Versión Español
EspañolThe Republican Party has been criticized non-stop ever since billionaire Donald Trump announced he would be seeking the GOP nomination for President of the United States. Mainstream media have sold people the idea that Trump is the “typical racist Republican.”
After his xenophobic comments on undocumented Mexicans living in the country, there is no doubt that Trump stole the spotlight and became a political celebrity. But the truth is that even though the real estate mogul is a Republican candidate, he does not believe in the Republican principles of government.
We need only have to look at the GOP platform and see what Trump really thinks of it.
The Republican Party firmly believes in the constitutional right to bear arms as inscribed in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. In his book The America We Deserve, however, Trump wrote:
“…I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun.”
This is definitely not the Republican stance on the gun issue. Some would respond that Ronald Reagan also supported gun controls before he went into politics. Nonetheless, Reagan had been a Republican for over 30 years when he ran for president in 1980, so he had a lot of time to change his mind and become a true conservative. Trump, on the other hand, wrote the previous statement in 2000.
In fact, Michael Reagan, the former president’s son, said that his father would be “absolutely appalled” by Trump and his followers.
In May 2015, Trump came out in favor of NSA’s bulk metadata collection program. Then, in September, conservative lawyer Hugh Hewitt asked Trump whether he supported restoring the Patriot Act, to which Trump replied: “I think that would be fine. As far as I’m concerned, that would be fine”.
It’s clear that Trump supports measures that violate the Fourth Amendment and Americans’ individual rights, whereas Republican principles staunchly uphold civil liberties.
But this is not a surprise, as the Patriot Act was spearheaded by George W. Bush, a Republican president, and the neoconservative wing inside the GOP has propelled the creation of a police state of sorts.
What does put Trump markedly away from Republican mainstream positions is his belief in socialized health care. In his book published in 2000, he wrote:
I’m a conservative on most issues but a liberal on health. It is an unacceptable but accurate fact that the number of uninsured Americans has risen to 42 million. Working out detailed plans will take time. But the goal should be clear: Our people are our greatest asset. We must take care of our own. We must have universal healthcare.
Doctors might be paid less than they are now, as is the case in Canada, but they would be able to treat more patients because of the reduction in their paperwork.
As recently as last year, Trump said in an interview with journalist Scott Pelley in 60 Minutes that he would replace Obamacare with a “more efficient healthcare system.” When Pelley asked who would paid for such a system, Trump simply responded that “the government will pay.”
[adrotate group=”8″]This may be a stance that pleases many Americans, especially Democrats. But this does not appeal to those who support a small government bound by the duties delegated to the federal government in the US constitution.
Trump’s health care and national security proposals put him at odds with Republican principles, as he seeks the expansion of government and goes against fiscal conservatism.
There is no doubt that Trump is a populist who says what the audience wants to hear. On August 5, on Hewitt’s radio show again, Trump said he would be willing to shut down the federal government to cut Planned Parenthood’s funding. But seven days later he told Chris Cuomo of CNN that he would be open to maintaining the funds.
As for the economy, Trump definitely doesn’t come close to the Republican defense of free markets, in particular when he claimed he would apply a 45-percent tariff on Chinese imports.
To those who reject the right-left view of the world, it’s clear that Trump does not espouse the Republican values of freedom, limited government, fiscal conservatism, and free-market capitalism.
Ron Paul, the famed former libertarian presidential candidate, pointed out that Trump is not only “an authoritarian,” but also “a dangerous person.”
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have more things in common that it may seem at first sight. They’re both populists.
