Republicans about Trump

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Prominent conservatives have said, in an attempt to allay concerns about Trump, that he is solidly conservative on matters like the size of government and reducing the debt; repealing and replacing Obamacare; and defeating ISIS. But none of these claims withstands scrutiny.

Trump has shown no commitment to limited government. He has repeatedly stated he’s against entitlement reform, a basic requirement of those wishing to re-limit and rein in the costs of government. His plan to cut the deficit consists of cutting “waste, fraud and abuse,” the ultimate fiscal dodge. He also said he would “at least double” Hillary Clinton’s plan to spend on infrastructure – at an estimated cost of $500 billion. (Remember, too, that Trump was praising President Obama’s stimulus package in Obama’s first term when virtually every Republican, including Republican members of Congress, was criticizing it.)

As for the debt: Trump has gone from promising to eliminate it in eight years to wanting creditors to accept lower payments than they are owed, to printing more money to stave off default. His tax plan, as currently constructed, would drain trillions from the Treasury. So simply based on what we know, based on what Trump has said, there’s no chance he will reduce the size of government but will rather expand it; and it’s quite likely the debt will grow worse under Trump than it would under Clinton.

Even on executive orders, he has said that he has no qualms about using this power much like Obama has done -- only his will be “better.” As Ian Tuttle put it, “Trump’s dismissiveness toward the Constitution is in excess of anything Barack Obama displayed in 2008 or 2012.”

On repealing and replacing Obamacare: This, too, is a meaningless promise. During this campaign Trump has also spoken favorably about a single-payer health care system. He has praised the Obamacare mandates. He has said he believes in universal health care coverage and that the federal government ought to provide it. Many of his views, then, have been somewhat to the left of Obama’s. (Even Obama has denied he wants a single-payer health care system.)

On ISIS: Trump talks about destroying the Islamic State. But as recently as last fall, when it was territorially at its most dominant, Trump was saying ISIS was not ours to take on – it was “not our fight” – and we should “let Russia fight it.” That is hardly taking the battle to the enemy. Trump now says he would declare war on ISIS, but he would wage it with very few to no troops. Trump’s plan to defeat the Islamic State is purely rhetorical, not real.

The Comprehensive Case Against Donald Trump | RealClearPolitics