National Review is publishing a special edition of the magazine that argues against Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, saying he is “not deserving of conservative support in the caucuses and primaries.”
The new issue of the long-established conservative magazine is headlined “Against Trump” and includes essays from conservative pundits and writers explaining their opposition to Trump’s candidacy.
But the overall theme is very clear: “Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones,” says the editorial that leads the issue.
The authors argue that Trump isn’t consistent in his views:
Trump’s political opinions have wobbled all over the lot. The real-estate mogul and reality-TV star has supported abortion, gun control, single-payer health care à la Canada, and punitive taxes on the wealthy. (He and Bernie Sanders have shared more than funky outer-borough accents.) Since declaring his candidacy he has taken a more conservative line, yet there are great gaping holes in it.
The editorial also goes after his immigration plan for not being practical.
As for illegal immigration, Trump pledges to deport the 11 million illegals here in the United States, a herculean administrative and logistical task beyond the capacity of the federal government. Trump piles on the absurdity by saying he would re-import many of the illegal immigrants once they had been deported, which makes his policy a poorly disguised amnesty (and a version of a similarly idiotic idea that appeared in one of Washington’s periodic ‘comprehensive immigration’ reforms). This plan wouldn’t survive its first contact with reality.
They also took aim at his business record:
Trump’s primary work long ago became less about building anything than about branding himself and tending to his celebrity through a variety of entertainment ventures, from WWE to his reality-TV show, The Apprentice. His business record reflects the often dubious norms of the milieu: using eminent domain to condemn the property of others; buying the good graces of politicians—including many Democrats—with donations.
The editorial finishes by saying that “Donald Trump is a menace to American conservatism who would take the work of generations and trample it underfoot in behalf of a populism as heedless and crude as the Donald himself.”
The online issue is here.
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