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How is this Man a Popular Republican US Presidential Candidate?

Summary:
We all know that Donald Trump has said some extreme and hateful things, but here he is in the videos below condemning the 2003 invasion of Iraq (in the first), and also admitting that he was once a supporter of a single payer health care system in the US. It is unclear exactly what his current health care proposal is, but it would seem that he wants (1) universal access and (2) to provide a heavy dose of government funding for anyone who cannot afford private health care.These things are strangely out of step with the mainstream Republican party positions on these issues. Or is it that the mainstream Republican party is out of step with ordinary Republican voters?[embedded content][embedded content]If you go to the comments sections of these videos on YouTube, you will find some American conservatives (and I assume Republicans) venting their spleen at Trump for his “socialism” and “Big Government” policies. Nevertheless, the man is doing very well indeed in the Republican primaries. How to explain this?Also a man who openly praises Britain’s “socialist” NHS is a very odd Republican indeed (see the video below in his comments about Scotland).[embedded content]On Syria, Trump stands out as calling for some kind of de facto support for Russia and not inciting World War 3 over Syria.

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We all know that Donald Trump has said some extreme and hateful things, but here he is in the videos below condemning the 2003 invasion of Iraq (in the first), and also admitting that he was once a supporter of a single payer health care system in the US. It is unclear exactly what his current health care proposal is, but it would seem that he wants (1) universal access and (2) to provide a heavy dose of government funding for anyone who cannot afford private health care.

These things are strangely out of step with the mainstream Republican party positions on these issues. Or is it that the mainstream Republican party is out of step with ordinary Republican voters?

If you go to the comments sections of these videos on YouTube, you will find some American conservatives (and I assume Republicans) venting their spleen at Trump for his “socialism” and “Big Government” policies. Nevertheless, the man is doing very well indeed in the Republican primaries. How to explain this?

Also a man who openly praises Britain’s “socialist” NHS is a very odd Republican indeed (see the video below in his comments about Scotland).

On Syria, Trump stands out as calling for some kind of de facto support for Russia and not inciting World War 3 over Syria.

Unlike other Republicans, he is also openly scornful about current free trade agreements (even if he pays lip service to the concept of “free trade”) and raises the issue of the collapse of US manufacturing and the trade imbalance with China. On these issues, he weirdly similar to Bernie Sanders.

Finally, I think I can understand why some Republicans love Trump: even with the loud-mouth talk on foreign policy (typical of other Republicans), he is the only fresh thing on the menu (if you can excuse that metaphor). He is a vehemently anti-establishment Republican and an economic nationalist, and this is very appealing.

I regret, however, Republicans might be disappointed with Trump. If Trump becomes president, what will his economic policy look like? Trump’s plan to cut taxes (heavily for the rich) but severely slash government spending will crash the US economy and possibly drive it into a deep depression. However, perhaps Trump is much smarter than this. Perhaps when he gets into office he will be the new Ronald Reagan: that is, he will cut taxes and increase government spending big time, driving the US into deep deficits. That will stimulate the economy, and make him a Keynesian big spender like Reagan, but such policies will cause the US government debt to continue to grow.

P.S. before I get idiots in the comments section this is in no sense an endorsement of Trump.

Lord Keynes
Realist Left social democrat, left wing, blogger, Post Keynesian in economics, but against the regressive left, against Postmodernism, against Marxism

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