Donald Trump, Conservatism and Freedom of the Press.

Back when HotAir.com (Salem Media) was something other then a #nevertrump only/”facebookers are real” website, I posed the question to the base in a comment: “What is a Conservative?” There never was a uniform answer, nor really was there much consistency in the responses received, other than a vague notion of “personal responsibility”, “smaller government”, and “fiscal prudence”. Some were Reaganites, others were classic libertarians, some “social conservatives”, and some “progressive” conservatives –  really, small L liberals.

So when people state Trump is not a “conservative”, it follows that the question becomes “by who’s definition?”

Based on his public statements and interviews, and that of his family that I’ve seen and read over the last year, I would characterize him, in my hierarchy, as a “social conservative”.  Many Americans (and more than a few Canadians) are not willing to accept “social conservatism” as being “conservative”.  But what is different about Trump in this respect, is something most conservatives cannot be familiar with – the vast difference in being very, very rich, in contrast to being very poor, or at least truly struggling. Trump understands that difference, and while he may have earned most of it, he knows that he is indeed fortunate to have done so.

While not publicized enough, Trump is very conscious of his privilege acquired through money. He is way more of a philanthropist than has been made public. This is one reason why he’s seen as being on the fence politically. He recognizes that occasionally people do really need a hand up, and it may be a hand-out;  he is known to reward selflessness handsomely. This is Trump’s “social conservatism”, or,if you will, his “conservative liberalism”.

Trying to pigeonhole Trump into the “conservative” camp, when much of America can’t define what it means to be “conservative” and is very much interested in tearing apart the “conservative” Republican party, tossing it on the ash-heap of history, is overtly hypocritical. He is who he is. He is running under the Republican banner because that’s how the US system works. It’s where he fits for the political purpose he is running. Independents don’t stand a chance.

* * *

With regard to his “freedom of the press” twitter comment, his frustration with a biased press is obvious. Everybody on the right, Trump included, understands the First Amendment of the US Constitution and “freedom of the press”. However, the current press environment can hardly be described as “free”, even without state restriction.

The press is not free, when contrary voices, in part because of editorial/publisher decisions and the scourge of monopoly ownership, are suppressed and marginalized. The press is not free, when access to the airways is controlled by money and government fiat. The press is not free when nepotism in politics and media is the norm rather than the exception. Americans may have a free voice, but they do not have a free press.

Trump’s twitter rant is about the integrity of the press, and as a political newcomer, he can be forgiven for believing that integrity and balance should be the standards from which discussion flows. In Trump’s world, integrity is the building block of his business – without it, there is no business. In politics today, integrity has left the building, and he’s wrestling with what can only be described as a vicious “fight with a pig”.

Trump Backgrounder for the Leftist Media

In today’s Trump Doral, Florida presser, the MSM are reporting in a variety of terse ways, that Donald Trump is asking the Russians to hack the DNC and God knows what else. For the record, this is the full reference that is being “precis’d”. The most serious hacks going on right now are the media hacks.

“If it is Russia, which it’s probably not, nobody knows who it is, But if it is Russia, it’s really bad for a different reason, because it shows how little respect they have for our country. When they would hack into a major party and get everything, but it would be interesting. I will tell you this. Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you find the thirty thousand emails that are missing. I think you’ll probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let’s see if that happens next.”

The Progressive Left

“The fundamental flaw in both the left and its media is that they are craven. Without a moral compass and no sense of integrity or righteousness, they will chase every gold cloaked squirrel that runs in front of them, which is why they are where they are today: roadkill.”

The Next President of the United States.

If you didn’t tune in last night, to fully appreciate the content of Trump’s speech, and of the man, you need to hear three speeches from last night, in order. Tom Barrack, who sets the stage for Trump the man, then Ivanka (what a powerhouse this girl is) who sets the stage for who Trump is as a family man, and who the Trump Organization is as a business, then the slow rolling boil of Trump himself, who pulled no punches whatsoever. All three speeches form a “sales” package. People who have doubts about what Trump can do simply have no experience in the high powered, high energy, high stakes business world. And anyone who doubts that Trump doesn’t mean what he says he will do, would do well not to find themselves in the way of his freight train. Trump’s biggest obstacle as President will be that cannot just as easily fire people in govt as can be done in the private sector, but then, he believes in putting the most competent in control – he’ll let them do their job.

Will he accomplish all he’ll set out to do? No. Will he serve notice to a lot of squishes, both inside and outside the country, that there is a new sheriff in town? Absolutely.

Here they are, in order. Barrack and Ivanka run abt 15 minutes. Trump’s – an hour and 15….

Erickson: Why the Left Always Talks Gun Control

Why The Left Always Talks Gun Control

By Erick Erickson, July 8, 2016, Resurgent.com

A terrorist goes into a nightclub in Orlando and kills dozens. The President rushes out to make sure everyone knows it is a hate crime and we must have gun control. In Dallas, a man guns down police officers and the President rushes out and will not call it a hate crime, but declares we must have gun control. In addition to admitting he classifies hate crimes based on the victim’s class, not the intent of the killer, the President admits he has no ideas but gun control.

Like the solution always being the same whether the left believes we are in global cooling or global warming, the solution to every terrible act in America is gun control.

There are more than 300 million guns in private hands in the United States and more than 2 trillion rounds of ammunition in private hands. What we are seeing is not an out of control gun problem. In fact, mass shootings in the United States have fallen so much in the past century that the political left has insisted we redefine what a mass shooting is. It is all in the name of gun control.

The left will not talk about mental illness. The left will not talk about radical jihadism. The left only wants to talk about gun control. There is a very easy to understand explanation for this phenomenon.

For the left to talk about mental illness or radical jihadism or black on black crime or any other topic directly related to these episodes of mass violence, the left would have to explore the nature of morality and human depravity. But in the last century, the left has grown so secular that it no longer recognizes a shared morality and rejects the idea of human depravity.

Conservatives look on these acts, whether it be Baton Rouge or Ferguson or Orlando or Dallas and they see a world in moral collapse and struggles between good and evil. Black families have crumbled. Black fathers are in jail while the mothers struggle to keep the family together. Unemployment among black youth is high and people of faith understand that there is something soul nourishing about work. Even in the Garden of Eden there was work.

But we cannot even talk about the Garden of Eden because the left laughs it off. Morality, faith, prayer, and concepts of good and evil are all rejected by the left. So they grasp for something on which they can make a principled stand and it is gun control and the erosion of a right the left refuses to recognize in the second amendment.

Secular reporters lament that there are too many guns in America, but they will not admit there is too much moral decay. In fact, they not only revel in the moral decay and defining deviancy as normal and normal as deviant, but they expect the rest of us to do the same. If you uphold natural law or moral law, you are a bigot.

Because they cannot talk about a morality they no longer recognize or the need for a God they long ago rejected, they are forced to insist more laws will solve problems. It is the metaphysical equivalent of the religious believing more prayer will solve problems. When God is traded in for government, prayer gets traded in for law. The more laws there are, the better off we will be because government is our god now.

The left is incapable of solving the problems of racism and mass violence in this country because the only solution they have is more government. And more government just means more sinners in charge and more sinners is never the answer to any problem. But a left that rejects the notion of sin and human depravity is incapable of understanding that and instead lives in a self-created fantasy land where we are born gay or straight, but can decide to become boys or girls, and when straight boy marries straight girl then straight boy decides to become a girl, his born straight wife is a transphobic bigot. People who believe such nonsense will never be able to substantively deal with the horrors of our age.

So gun control is the only solution they will offer.

Happy Canada Day 2016!

While a few years old now, this video from my Highway of Heroes page, is as appropriate on Canada Day as it is on Remembrance Day. This represents the greatness of ordinary, no, not ordinary, extraordinary Canadians. Canadians, who know through their ultimate love of country, what it means to be Canadian.

And why they do what they do and give what they give…

Flag background image courtesy Sudbury.com

US: The Democrat Sit-in for “Gun Control”

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Moore: The positive Impact of Human CO2 Emissions on the Survival of Life on Earth

The positive Impact of Human CO2 Emissions on the Survival of Life on Earth By Dr. Patrick Moore, June 2016, Frontier Centre for Public Policy Executive Summary This study looks at the positive environmental effects of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, … Continue reading →

Davis: The Assault Weapons Ban Is A Stupid Idea Pushed By Stupid People

According to FBI statistics, you are far more likely to be beaten to death by someone’s fists than you are to be killed with a rifle. The Assault Weapons Ban Is A Stupid Idea Pushed By Stupid People By Sean … Continue reading →

WTF is this: Ontario Political Police?

This is fucking outrageous: