(02-27-2019, 09:12 PM)mikesez Wrote:

(02-27-2019, 08:26 PM)MalabarJag Wrote: Trump is not "far right," he's a centrist. It's the center that has moved away from his policy. Is supporting Israel "far right" now? Is defending the border? Is putting originalist judges in SCOTUS? Is pulling troops out of Syria and Afghanistan "far right"? Passing the first Step act? The only thing you could say about Trump in that direction is that he won't submit to the blackmail of the Left like Bush did.

You're making some good points and asking some good questions.

Supporting Israel is a centrist position. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem was a political taboo but there's never going to be a Palestinian state anyhow. Getting at least some aspects of our foreign policy off of the two-state solution fantasy is commendable.

Defending the border is also a centrist position. Doing it with a wall rather than a fence is sort of silly. Trying to do use funds from the US Treasury to do either without the express consent of Congress is completely against everything that the Constitution has ever stood for.

Putting originalist judges on the supreme Court is something that the left wing has disagreed with since the late 1930s. So I wouldn't call it centrist, But I would say that Trump had a lot of good people to choose from who have a long record of holding an originalist philosophy but didn't also have a record of lying to Congress and being a party operative the way that Brett kavanaugh did.

Pulling troops out of any foreign place could be construed as a leftist move, simply because it would be following the example of Lenin. I don't think it's fair to call military strategy left or right or center though. It's either a reasonable strategy given the threats to our homeland and allies and state of play in the battlefield, or not.

Passing criminal Justice reform is indeed a positive thing and I would question if any of the other Republican candidates would have tried to do such a thing. too many people have been in jail for too long especially for non-violent drug-related crimes.

But I think you're neglecting all the corrosion that Trump has caused. it's now in bounds for president to tell us to ignore photographic evidence and just trust him when he says that one crowd is larger than another. it's now in bounds for a president to refer to countries that are simply poor as [BLEEP]. It's now in bounds to try to use national emergency Powers when Congress doesn't give you what you want. It's now in bounds for the president two not disclose his tax returns. Try to get a job anywhere in the executive branch without disclosing your tax returns. Yet the boss doesn't have to do that even though the boss could change every 4 years or even more often? What kind of way is that to run a ship? It's now in bounds for presidential candidate to be in contact with agents of a hostile foreign power.