who have no use for the evil-doers in history.

I don't often agree with you but I think this is an excellent post. Conservatism is supposed to be about keeping a steady ship, resisting momentary whims of the masses, protecting individual rights, and governing resposnsibly. While not everything Trump has done is bad, he (and much of the current GOP) don't represent what conservatism should be in a society.

Amen.  This Jacksonian version of "conservatism" that cultural reactionaries are latching onto is, well, not conservative.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Doing nothing is still better than a third term of Obama.

After Trump, many of us will want the first term of the political equivalent of an Obama clone.

I am trying to understand how conservatives can support someone who does and says what he does. Maybe the more thoughtful ones who recognize the need (as did Edmund Burke) to ensure that people have something worth conserving so that there be no reprise of the French Revolution of 1789 -- or worse, the Paris Commune of 1871, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Nazi Revolution of 1933, or other overthrows of capitalism as in China in 1949 and Cuba in 1959.

Religious conservatives? Obama is the man of faith, his actions consistent with Christianity tempered by the rule of law. He does not wear his religion on his sleeve. Donald Trump is as godless as a Stalinist. Obama has apparently a very conventional family life. Could he get away with anything else? Donald Trump is a serial philanderer, twice divorced and twice remarried. It is true that men and women make wrong choices in selecting a mate and must get divorces if one or the other is to have any dignity. There can be cultural clashes, but  Obama dealt with that well. (Obama's father was an African and his mother was a white American; his wife had no connections to Africa except her genes, as is true of most slave-descended American blacks).

Let me address another aspect of conservatism: conservatives are anti-fascists. Conservatives as a rule recognize Mussolini, Hitler, and most Ku Kluxists as the thugs that they are. Shake hands politically with them or people who believe what those creeps like them believe, and you may be lucky to lose only a hand. Fascism is the antithesis of every noble tendency in American life from the Founding Fathers of the American political experiment to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  The pogrom, the torture chamber, and the site of mass killings are all un-American. Religious bigotry does more harm than good. In the town in which I live there is a sizable Muslim community. Would I prefer that this community build a mosque or that someone establish a whorehouse or even a strip club? You guessed it!

There is no moral equivalency between the fascistic Alt Right and the vast majority of people. People who believe that slavery or the Holocaust were good things (or in the latter case did not happen and Jews are exploiting a non-existent injustice for... I need not go into that absurdity).  Most conservatives are good people who have no use for the evil-doers in history.

I don't often agree with you but I think this is an excellent post. Conservatism is supposed to be about keeping a steady ship, resisting momentary whims of the masses, protecting individual rights, and governing resposnsibly. While not everything Trump has done is bad, he (and much of the current GOP) don't represent what conservatism should be in a society.

Amen.  This Jacksonian version of "conservatism" that cultural reactionaries are latching onto is, well, not conservative.

Neither is economic libertarianism.  Amazing how one produced another.