Trump endorsers forced to perform some weird contortions

Trump endorsers forced to perform some weird contortions
By Jennifer Rubin 
 Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, United States, April 27, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Bourg Donald Trump delivers a foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on April 27. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)
Donald Trump, who regularly changes his mind and just makes stuff up, is having a pernicious effect on many Republicans. Because he is incoherent on so many topics, supporters of him soon become incoherent as well. That results in phenomena such as:

The head of the American Conservative Union now is selling a candidate who told everyone it is the “Republican” Party, not the conservative party. Shouldn’t the group, for sake of honest advertising, take out the “C” from ACU? (Also, the gathering it puts on, the Conservative Political Action Conference, will need to lose the first “C” in CPAC.)

Fiscal conservatives, such as Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and Americans for Tax Reform chief Grover Norquist, have vouched for someone who thinks we can always print money to avoid default, maybe raise the minimum wage and threaten U.S. companies with a 35 percent tariff if they don’t promise to stop sending jobs overseas. These are all positions they would bash Hillary Clinton for adopting.

Supply-siders such as Stephen Moore who swooned over Trump’s tax plan now learn that, depending on the day, Trump is either going to raise taxes on the rich or increase the rates for the rich in the plan, which attracted supply-siders with its big marginal tax cut rate.

Conservatives arguing that Trump must be elected to ensure a conservative is on the Supreme Court are left to argue that while Trump may be untrustworthy on a whole bunch of issues, you can absolutely, positively count on him to appoint a justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia.

You see, candidates and private citizens who claimed to have principles but endorsed Trump wind up sacrificing intellectual integrity as they are forced to following the bouncing ball — his contradictory and loony daily pronouncements on policy. It is not simply embarrassing for life-long conservatives. Trump’s erratic, indecipherable positions make the argument that he will be “better than Hillary Clinton” ludicrous. In fact, no one, including Trump, knows what he thinks or what he will do. And because he is ignorant about most every policy issue, there are no guardrails. The array of things he might try — use nuclear weapons in Europe, ban Muslims from entering the United States, let Japan and South Korea get nuclear weapons — is unlimited.

Every day will be a new adventure for Trump endorsers. What bizarre policy will they have to countenance now? What contradiction will they need to adopt as an excuse for a comment they previously defended? Here are some suggestions for such Republicans:

First, they can un-endorse Trump. Better to cut your losses, admit error and take whatever heat now than spend the next six months being made out to be a fool. If in the post-Trump world (a.k.a. the first Hillary Clinton term) they want to retain the grounds to criticize her for hiking the minimum wage, raising taxes, badgering corporations and playing fast and loose with monetary policy, it is better to get off the Trump train now.

Second, at the convention, fight for a platform that embraces basic conservative principles and rejects Trump’s brand of nativism and anti-market populism. And if Trump refuses to back it, the delegates should withhold the usual courtesy of nominating by acclamation.

And finally, the rationale for a third candidate grows with each Trump backtrack and inanity. Allow voters to reject Trumpism without embracing its close cousin, liberal statism. After years in the trenches fighting for and defending sound policies, the voters deserve at least that

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