I'll be honest I'm really unsure. The sentiment now is different than it was in February and it'll probably be a lot different by 2022 midterms... and then even more so by 2024. I don't think Trump is going away so my guess is the GOP will remain closely aligned with him. You speak of Ron DeSantis and I really like him too but remember he has been very close with Trump as well for a while. I'll say this... Trump was a hell of a president and that's becoming very clear right now. But he turned a lot of people off. I still say that election was screwy.... covid really messed things up. He's serving a 2nd term otherwise no doubt in my mind.

I think this whole GOP civil war or threatening to break off is being overblown by the democrat media. They love nothing more than to try to generate turmoil on their adversaries. I find it funny that the media spends as much time on Liz Cheney or Adam Kissinger as anything b/c they don't want the focus on Biden's administration burning everything to the ground. IN reality the majority of the GOP voting base is pro Trump and definitely pro America first agenda. The whole never Trump country club GOP mentality is a very small minority. Anyone in congress that has turned their back on the base will pay big time in 2022. That whole wing is being rooted out.

I have no dog in the fight but conservative Republican Liz Cheney makes sense to me! I'm glad she's working in Washington, DC! I trust her.

For their sake, I don't think so. He energizes a consistent base and then pulls the rest of the Rs along with them because they aren't going to vote for Democrats. The only Rs they lost are the very moderate.

My worst fear for the country is a split in the Republican party creating two viable candidates running against this radical left administration. This would likely create enough dilution to allow the Democrat or die voters to win despite their party leaving most of them behind.

I agree with you Steve, I'm liking what DeSantis is doing right now

I agree. I don't think DeSantis would have any issues winning over the party and Trump supporters. Is Trump even considering running again? I don't think he'd be a viable candidate in 3 more years.

packgrad said:

---

I agree. I don't think DeSantis would have any issues winning over the party and Trump supporters. Is Trump even considering running again? I don't think he'd be a viable candidate in 3 more years.

---

Trump has a hell of a coalition and the key is to keep it together and encourage that big tent going forward. I agree that DeSantis could be the most viable candidate to attract different voters but also bring that coalition along. I think Trump might actually do better as a support machine to help rally certain candidates going forward. Trump is already active in endorsements for 2022. We will see how that plays out. I don't think Trump makes any decision about his role until he sees those results.

RunsWithWolves26 said:

---

For me, I would like to see a Tim Scott/Nicki Haley ticket. I've thought for years that would be a hell of a ticket for any democrats nominees to beat. Regardless, I do NOT want to see anyone run with Trump as the last name. I voted for that name once because I had to. None of them need to be in politics.

---

Well if you like Deep State RINO's then those are your ticket. Haley more so than Scott, but he is not far behind.

I did not vote for Trump in 2016, but I damn sure voted for him in 2020. He is the best President since Reagan and he actually got more done than Reagan and I never would have believed that in 2016. The MAGA movement controls the party. The RINO's and Deep State are on their way out.

Have we ever had a POTUS/VPOTUS ticket with only sandlappers?

RunsWithWolves26 said:

---

The ticket would be called Haley/Scott or Scott/Haley. Pandering is the last thing I considered 8 years ago when I first came around to them on the ticket together.

---

If Republicans rallied behind that ticket, it would win easily. I haven't dug into their policy much, but presidential elections are rarely about policy for the majority of voters.

IseWolf22 said:

---

I hope so. Before 2016 I was still an independent but voted Republican the large majority of the time. The populists "America first" turn of Trump makes the GOP much less attractive to me. As long as this is the way the party goes, I'll be politically homeless.

Can we please have ranked choice voting and more than 2 parties?

---

What about the America First agenda do you disagree with?

Add line item veto.

I agree Steve, I think Desantis could unify the party and would be a great president.

Donald Trump is the candidate that coalesced the America First movement! By wanting to get rid of him is misguided. I understand that people don't like him personally, even though none of you have ever met him; however, don't be so quick to throw him out.

He may or may not run in 2024! Right now, we should all be trying to understand why the America First agenda is good for us all.

1 Fiscally CONSERVATIVE
- End Omnibus bills
- Reduce military spending
- Balance the budget
- Begin to pay down our debt
- Push for term limits
2 Socially Libertarian
- Prison reform - Thank you Trump
- End War on Drugs and increase penalties for those causing harm
- Chill out with the trans hate but still keep a solid do not cross line wrt children/teens - Actually, chill out on all the indoctrination of our society
- Engage with ways to conserve the planet - we made significant changes during the Trump years; however, the rest of the world is not joining us
- Brainstorm ways to encourage companies to pay their employees a wage they can live on - The America First agenda will do this automatically. 2019 saw one of the highest increases in wages we have ever seen.
- Reform welfare to incentivize a return to being productive in society - Clinton did this and it worked; however, the Democratic party has fought any changes
3 Internationally engaged, but isolationist
- Regularly involved with other countries - Check
- Not the world police - Check
- Not the world military - Check
- Not the world bank - I'm not sure what this means. The dollar is the world currency. China is pushing for crypto currency to become this. You better be careful what you ask for here...
- Find other ways to empower other friendly nations to make partners instead of dependents - Trump

griff in my opinion and if you paid attention to things other than the noise Trump actually took a lot of those stances.

Regarding point #1 the GOP as a whole was a big part of the problem and still are. You have some conservatives, some populists, and some "establishment" politicians. Trump was not good at being fiscally conservative but would it have mattered if he tried harder? I mean congress is the main problem here passing the type of bills and budgets they do. Seems neither party will ever give up their big huge swamp spending bills. You can't even get a majority of GOP to agree on fiscal responsibility and you're never getting 1 democrat vote.

Point 2: This is where Trump broke with a lot of "conservatives" in which he did prison reform. He also encouraged better working conditions through the magic of a strong economy. Wages were on the rise before covid, and employment was at an all time high, particularly in minority communities. The GOP has more and more become the party of the working class. There are some though that just need to get out of the way. Once again where Trump fails is welfare reform. But Trump is not a fiscal conservative nor does he believe it would ever be a winning issue. That's where I disagreed. No politician ever wants to touch it.

Point 3: Trump was pulling us out of being world police. He got many people out of the Middle East and even achieved historic peace deals there. We crippled Iran, stood by Israel, sucked up a little to NK to keep crazy ass calm, and hurt Russia and China economically. We made nations up the anty on these damn bills for things like NATO and the UN. Organizations that were becoming anti-America, accomplishing nothing, and we were propping up. Trade deals were huge. So we weren't being isolationist... we were just looking out for America's interest more than others. Most politicians and the people we have in power now would sell us in a heartbeat for an extra dollar. We have been selling out to foreign countries for decades to screw our own people over so they could get personally richer.

jkpackfan said:

---

I agree Steve, I think Desantis could unify the party and would be a great president.

---

Yes. And President Trump is all in with Desantis. He knows he will be too old but he will bring his 75 million LEGITIMATE voters with him and this time they will have to do more than they did last time to cheat now that it's known what and how they did it.

Add in the fact that the House and Senate are going back GOP in 2022 all Desantis has to do is fight off all the BS made up stories that the SOCIALIST PARTY's propaganda machine is going to hurl his way in the coming years.

Mark my word.. they'll find his preschool yearbook where he called somebody a poopy head and run it for months. That's all the lefties can do. Smear campaigns.

griff17matt said:

---

The two worst things that can happen to the Republican party: 1) Continue to put Trump as the face of the party & 2) split an already minority party into half and secure the fact that you'll never be in power again.

I don't necessarily mind most of the *things* Trump did. The *way* he did it, however, was just not something I can really get behind as the leader of my country.

America First, in my opinion, needs to be more "down the middle of the fairway" politically. I would really like to see this as their platform:
1 Fiscally CONSERVATIVE
- End Omnibus bills
- Reduce military spending
- Balance the budget
- Begin to pay down our debt
- Push for term limits
2 Socially Libertarian
- Prison reform
- End War on Drugs
- Chill out with the trans hate but still keep a solid do not cross line wrt children/teens
- Engage with ways to conserve the planet
- Brainstorm ways to encourage companies to pay their employees a wage they can live on
- Reform welfare to incentivize a return to being productive in society
3 Internationally engaged, but isolationist
- Regularly involved with other countries
- Not the world police
- Not the world military
- Not the world bank
- Find other ways to empower other friendly nations to make partners instead of dependents

I'm convinced that if the GOP could turn this into their platform, the VAST majority of American's would vote for that person. It is very middle of the road. But play to the 60% in the middle and ignore the 20% to either far side and this country would be better for it. THAT would be putting America First...in my humble opinion.

---

There is a lot to like here. I would quibble with a few items, but I generally agree this would attract the majority of Americans and be far better than the current state.

Unfortunately I don't see it happening as long as Trump and populism are steering the ship

ncsualum05 said:

---

griff in my opinion and if you paid attention to things other than the noise Trump actually took a lot of those stances.

Regarding point #1 the GOP as a whole was a big part of the problem and still are. You have some conservatives, some populists, and some "establishment" politicians. Trump was not good at being fiscally conservative but would it have mattered if he tried harder? I mean congress is the main problem here passing the type of bills and budgets they do. Seems neither party will ever give up their big huge swamp spending bills. You can't even get a majority of GOP to agree on fiscal responsibility and you're never getting 1 democrat vote.

Point 2: This is where Trump broke with a lot of "conservatives" in which he did prison reform. He also encouraged better working conditions through the magic of a strong economy. Wages were on the rise before covid, and employment was at an all time high, particularly in minority communities. The GOP has more and more become the party of the working class. There are some though that just need to get out of the way. Once again where Trump fails is welfare reform. But Trump is not a fiscal conservative nor does he believe it would ever be a winning issue. That's where I disagreed. No politician ever wants to touch it.

Point 3: Trump was pulling us out of being world police. He got many people out of the Middle East and even achieved historic peace deals there. We crippled Iran, stood by Israel, sucked up a little to NK to keep crazy ass calm, and hurt Russia and China economically. We made nations up the anty on these damn bills for things like NATO and the UN. Organizations that were becoming anti-America, accomplishing nothing, and we were propping up. Trade deals were huge. So we weren't being isolationist... we were just looking out for America's interest more than others. Most politicians and the people we have in power now would sell us in a heartbeat for an extra dollar. We have been selling out to foreign countries for decades to screw our own people over so they could get personally richer.

---

Bingo!

Add in a few bold steps and we've got a plan..

• Freeze all China government assets in America
• Stop China investments on Wall Street
• Decouple our dollar from Hong Kong

We have to cripple the China government!!!

IseWolf22 said:

---

griff17matt said:

---

The two worst things that can happen to the Republican party: 1) Continue to put Trump as the face of the party & 2) split an already minority party into half and secure the fact that you'll never be in power again.

I don't necessarily mind most of the *things* Trump did. The *way* he did it, however, was just not something I can really get behind as the leader of my country.

America First, in my opinion, needs to be more "down the middle of the fairway" politically. I would really like to see this as their platform:
1 Fiscally CONSERVATIVE
- End Omnibus bills
- Reduce military spending
- Balance the budget
- Begin to pay down our debt
- Push for term limits
2 Socially Libertarian
- Prison reform
- End War on Drugs
- Chill out with the trans hate but still keep a solid do not cross line wrt children/teens
- Engage with ways to conserve the planet
- Brainstorm ways to encourage companies to pay their employees a wage they can live on
- Reform welfare to incentivize a return to being productive in society
3 Internationally engaged, but isolationist
- Regularly involved with other countries
- Not the world police
- Not the world military
- Not the world bank
- Find other ways to empower other friendly nations to make partners instead of dependents

I'm convinced that if the GOP could turn this into their platform, the VAST majority of American's would vote for that person. It is very middle of the road. But play to the 60% in the middle and ignore the 20% to either far side and this country would be better for it. THAT would be putting America First...in my humble opinion.

---

There is a lot to like here. I would quibble with a few items, but I generally agree this would attract the majority of Americans and be far better than the current state.

Unfortunately I don't see it happening as long as Trump and populism are steering the ship

---

Isle, you really don't understand the America First (Trump and MAGA) agenda... I can give you a few places to learn.

Start by watching the new program on Newsmax - Cortes and Pelligrino at 9:00 PM

IseWolf22 said:

---

griff17matt said:

---

The two worst things that can happen to the Republican party: 1) Continue to put Trump as the face of the party & 2) split an already minority party into half and secure the fact that you'll never be in power again.

I don't necessarily mind most of the *things* Trump did. The *way* he did it, however, was just not something I can really get behind as the leader of my country.

America First, in my opinion, needs to be more "down the middle of the fairway" politically. I would really like to see this as their platform:
1 Fiscally CONSERVATIVE
- End Omnibus bills
- Reduce military spending
- Balance the budget
- Begin to pay down our debt
- Push for term limits
2 Socially Libertarian
- Prison reform
- End War on Drugs
- Chill out with the trans hate but still keep a solid do not cross line wrt children/teens
- Engage with ways to conserve the planet
- Brainstorm ways to encourage companies to pay their employees a wage they can live on
- Reform welfare to incentivize a return to being productive in society
3 Internationally engaged, but isolationist
- Regularly involved with other countries
- Not the world police
- Not the world military
- Not the world bank
- Find other ways to empower other friendly nations to make partners instead of dependents

I'm convinced that if the GOP could turn this into their platform, the VAST majority of American's would vote for that person. It is very middle of the road. But play to the 60% in the middle and ignore the 20% to either far side and this country would be better for it. THAT would be putting America First...in my humble opinion.

---

There is a lot to like here. I would quibble with a few items, but I generally agree this would attract the majority of Americans and be far better than the current state.

Unfortunately I don't see it happening as long as Trump and populism are steering the ship

---

That was the whole point of populism! But it takes more than Trump to get to the levels in that post. You need a majority in congress of people who are similar to Trump in agenda. You need buy in at state levels as well. The Trump first term was just infancy. It may flourish and it may not but I think it was only the beginning. Most Americans want to see us out of Middle East affairs, enact policies that help the American worker, keep taxes lower, do things to help bring low income communities out rather than keep them habitually in poverty, etc.

IseWolf22 said:

---

griff17matt said:

---

The two worst things that can happen to the Republican party: 1) Continue to put Trump as the face of the party & 2) split an already minority party into half and secure the fact that you'll never be in power again.

I don't necessarily mind most of the *things* Trump did. The *way* he did it, however, was just not something I can really get behind as the leader of my country.

America First, in my opinion, needs to be more "down the middle of the fairway" politically. I would really like to see this as their platform:
1 Fiscally CONSERVATIVE
- End Omnibus bills
- Reduce military spending
- Balance the budget
- Begin to pay down our debt
- Push for term limits
2 Socially Libertarian
- Prison reform
- End War on Drugs
- Chill out with the trans hate but still keep a solid do not cross line wrt children/teens
- Engage with ways to conserve the planet
- Brainstorm ways to encourage companies to pay their employees a wage they can live on
- Reform welfare to incentivize a return to being productive in society
3 Internationally engaged, but isolationist
- Regularly involved with other countries
- Not the world police
- Not the world military
- Not the world bank
- Find other ways to empower other friendly nations to make partners instead of dependents

I'm convinced that if the GOP could turn this into their platform, the VAST majority of American's would vote for that person. It is very middle of the road. But play to the 60% in the middle and ignore the 20% to either far side and this country would be better for it. THAT would be putting America First...in my humble opinion.

---

There is a lot to like here. I would quibble with a few items, but I generally agree this would attract the majority of Americans and be far better than the current state.

Unfortunately I don't see it happening as long as Trump and populism are steering the ship

---

Yep, I like a lot of that. I don't think Fiscal Conservatism is a real thing anymore and if it's pushed it will just look like things that hurt people directly (social programs) and benefit corporations (tax cuts)

ncsualum05 said:

---

griff in my opinion and if you paid attention to things other than the noise Trump actually took a lot of those stances.

Regarding point #1 the GOP as a whole was a big part of the problem and still are. You have some conservatives, some populists, and some "establishment" politicians. Trump was not good at being fiscally conservative but would it have mattered if he tried harder? I mean congress is the main problem here passing the type of bills and budgets they do. Seems neither party will ever give up their big huge swamp spending bills. You can't even get a majority of GOP to agree on fiscal responsibility and you're never getting 1 democrat vote.

Point 2: This is where Trump broke with a lot of "conservatives" in which he did prison reform. He also encouraged better working conditions through the magic of a strong economy. Wages were on the rise before covid, and employment was at an all time high, particularly in minority communities. The GOP has more and more become the party of the working class. There are some though that just need to get out of the way. Once again where Trump fails is welfare reform. But Trump is not a fiscal conservative nor does he believe it would ever be a winning issue. That's where I disagreed. No politician ever wants to touch it.

Point 3: Trump was pulling us out of being world police. He got many people out of the Middle East and even achieved historic peace deals there. We crippled Iran, stood by Israel, sucked up a little to NK to keep crazy ass calm, and hurt Russia and China economically. We made nations up the anty on these damn bills for things like NATO and the UN. Organizations that were becoming anti-America, accomplishing nothing, and we were propping up. Trade deals were huge. So we weren't being isolationist... we were just looking out for America's interest more than others. Most politicians and the people we have in power now would sell us in a heartbeat for an extra dollar. We have been selling out to foreign countries for decades to screw our own people over so they could get personally richer.

---

That was kind of my point. Trump is just not the face you want on that, though. Not now. I would flush EVERYTHING about Trump being associated with the party because, like it or not, he is branded a certain way now. My point was that if you take those items for what they are, it's very moderate, middle of the road policy that appeals to A LOT of people. But Trump doesn't. So, the GOP needs to decouple itself from him, take that sort of road map a bit, and become a voice of the people that feel like they're not being heard in NYC, LA, Chicago, and the like. I also think you need to deescalate the race baiting and provide a counter-point that it's actually class that is separating everyone right now. Classism is much more dangerous for poor to lower-middle class families right now.

Welfare is a great one that I like to start off with. Pubs hate it and Dems love it. Pubs want them off asap and Dems want them on it as long as they can. I'd love to start out with an offer of a one-time chance to be on welfare for 3 years. In those 3 years, you also have community college paid for. If you graduate, you get to stay on welfare for 2 more years and then you're on your own. That does a couple things, imo. You get more people contributing to society, they get a purpose and direction in life, AND you've just lightened the welfare burden as well as made a new tax payer. With those last two things, you can then offer childcare for kids 2+. That takes away an excuse to stay on welfare for single parents.

Now, that's probably not a big thing that uber conservative people want to hear, but I think it's a compromise that meets both extremes in the middle. It's difficult for either side to argue with it because you're getting them "off the books" in 5 years at most for staunch Pubs and bleeding heart Dems still get to bask in the glow of their empathy.

We don't have enough compromise in DC and I think the heart of that is the absence of term limits. If you knew you had a max of 12 years in the Senate or House, I think you would work to enact things that best serve you when you return to the private sector. Right now, the best thing they can do is to serve their re-election hopes, however damning that turns out to be.

I too would vote for Desantis.

statefan91 said:

---

IseWolf22 said:

---

griff17matt said:

---

The two worst things that can happen to the Republican party: 1) Continue to put Trump as the face of the party & 2) split an already minority party into half and secure the fact that you'll never be in power again.

I don't necessarily mind most of the *things* Trump did. The *way* he did it, however, was just not something I can really get behind as the leader of my country.

America First, in my opinion, needs to be more "down the middle of the fairway" politically. I would really like to see this as their platform:
1 Fiscally CONSERVATIVE
- End Omnibus bills
- Reduce military spending
- Balance the budget
- Begin to pay down our debt
- Push for term limits
2 Socially Libertarian
- Prison reform
- End War on Drugs
- Chill out with the trans hate but still keep a solid do not cross line wrt children/teens
- Engage with ways to conserve the planet
- Brainstorm ways to encourage companies to pay their employees a wage they can live on
- Reform welfare to incentivize a return to being productive in society
3 Internationally engaged, but isolationist
- Regularly involved with other countries
- Not the world police
- Not the world military
- Not the world bank
- Find other ways to empower other friendly nations to make partners instead of dependents

I'm convinced that if the GOP could turn this into their platform, the VAST majority of American's would vote for that person. It is very middle of the road. But play to the 60% in the middle and ignore the 20% to either far side and this country would be better for it. THAT would be putting America First...in my humble opinion.

---

There is a lot to like here. I would quibble with a few items, but I generally agree this would attract the majority of Americans and be far better than the current state.

Unfortunately I don't see it happening as long as Trump and populism are steering the ship

---

Yep, I like a lot of that. I don't think Fiscal Conservatism is a real thing anymore and if it's pushed it will just look like things that hurt people directly (social programs) and benefit corporations (tax cuts)

---

If interest rates on government borrowing rise, we will be forced into fiscal conservatism at some point. The current trajectory is completely unsustainable and is accelerating

griff17matt said:

---

That was kind of my point. Trump is just not the face you want on that, though. Not now. I would flush EVERYTHING about Trump being associated with the party because, like it or not, he is branded a certain way now. My point was that if you take those items for what they are, it's very moderate, middle of the road policy that appeals to A LOT of people. But Trump doesn't. So, the GOP needs to decouple itself from him, take that sort of road map a bit, and become a voice of the people that feel like they're not being heard in NYC, LA, Chicago, and the like. I also think you need to deescalate the race baiting and provide a counter-point that it's actually class that is separating everyone right now. Classism is much more dangerous for poor to lower-middle class families right now.

Welfare is a great one that I like to start off with. Pubs hate it and Dems love it. Pubs want them off asap and Dems want them on it as long as they can. I'd love to start out with an offer of a one-time chance to be on welfare for 3 years. In those 3 years, you also have community college paid for. If you graduate, you get to stay on welfare for 2 more years and then you're on your own. That does a couple things, imo. You get more people contributing to society, they get a purpose and direction in life, AND you've just lightened the welfare burden as well as made a new tax payer. With those last two things, you can then offer childcare for kids 2+. That takes away an excuse to stay on welfare for single parents.

Now, that's probably not a big thing that uber conservative people want to hear, but I think it's a compromise that meets both extremes in the middle. It's difficult for either side to argue with it because you're getting them "off the books" in 5 years at most for staunch Pubs and bleeding heart Dems still get to bask in the glow of their empathy.

We don't have enough compromise in DC and I think the heart of that is the absence of term limits. If you knew you had a max of 12 years in the Senate or House, I think you would work to enact things that best serve you when you return to the private sector. Right now, the best thing they can do is to serve their re-election hopes, however damning that turns out to be.

---

It's even easier than that in my opinion. The problem is primaries. Primaries get you the most extreme candidates on either side usually and cause it to become a zero-sum game. Ranked choice pushes people more towards working together and less extremism.

pineknollshoresking said:

---

IseWolf22 said:

---

griff17matt said:

---

The two worst things that can happen to the Republican party: 1) Continue to put Trump as the face of the party & 2) split an already minority party into half and secure the fact that you'll never be in power again.

I don't necessarily mind most of the *things* Trump did. The *way* he did it, however, was just not something I can really get behind as the leader of my country.

America First, in my opinion, needs to be more "down the middle of the fairway" politically. I would really like to see this as their platform:
1 Fiscally CONSERVATIVE
- End Omnibus bills
- Reduce military spending
- Balance the budget
- Begin to pay down our debt
- Push for term limits
2 Socially Libertarian
- Prison reform
- End War on Drugs
- Chill out with the trans hate but still keep a solid do not cross line wrt children/teens
- Engage with ways to conserve the planet
- Brainstorm ways to encourage companies to pay their employees a wage they can live on
- Reform welfare to incentivize a return to being productive in society
3 Internationally engaged, but isolationist
- Regularly involved with other countries
- Not the world police
- Not the world military
- Not the world bank
- Find other ways to empower other friendly nations to make partners instead of dependents

I'm convinced that if the GOP could turn this into their platform, the VAST majority of American's would vote for that person. It is very middle of the road. But play to the 60% in the middle and ignore the 20% to either far side and this country would be better for it. THAT would be putting America First...in my humble opinion.

---

There is a lot to like here. I would quibble with a few items, but I generally agree this would attract the majority of Americans and be far better than the current state.

Unfortunately I don't see it happening as long as Trump and populism are steering the ship

---

Isle, you really don't understand the America First (Trump and MAGA) agenda... I can give you a few places to learn.

Start by watching the new program on Newsmax - Cortes and Pelligrino at 9:00 PM

---

Not agreeing with something does not mean I don't understand it.

And no I'm not going to stay up to watch an opinion "News" show. I dislike all of them, whether it's Fox, MSNBC, or anyone else

statefan91 said:

---

IseWolf22 said:

---

griff17matt said:

---

The two worst things that can happen to the Republican party: 1) Continue to put Trump as the face of the party & 2) split an already minority party into half and secure the fact that you'll never be in power again.

I don't necessarily mind most of the *things* Trump did. The *way* he did it, however, was just not something I can really get behind as the leader of my country.

America First, in my opinion, needs to be more "down the middle of the fairway" politically. I would really like to see this as their platform:
1 Fiscally CONSERVATIVE
- End Omnibus bills
- Reduce military spending
- Balance the budget
- Begin to pay down our debt
- Push for term limits
2 Socially Libertarian
- Prison reform
- End War on Drugs
- Chill out with the trans hate but still keep a solid do not cross line wrt children/teens
- Engage with ways to conserve the planet
- Brainstorm ways to encourage companies to pay their employees a wage they can live on
- Reform welfare to incentivize a return to being productive in society
3 Internationally engaged, but isolationist
- Regularly involved with other countries
- Not the world police
- Not the world military
- Not the world bank
- Find other ways to empower other friendly nations to make partners instead of dependents

I'm convinced that if the GOP could turn this into their platform, the VAST majority of American's would vote for that person. It is very middle of the road. But play to the 60% in the middle and ignore the 20% to either far side and this country would be better for it. THAT would be putting America First...in my humble opinion.

---

There is a lot to like here. I would quibble with a few items, but I generally agree this would attract the majority of Americans and be far better than the current state.

Unfortunately I don't see it happening as long as Trump and populism are steering the ship

---

Yep, I like a lot of that. I don't think Fiscal Conservatism is a real thing anymore and if it's pushed it will just look like things that hurt people directly (social programs) and benefit corporations (tax cuts)

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It certainly isn't a thing practiced any longer. That doesn't mean it's not attainable. It would be things that "hurt" both sides. You can't cut revenues and expect to pay off debt. At least Dems realize to spend you have to actually collect first. Pubs just cut taxes and spend into oblivion. If you're going to cut spending to Medicare/aid, you can't leave defense spending alone. If you're going to cut taxes, you have to balance the budget against what you collect in taxes. It's basic **** but all these dumbasses that care not one iota about where this country heads for the next 100 years spend money like drunkards.

Cut - defense spending, pork projects, *some* social programs
Tax - progressive flat tax (under 50k/yr 10%, under 150k/yr 15%, over 150k/yr 20%) reduce tax code complexity and end loop holes, end corporate welfare tax loops and implement some sort of progressive flat tax here based on gross sales so mom & pop hardware doesn't get hit the same as Amazon.