Those with memories longer than the current political cycle will remember in 2004 John Kerry was pilloried by Republicans for changing his position on issues -- being a :"flip flopper" and thus lacking any conviction or principles. My belief is that the current Republican front runner, Donald Trump, has flip-flopped on so many issues so many times that it is hard to keep track, and that he makes Kerry look like the Rock of Gibraltar. Of course, the media had totally ignored this phenomenon. So let's keep track here. There are already tons of Trump flip flops out their, feel free to add them to the list. I'll start with the most recent one and we can add on as we go.
Flip Flop #1: Trump on punishing women for having an abortion. [Trump] said that he would endorse criminal penalties for women who abort their babies. To prove that he’d really thought that one through, he added, “there has to be some form of punishment, yeah…[I have not] determined what the punishment would be.” He then continued by stating that he “take positions on everything else, but this is a very complicated position.” A few hours later, in typical Trumpian fashion, The Donald released the following statement: If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal at upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb. My position has not changed… http://www.dailywire.com/news/4557/3-reasons-trump-was-wrong-punishing-women-abortion-ben-shapiro Except in changed dramatically in the course of a few hours after a political firestorm broke out over his initial position. Flip flop, flip flop.
There is a difference in flip-flopping and lying. I flipped on capital punishment. When I was young I was opposed to capital punishment. I read a biography of Carl Panzram, a killer who understood he had to be destroyed. His last victim was a prison guard in Leavenworth who had befriended him. Even Carl understood he needed to be destroyed. I flipped. That's different from changing your position day to day depending on the audience. That's different from a lifelong liberal becoming a Republican to have a better chance at the nomination. The jailhouse conversion of a pedophile who comes to Jesus the month before the parole board meets isn't someone who flipped. In all fairness, I don't think Trump has flipped or lied. He's a Republican who says he supports funding Planned Parenthood, supports higher taxes, but, like all liberals, not for you, is opposed to immigration except when he needs employees, support the government taking your home with iminent domain to give it to developers like him, and thinks the president should rule without Congress. No lying and no real flipping. And, if he's as successful as a huckster as he has been with ventures like Trump University, he might win. Unfortunately, politicians who lie to get your vote can't be prosecuted or sued as can hucksters who lie to get your money.
True. The leading exponents of killing their citizens in cold blood are 1) China, 2) Iran, 3) Saudi Arabia, 4) Iraq, 5) United States, and 6) Sudan and, while I don't know why any conservative would want to associate America with their practice, especially given their widespread plaint that "The government can't do nuthin' right!" and the glaring reality that only the poor are ever executed in the US. However, respecting the right of everyone to change their opinions is essential. Gender discrimination in marriage law would never have been ended without it, and the US would still be associated with China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Sudan in that respect, as well. I agree with you that Trump's contradictory remarks do not necessarily expose opportunistic hypocrisy. My impressions is that he had simply not thought about many issues very much previously. Consider this attempt to mitigate his advocacy for punishing women who undergo abortion: Should "murder" be legal in one state and illegal in another? Is a microscopic, mindless entity a person in one state and not in another? Clearly, Trump needs to first form an informed opinion before he can flip on it.
