RUTHFULLY YOURS

President Trump officially declared war on conservatives yesterday. His ostensible target was the House Freedom Caucus, which declined to vote for the “Obamacare Lite” bill that Trump vigorously lobbied for. Trump tweeted:

The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don’t get on the team, & fast,” he wrote. “We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!”

Trump doesn’t care about ideology, or principles; he simply wants people to “get on the team.” Having lied to Republican primary voters about repealing Obamacare, he now wants conservative House members to go back on their promises to repeal Obamacare as well.

When Trump was running for president, he promised to repeal Obamacare. He didn’t promise to repeal part of it, and keep the worst half, the half that contained regulations which kept premiums sky-high and subsidies which are bankrupting the federal government, and soon state governments as well. But by embracing the House bill, that is exactly what President Trump has done. He never even tried to push for a full repeal; all he wanted was a “deal” he could take credit for.

Make no mistake, the viciousness of Trump’s attack on conservative House members is a direct attack on conservatives themselves. He used many of you to get elected and now wants you to shut up and toe the line. Whatever Trump says and does is brilliant, you can be sure. His contempt for the voters who nominated him in the primary is breathtaking.

Had they known that Trump never intended to repeal the worst parts of Obamacare, he never would have been nominated; and had they known that his immigration policy was remarkably similar to Jeb Bush’s (certainly when it comes to “Dreamers”), he also never would have secured the nomination.  It was only by talking tough and outflanking the other conservatives on the right that Trump won the nomination. Remember when Trump talked about having all illegals go home to reapply for entry, and his repeated promised over and over to investigate Hillary Clinton? All lies.

Trump feels he no longer needs conservatives now, but he is wrong, unless he is committed to being a one-term president. Because the way he is going now, he will get a primary challenge for 2020 from someone who commits to repealing Obamacare and deporting all illegals. Even if he wins the primary challenge, enough conservatives will stay home to give a victory to whatever creature the Democrats put up.

Trump’s tactics are not very smart, not the mark of a man who transferred to Wharton after spending two years at Fordham. He attacks the Freedom Caucus because in fact they do stand for freedom–freedom, among other things, to choose you own health insurance policy without costly government regulations requiring you to buy twenty additional add-ons which make premiums unaffordable. Don’t blame this all on Paul Ryan; Trump never once tried to push for a clean repeal bill; as a proponent of big government, he never had an interest in total repeal.

Trump doesn’t believe in that kind of freedom of choice for Americans. He believes in big government. He is the banana republic dictator without the banana, or maybe we should call him an orange republic dictator.

I knew Trump was the political equivalent of a used car dealer when his campaign promises were simply to create things that were “wonderful” and “beautiful” without specifics. It’s a pity low information voters in the Republican primaries picked a Democrat with a thin veneer of Republicanism on the surface. Trump is a laminate Republican president.

Ed Straker is the senior writer at NewsMachete.com.