And remember that Trump supports Planned Parenthood, supported benefits to gay couples (after he saw the writing on the wall but still) and is against the trade deals. My big fear is that Clinton vs trump will hinge on turnout. Many Bernie supporters will say "screw it" and stay home. But the Evangelicals out here FROTHING AT THE MOUTH hate Trump. My county in the caucus went to Cruz. And some of those people I work will will not vote for Trump because he is a "godless sodomite." It's going to be weird. Trump's friends concern me and whatever court picks he chooses will almost certainly piss me off. Clinton? Not sure. Bill took Kentucky twice by a good margin, so Hillary might carry some of that institutional memory into November assuming she does not fall ill or get indicted or have anything weird happen. The Republican Convention is going to be Awesome to watch as an outsider, and you bet I am going to be watching that go down live this summer.
Exactly. He does support them: http://dailysignal.com/2015/08/12/donald-trump-defends-planned-parenthood-calls-abortions-small-part-of-what-they-do/ But remember, he also thinks they are terrible, doesn't support them, and wants them defunded! http://www.lifenews.com/2015/10/19/donald-trump-planned-parenthood-should-absolutely-be-de-funded/ And he'll support whatever else he needs to for the crowd he's in front of that day. He's a mirror. All you have to do to look into it is feel angry and disenfranchised. And he's tilting towards the center left in direct proportion to how locked-up he feels he's got the GOP primary.And remember that Trump supports Planned Parenthood, supported benefits to gay couples (after he saw the writing on the wall but still) and is against the trade deals.
Anecdata: I've been hearing die-hard movement conservatives talking about not bothering to vote if Trump gets the nomination. I'm used to hearing that from people on the left, who have had to pick the lesser evil as long as I've been alive, but it's really weird to see from conservatives.
If I could bet money, I'd bet that the GOP falls in line lock-step behind Trump if he grabs it, outside of a handful of Conservative thinkers in the media. And the scant few that refrain will be outnumbered by the number of new energized voters he adds to the rolls. And I think that the problem is that there simply aren't many die hard movement conservatives in existence. I'm talking the philosophy of conservatism here. The GOP has spent so many years courting angry social conservatives (I consider a different beast entirely), and a general anger and hostility at all things government in any way shape or form that the voters they actually have in the greatest numbers aren't actually aligned (in the aggregate) with serious conservative intellectual thought. It's more nihilistic and xenophobic than principled and considered.
They said the same thing about McCain and Romney as well. Romney got a ton of hate out here and that reduced turnout among the Republicans. Remember ObamaCare is Romney's Massachusetts health insurance plan taken nationally, and many conservatives held him responsible. When politics comes up out here, I sit back, get quiet and casually munch on the popcorn.