A bit of background first.
I've been arguing with my uncle since 2007 about politics, when I first learned about Ron Paul. He's owned several small businesses over the years. He has been a life long Republican. He is involved in small ways with the local Republican Party and often donates to local candidates. You can say he is well known and certainly talks to a lot of other Republicans in my area. He is a self described tea party member and conservative. In 2012 he was a big fan of Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. He ended up voting for Romney. In 2008 Rudy Giuliani was his man. He never liked Ron Paul in 2008, always citing the classic excuses like "he can't win", "he's an isolationist", and "he's too kooky". I can say, without hesitation, that he hates what the government has been doing and from the way he speaks you would genuinely think he was a libertarian(ish) conservative. And as I'm sure you can guess, he is a hard core Trump fan this year. Before Trump he was a HUGE Ted Cruz fan.
So of course I talked to him today about the debate last night. I thought I would share some of the insights from this conversation.
First, he agreed that Trump looked petty and unpresidential based off his performance last night. He specifically pointed out his comment about Rand in his opening looking bad. He said he needs to hear more substance from him and that he needs to start studying up more.
He started off this cycle liking Rand Paul and would vote for him but again saying "he can't win" and "he's a little weird". As of this debate, he no longer likes him really at all. He said the more he talks to worse he looks. Of course he can't cite any specific examples.
He thinks Graham, Kasich, Pataki, Walker, Jindal and Gilmore are all irrelevant and need to drop out. Keep in mind he originally really liked Walker.
Surprisingly he doesn't like Fiorina. He has also openly admitted he doesn't really like Ben Carson.
But here's the kicker. He straight up told me today that he will not vote for any candidate who has been elected and is a politician. His logic is that they're all establishment and they all are terrible because none have been able to do anything for us. He does not care about their individual records.
He told me he will vote for Trump no matter what. It does not matter what happens between now and the primary. And if Trump isn't in, he'll vote for either Fiorina or Carson (having told me he likes neither of them). He will not vote for a politician. He told me that all his local Trump friends are of agreement with this. Their opinions will not be swayed, despite them knowing that Trump really isn't a conservative and thinking he is unpresidential. And the worst thing is they openly admit it.
I don't know what to take from this. I don't know how Rand will be able to break through this cognitive dissonance. The hypocrisy is frustrating, to say the least.
Site Information
About Us
- RonPaulForums.com is an independent grassroots outfit not officially connected to Ron Paul but dedicated to his mission. For more information see our Mission Statement.
Connect With Us