I have not voted in the poll as I wish there was another option on the poll that fit me – “Maybe, but with great reservation”.
As I sure in Hell do not want to see Hillary as POTUS, I am not absolutely #NeverTrump but I am #serious-doubts-on-Trump. If Trump shifts liberal in the general however, as I believe he will, I will have to consider and assess whether there is a whole hill of beans difference between the two.
How Trump would govern as POTUS is also a big question mark. His idea of being POTUS seems to stem from his business experience as the sole owner and CEO of his many companies – “this is what I want – make it so” – and all he has to do is just sign a memo (or as POTUS – an executive order).
If he wins the nomination, which I think he will after a bloody battle, I predict that going into the general election he will shift back to his “former” liberal side. He’s already said he wants to court Bernie Sander supporters.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/29/politics/donald-trump-bernie-sanders/“The next morning, Trump said on MSNBC: "Bernie Sanders has a message that's interesting. I'm going to be taking a lot of the things Bernie said and using them."
“Trump’s advisers say these comments are a preview of more explicit overtures the campaign is ready to make to Sanders’ supporters once the populist liberal exits the 2016 race. That strategy is based on the broad areas of overlap between voters attracted to Trump and those who have flocked to Sanders. Both have angrily denounced the political system as corrupt and expressed deep frustration that Washington is not helping ordinary people. They both oppose international trade deals, saying they hurt American jobs.”
It is exactly this “overlap” that concerns me in addition to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M78Tt40zXUSomeone on another site tried to tell me that “Bernie's supporters, in addition to wanting free sh!t, also tend to be white, protectionist, anti-immigrant, hate SJWs, hate Hillary,”
My response:
“Those” Bernie supporters who are anti-immigrant and hate the SJWs must not have ever gone to Bernie’s website and read his positions like his pro-immigration policy:
https://berniesanders.com/issues/a-fair-and-humane-immigration-policy/And there is a good amount of SJW’s stuff there: Racial Justice; Fighting for LGBT Equality; Fighting for Affordable Housing; Fighting for Women’s Rights (Pro-Choice and Pro fully funding Planned Parenthood); Climate Change; Living Wage, Free College….
https://berniesanders.com/issues/I do however see several issues that would be crossover issues between Trump and Sanders supporters and that is what concerns me.
Getting Big Money Out of Politics and Restoring Democracy
-Both Trump and Sanders think we are a Populist Democracy rather than a Constitutional Republic. When has Trump ever mentioned the Constitution? His new BFF Ben Carson even thinks that the Electoral College (outdated) should be eliminated and I never saw Trump say otherwise.
Creating Jobs Rebuilding America
-Creating “government” jobs to rebuild the infrastructure – can you say FDR part 2? Now I do agree that our infrastructure is aging, many problems with bridges in particular. However, saying “I will build great roads and make the trains run on time” might not be the best campaign slogan.
Caring for our Veterans
-Sanders – “Fully fund and expand the VA so that every veteran gets the care that he or she has earned and deserves.” Trump – “We’ve got to take care of our veterans” and he also wants to pour more money into the VA and expand it and wants to tie it into Medicare. Not that I disagree that veterans deserve better than what the VA is doing for them, but expanding the VA, IMO is not the answer. Trump has said that veterans should be able to see any doctor that accepts Medicare which sounds like he envisions some sort of tie in between the two and an expansion of both. Not good IMO.
Medicare for All
-Sanders wants to eliminate all private insurance and go full bore socialized medicine, free to everyone – single payer. Trump has said he wants to “repeal and REPLACE Obamacare” and is for more open competition for insurance companies, but he has also said things in past sounding a lot like he supports single payer and more recently “everybody has to be taken care of…who is going to pay for that? – The Government”. Trump has also said numerous times that he “will take care of all the women on healthcare issues…whatever that means, and has said he wants to expand Medicare – see above.
Fighting to Lower Prescription Drug Prices- NEGOTIATE A BETTER DEAL (Where have I heard that before…)
-Sanders and Trump are completely aligned here but I have my concerns over price controls that IMO would stifle R&D and new drugs. Both also say Americans should be able to buy Rx drugs from Canada – so much for “protectionism” and both say that Medicare should be able to negotiate for much lower prices. The problem with that is if Medicare is greatly expanded as both Sanders and Trump want, there will not be any real “negotiation”. The federal government will set a “fair” price for anyone receiving Medicare and or VA benefits and the pharmaceutical companies will have to suck it up by a combination of increasing prices on those with private insurance or cost cut for R&D, on new drug development or move their drug manufacturing to countries with lower costs and less regulation – Mexico, China, India…?
Reforming Wall Street
-Again, Trump and Sanders have alignment here. Both hate people who make money on Wall Street, “hedge fund” managers and both think the “wealthy” should pay more taxes. Both Sanders and Trump seem to have ideas of government control of private business.
There are others issues such as the Iran deal – Sanders is all for it and Trump while criticizing it, saying that Iran should not have nukes (South Korea and Japan and Saudi Arabia OTHO?), he just thought we could have negotiated a better “deal”. But what kind of deal? A deal indicates some sort of concessions from both sides. But I’ve never seen what Trump would have been willing to give up for the “better deal”.
Sanders and Trump also want to “save Social Security”. Sanders by expanding it and ending the income cap on payroll withholding and Trump via cost savings, cutting waste and an increase in domestic jobs. But neither are interested in a free market solution or in the move to the privatization of retirement savings.
So I see those issues where Trump and Sanders intersect as being the very same reasons why I am very concerned about Trump.
If Trump reverts back to many of his former liberal positions in the general, I might have to vote my conscience and vote for the Libertarian candidate as I did in ’96 when neither Clinton or Dole or Perot were acceptable choices.
Poll
