Top conservatives sound off on Trump's cannonball into GOP pool

By Paul Bremmer

For good or bad, billionaire Donald Trump has cannonballed into the pool of the 2016 GOP presidential candidates and several conservatives are waiting for the waves to settle down before deciding on the benefits, or lack thereof.

Some, like legendary conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, welcome Trump with open arms, praising his controversial remarks on immigration.

Others say they need to know more first.

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"I think what he’s saying is extremely helpful, and it's mostly true," Schlafly, author of "Who Killed the American Family?" told WND in an interview. She pointed to the recent murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco by an illegal Mexican alien who had been deported five times.

That murder came just over two weeks after Trump, in his presidential announcement, said, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best… They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with [them]. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

Former Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., agrees current events have vindicated Trump.

"With every news cycle, Donald Trump is being proven right about problems associated with illegal aliens," she declared. "The Democratic and Republican ruling class in Washington is petrified their false claim that massive Third-World immigration is good for America is unraveling."

A few days after the Steinle murder, Trump reiterated his point. In a written statement, he charged Mexico with "forcing their most unwanted people into the United States" and said "the United States has become a dumping ground for Mexico and, in fact, for many other parts of the world."

Schlafly said if she could talk to Trump right now, she would tell him to keep it up.

"I think he's saying things that need to be said, and I don't know that he’s going to get the nomination, but people want somebody who is willing to confront the opposition in plain language," she said.

Longtime conservative fundraiser Richard Viguerie says he doesn't dislike him, but he just doesn't know enough about him yet.

When asked if he would trust Trump as the GOP nominee and de facto head of the party, Viguerie responded, "Oh, absolutely, I wouldn't trust him. We just know so little about him. He wants to parachute himself into the race here and become the leader of the Republican Party.

"The idea we'd put a stranger as our leader without knowing anything about his views about the Republican Party, about how he would run the Republican National Committee – there's just a long list of unknowns about Trump that would make it very dangerous to have him get the nomination."

Among the unknowns, according to Viguerie, are Trump's views on law and the Constitution, as well as the types of federal judges he would appoint. And the veteran activist doesn't trust Trump to govern as a conservative, either.

"He doesn't come from the conservative movement," Viguerie, author of "Takeover," argued. "Most of the world that he hangs out with are corporate CEOs, Fortune 500 types, and if that would be where he'd draw most of his appointments from, conservatives would lose. Our issues would be over with, because for the most part, corporate CEOs have a very different agenda."

However, Viguerie also sees a bright side to Trump's candidacy.

"He's obviously prepared to talk about important issues that most of the other candidates are afraid to, or they don't care about those issues," he said. "So there are certain issues that most Republican candidates avoid, and I think he's going to serve a good cause by highlighting, articulating these issues. He connects with the average American in a way that most of these candidates do not."

Schlafly certainly agrees that Trump is able to connect with average Americans. Specifically, she said he is articulating the concerns of ordinary Americans frustrated with President Obama's immigration policies.

"I think he's the first one who's really speaking out against Obama's policies, and at the grassroots I can tell you that this illegal immigration is the hottest issue," Schlafly said. "Why aren't the other candidates talking about it?"

Floyd Brown, president of the Western Center for Journalism and an occasional WND columnist, sounded a similar note.

"Donald Trump is giving voice to a large group of American voters who have been ignored by the elites of both political parties," said Brown, author of "Killing Wealth, Freeing Wealth: How to Save America's Economy and Your Own."  "Democrats love illegal immigration because they see it as a source of cheap votes. Republicans like it because it pressures middle-class wages and keeps corporate profits fat."

Matthew Vadum, a senior editor at the Capital Research Center, is among those impressed by Trump's outspokenness on the immigration issue.

"I don’t want Donald Trump to become president, but recently I have become a fan of his because he has had the courage to stand up for what's right," Vadum said. "The American people know in their bones that something is going wrong in terms of America's immigration policy."

It's a good thing Trump is on the conservative side of the immigration debate, according to Vadum, because he has enormous influence for a private citizen. Vadum, author of "Subversion, Inc.," noted when Trump raised the issue of Barack Obama's birth certificate, Obama eventually produced it.

"When Donald Trump speaks, people listen, and that's an important thing," Vadum said.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, believes Trump will change the game by forcing the other Republican candidates to take a position on immigration, even though they may not want to.

"Trump is going to change the debate," King said. "He will keep this immigration issue on the front of all of our debates all the way through."

Viguerie believes Trump has been doing so well in the polls because conservatives are yearning for a strong leader who will stand up to the establishment, as Trump is doing with his immigration comments.

"The grassroots voters are just hungry for somebody to speak up and provide some leadership," Viguerie said. "This should be a wake-up call to other Republican candidates who want to be the nominee in 2016, that the grassroots is looking for leadership. They're looking for somebody to speak out to the establishment about their fears and their desires, their dreams, their ambitions, and Trump is doing that and most of the other candidates are not."

Indeed, the GOP establishment has publicly denounced Trump's comments on Mexican immigrants, with Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie among those criticizing him.

The corporate world has reacted as well. Macy's dropped Trump's clothing line, and NBC ended its business relationship with Trump. Even as Macy's customers by the thousands cut up their Macy's cards, there was the heavy criticism Trump has received from the left, including from Hillary Clinton.

King encourages Trump to ignore all the detractors and keep charging forward.

"If I were talking to him one-on-one, I would say, 'Do not lose your will and drive on this. Continue.' Whenever these groups rise up and attack you in the fashion they have, just have the attitude, 'Well, if you don't like that, it's the truth and here's some more.' And keep shoveling the truth at them until they back up. That's the most important thing."

Viguerie believes all the opposition will work in Trump's favor.

"Sometimes people think that 'my enemy's enemy must be my friend,'" Viguerie said. "So I think the more attacks he gets from the establishment, the better he's going to do in the polls…. People are just so sick and tired of the establishment leadership in this country that they are responding by supporting him."

Brown thinks the establishment needs to take Trump's run seriously.

"Donald Trump is a serious candidate for president and GOP establishment leaders belittling him are actually showing their own insecurity and belittling themselves," Brown charged.

Bachmann similarly believes the establishment-media complex should be afraid.

"The ruling class should be worried, and their handmaidens in the media, because the American people are sick of watching our glorious nation be destroyed and they are longing for a true champion to fight for American greatness and sovereignty,: the former congresswoman said.

Bachmann declared Trump "just might pull this off," but neither Schlafly nor Viguerie believe Trump will win the GOP nomination or the presidency. Viguerie noted it's extremely rare for a party to nominate someone who has not been part of the party previously. And the veteran fundraiser is not sure Trump cares about the Republican Party anyway.

"He is not focused primarily on the Republican Party," Viguerie said. "He's very focused on himself, his brand. I'm concerned he can be a real loose cannon and do things that could hurt the Republican brand for the November 2016 election."

Viguerie argued Trump has been "intemperate" and unconstructive in his comments on immigration. The veteran activist believes there are more diplomatic ways to talk about border security and the illegal immigrant crisis.

"Trump has used a meat ax when we need somebody to come in with a more compelling argument to discuss these issues in a way that doesn't shut down debate with everybody, and I don't think he's been very wise in his choice of words," Viguerie said.

Gina Loudon, Ph.D., coauthor of "What Women Really Want," also has concerns about Trump's personality. She said she "abhors" the boorishness of Trump. But she likes what he has said on immigration and hopes he will tone down the ego enough to gain even more supporters.

"I have met Trump and I hate the whole arrogance thing he exudes," Loudon told WND. "My personal hope is that the firestorm might have humbled him enough to develop some compassion that would endear him to those supporting him, while convicting him about how positively venomous the thought police are who attack him. If he didn't know how wicked and relentless they were before, I should think he would know by now!"

Loudon wrote in her WND column that although Trump has always said what Middle America wanted to say, he was too rich, abrasive and unrelatable for ordinary Americans to trust him. But Loudon, who holds two masters degrees and a Ph.D. in human development fields, says she now trusts the Donald for a purely psychological reason. She said it would be nonsensical for him to sacrifice so much to stand up for beliefs he doesn't actually hold.

"Psychologically, it makes no sense why he would stand so firmly behind his statements now, losing friends and business, and then back off of them when the cost to him personally is so much lower," Loudon explained. "He has more to lose now and yet he won't back down. This makes him very believable from a psychodynamics perspective."

Psychodynamics and the immigration issue aside, Vadum argues Trump's policy positions are not all that conservative. He pointed out Trump proposed a massive "net worth tax" on the rich in 1999, when he was running for the Reform Party's presidential nomination. Around that same time, Trump also voiced his support for universal healthcare.

But Trump has thus far focused mainly on the immigration problem, and Vadum believes his main purpose is to talk about the issues the GOP establishment wants to ignore.

"The Republican Party establishment wants Donald Trump to go away because he is messing things up for them," Vadum said. "They would prefer to continue with the status quo, with porous borders and with illegal aliens all over the place, causing problems throughout society."

Some pundits have said Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric is tarnishing the Republican brand, but Vadum says the GOP brand has already been destroyed by big spenders such as House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Rather than tarnishing the party, Vadum thinks Trump is simply threatening the establishment, and that's why establishment figures have been so hard on him.

"They’re terrified of the response that the public has been providing to Trump when he has spoken truth to power, to borrow an expression from liberals," Vadum said.

Schlafly likes the unvarnished way in which Trump speaks truth to power.

"I think he’s saying things that are calculated to stir the pot, and I think the pot needs to be stirred," she contended. "I think the Republicans are making a great mistake in not standing up against these illegals coming in… Trump has a style that I guess turns off some people, but what he's saying is clearly resonating with the grassroots."

Viguerie agreed Trump is appealing to the grassroots with his words, but he cautioned that politicians don't always follow through on campaign promises if they are elected. He thinks Trump's ultimate contribution will be to inspire other GOP candidates to pick up the mantle of grassroots conservative concerns.

"I think what you’re going to see is some of these other candidates who have a more serious chance of being nominated, they're going to pick up on some of Trump's issues here, and I think you'll see other candidates rise up and provide leadership, hopefully, that Trump has kind of blazed the way on," Viguerie said.

Schlafly echoed that sentiment.

"I hope he keeps it up," she said. "I hope he stays in the race. It's good for the other candidates to hear him and maybe they'll copy some of his good ideas."