Republican In Name Only

A Republican In Name Only

by Les Govment

revised 5-13-2023

127 views

Anyone very familiar with me on Twitter is aware that I'm a fan of Rand Paul. Of people who have been in Congress, only Ron Paul comes closer to me than Rand on the issues.
 
Neither of the Pauls have been labeled as RINO's.

Former President Donald Trump has not been labeled a RINO, either.

The RINO label has mainly been reserved for the likes of people like Lindsey Graham and Mitt Romney, who definitely deserve the label. (Frankly, I think a lot of the Republicans in Congress deserve the RINO label.)

I'm glad that Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Trump governed better than Clinton would've, and in his first 3 years, Trump governed better than I expected. He cut regulations-- which made doing business in America more attractive. His foreign policy was more restrained than his two predecessors. And he improved the line up at the Supreme Court.

Then covid hit.
 
Instead of rejecting the nonsense being fed to him by people like Fauci and Birx, he platformed them. He also wrongly invoked the Defense Production Act and, with no justification, ordered General Motors to manufacture ventilators. And he pushed for a fast-track development of a covid vaccine. We all now know that the vaccines developed were not adequately tested before being given to the public.

Later, Congress passed covid relief bills that were packed full corporate welfare and pork-barrel spending. Instead of being a leader and demanding that Congress fix the bills, Trump caved in and signed the bills. (Note: When Obama was president, Trump said the US debt was getting too high. When it was his turn to do something about the debt that the Federal Government was racking up, Trump did virtually nothing.)

Earlier this year, Trump spoke against Ron DeSantis' support for Social Security reform (when he was a Congressman). Trump-- and all Republicans-- should be making the case for Social Security reform because it is not fiscally sustainable as it is (SS is also one of the biggest drivers of the national debt).

Trump also failed to get our troops out of the Middle East.

Other criticisms: Trump pushed an unconstitutional ban on bump stocks (which was later overturned by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in January).  He also talked about taking guns from people without due process.

Final criticism: Of late, Trump has made false claims about conditions in Florida (my state) and has-- without any moral justification-- repeatedly trashed Ron DeSantis.
 

Conclusion:

Trump's failure to comprehend the ramifications of deficit spending (and how it will burden younger people and future generations) and his now known lack of dedication to getting our troops out of the Middle East, make it clear to me that he's not a man who can make America great again.

Again, I appreciate the better things Trump did in his first 3 years. But he failed to effectively weaken The Swamp, and he has positions on many issues that basically align him with 20th century, big government, big spending Democrats.

A Republican in name only. //

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