Earlier this week Glenn Beck went after Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter on Facebook for supporting Donald Trump.
Needless to say, Beck is NOT a fan of the New York businessman.
I really want to understand.
Posted by Glenn Beck on Friday, August 14, 2015
Glenn has an honest question for prominent Trump supporters
This is an honest question. I really want to understand:
Why are big name “conservatives” supporting him?
I get it if you are tired of politicians, a republican progressive, or you are only about winning (although those who say they would NEVER vote for him is over 50% of REPUBLICANS). Perhaps you are angry and you just want to make someone pay or just want something done and you don’t care how it gets done, but what PRINCIPLES does he have that they are attracted to?
I am not talking about the average Joe, I am talking about Sean Hannity or Ann Colter. How about Savage or Rush?
These are smart people. What am I missing? Just based on his favorability ratings he could never win in a general. Research shows that he may be near his ceiling now.
Are they just trying to hold on to those disenfranchised republicans and keep them in the fold? I think that is a good goal, but that doesn’t seem to ring true to me as they are actually fighting for him.
I want the system to play itself out and I want the people to decide. It is why I didn’t like idea of a ban of him on the radio show while I was gone. (Although that was misrepresented. Pat and Stu didn’t want to talk about him for two days.)
I really do want him to be heard as I think it is important to discuss the things like the border. I wish he would bring up the fed and money printing. But I just don’t understand those who claim conservative, small government values and principles saying he is their man.
Sean Hannity spoke with Glenn Beck this weekend and on Sunday posted this response in defense of Donald Trump.
Via The Sean Hannity Show:
My only comment to this, Glenn, is … you are answering your own question in many ways. These are not insignificant things. Why, at this early stage, would you be so dismissive?
1. Fight to win
2. Stand up to China
3. Make America great again
4. Trump has a track record of getting the job done
5. Secure the border 6. Straight talking, non-politically correct politician!
To address what you say you do not understand:
1. “He is part of the problem when he, by his own admission, buys politicians”:
How refreshingly honest that he admits what we all know. I asked him about this and he answered by saying he “hates” the system, wants to change it, but as a businessman he played the game. I applaud the honesty and desire to change it.
2. Trump “identifies his policies more as a Democrat; he makes President Obama look truly humble…”
If you are looking for humble, Trump is not your guy.
As for his political views I asked him a number of times about it, including this week. He was clear that he was once a Democrat and changed his views. You will have to decide for yourself how sincere he is. My sense is that he is sincere. He is correct in pointing out that Reagan was was a pro-choice Democrat who also evolved.
Glenn, one of the things I admire about you is how you have changed. Your life story is extremely compelling because of the significant changes you have made in your life.
You are not shy about pointing out how you once led a pretty fast life. (I did, too, when I was young, as we have all sinned and fallen short), how you found your faith, how you changed your politics, and how your thinking evolved by studying our founders and framers. I read that you recently became a libertarian. I like the changes you have made and your willingness to share those things with your audience. Are you a better person as a result of these changes? My guess is you are.
3. Trump was very pro-abortion until very recently.
His answer at the debate was extremely compelling, about how his views changed. He said he changed his mind because of a child that was going to be aborted, but then wasn’t. That is believable to me. Do you think he is lying about that?
4. He still says, “Don’t defund planned parenthood …”
I asked him about that this week, and he was very clear that funding would be dependent on whether Planned Parenthood gets out of the abortion business. Personally, with our debt situation, and with what Planned Parenthood has done, I wouldn’t give them a penny.
5. Trump is pro- “assault weapon ban …”
He said to me he that he “was” for the ban, past tense. He now has a pistol carry-permit in NYC and said he believes law-abiding Americans should have the right to “carry.”
6. He is in favor of a wealth tax that would just “take money out of people’s bank accounts …”
I also asked him about this earlier this week. He said when he supported this one-time tax on the very wealthy that we were at a point when, if implemented, the tax would have paid off the entire federal debt. He wanted this coupled with a balanced budget amendment. My impression of this was that it would be meant as a patriotic gesture by those who have greatly benefitted from the American Dream. Misguided, well intentioned, perhaps. But he says he is against it now.
7. Trump “says he is for boots on the ground in Iraq, and for ‘taking the oil’ from the Iraqi people…”
Mr. Trump and I disagreed about the Iraq war; I was for it and he was against it. But I loved his idea of making Iraq pay for its own liberation. I also love the idea of Iraq paying the families of nearly 5,000 Americans who were killed fighting in that war. They deserve that money. They deserve millions of dollars. Similarly, so do those soldiers and families that suffered severe injuries. It’s the least Iraq should do for them.
As far as Trump’s plan against Isis of creating a perimeter around the oil fields, which is their main financial source for terror? I like that idea, if it is a part of a more comprehensive plan of defeating them. Americans died in Mosul, Ramadi, Fallujah and Tikrit, cities now controlled by Isis. They are modern day Nazis and are getting stronger and richer and more evil every day. I have one caveat: IF AMERICA FIGHTS ANY WAR, WE MUST WIN IT AND WIN IT QUICKLY. NO MORE POLITICALLY CORRECT WARS THAT ARE POLITICIZED AND THEN ABANDONED.
This out of the box thinking is refreshing. Why didn’t Iraq pay our military heroes?
8. Trump is a progressive “Republican …”
He says he is a conservative. It’s up to you as to what you want to believe.
9. He says single payer healthcare works; he would give people more than just Obama care …
Again, this week, in his interview with me, Trump went into great detail about how he supports healthcare savings accounts to replace Obamacare. I have been an advocate of healthcare savings accounts since reading the book by the Cato institute, “Patient Power.” A GREAT IDEA.
10. The First Lady would be the first to have posed nude in lesbian porno shots …
I thought you were libertarian? Also I go back to the fact that you have changed. Trump’s wife is a mother and what she did in the past doesn’t make my top 10,000 list of problems we face as a country.
11. He said he keeps all the Bibles he is given in a “special place,” outside the city — and he only goes to church on Christmas and Easter …
I have met atheists and agnostics who seem more in awe of and dazzled by the majesty of God’s creation than those who can cite every chapter and verse. To me, religion is a deeply, deeply held personal issue that involves the heart. I am a Christian but a deeply flawed one who regularly needs forgiveness. Having been raised a Catholic, I also have issues with the “church” since sex scandal. I have never lost faith in God. The Bible does say, “… The Kingdom of Heaven is within us,” and instructs us to “go into our closets and pray.” I hope for Trump’s sake, and for everybody’s sake, that he has peace in his faith; I know I do.
12. Trump is generally not a likable guy …
The polls show Republicans like Trump at this moment more than the other candidates. I have known him for years and have found him to be extremely likable and engaging.
13. He has around 16 percent favorability with Hispanics …
I also saw a poll where he was leading with Hispanic voters in Nevada. IMHO, it’s too early to conclude where that settles out.
14. He has gone bankrupt four times.
I thought his explanation at the debate was extremely solid. He never went bankrupt personally, and of the hundreds of business deals he has been involved in, four of them didn’t work out well. Shouldn’t that be balanced out with all of the deals he has made that have been successful? I think that is only fair. How many jobs has he created over the years? How many careers were made because of his risk taking. Also the proof is in the pudding. He has by every measure been an extremely successful businessman who has made billions of dollars. Not something many people can pull off. I admire success stories. If Trump was president, and he made hundreds of decisions and only four of them went badly, we would likely be in pretty good shape.
15. Just based on his favorability ratings, he could never win in a general. Research shows that he may be near his ceiling now …
In the end, that’s up to the American people to decide, not us.
In conclusion, Glenn, I repeat … I am personally undecided at this point. But I am glad Donald Trump is in this race. I like his straightforward outsider’s view of politics. His personality and background are impressive and refreshing. I like anybody who is not politically correct.
I hope his outspokenness and his courage rubs off on his fellow Republicans, who have all become stale, timid, weak, and generally (especially in DC) useless. Many Republicans can learn a thing or two from Trump.
