Fiscal Conservatives Go After Donald Trump

The Club for Growth has taken up the task of point out to their fellow fiscal conservatives that Donald Trump isn’t one of them:

The Club for Growth assailed potential presidential candidate Donald Trump today as a tax-hiking liberal whose open flirtation with single-payer health care and warm embrace of protectionism disqualifies him from consideration by conservatives.

“Donald Trump for President? You’ve got to be joking,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola. “Donald Trump has advocated for massive tar jusx increases that display a stunning lack of knowledge of how to create jobs. His love for a socialist-style universal health care system and his alarming obsession with protectionist policies are automatic disqualifiers among free-market conservatives. This publicity stunt will sputter and disappear as quickly as the ‘The Apprentice’ is losing viewers.”

Today, the group attacked Trump for his support for eminent domain and the controversial Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London:

In 1997, Trump tried to evict an elderly widow to expand an Atlantic City casino: Vera Coking agreed to drop her lawsuit against Donald Trump yesterday and accepted a settlement of $90,000 from Trump’s demolition contractor for damage to the rooming house she has long refused to sell. The settlement does not affect the longstanding battle over ownership of Coking’s house on South Columbia Place, a block from Trump Plaza. Coking is still fighting a court battle to keep her home in the face of a state eminent domain action to assist Trump with the expansion of his casino. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/19/97)

Trump would have used the land to build a “limousine waiting area”: Superior Court Judge Richard Williams said the state’s plan to seize the parcels for an expansion of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was flawed because it set no limits on what Mr. Trump could do once he obtained the land. Mr. Trump had said the land would be used for a park, a parking lot and a limousine waiting area. (New York Times, 7/26/98)

Trump on pro-eminent domain Supreme Court case Kelo v. New London: “I happen to agree with it 100 percent”: CAVUTO: You know, the one thing that sticks in the craw of a lot of people with this court, Donald — and I don’t know where you come down on it, but this eminent domain issue that essentially allowed someone’s home to be bulldozed, as was the case in New London, Connecticut, if it gets in the way of developers. Now, you’re a pretty successful developer in your own right. What did you think of that decision? Was the court overdoing it with that decision? TRUMP: Well, it’s sort of not a good one for me to say, because I noticed every article written about it said, “Will Donald Trump take over your home?” sort of using me as the example, Neil. And it’s sort of — it’s an interesting situation to be in. But I happen to agree with it 100 percent, not that I would want to use it. But the fact is, if you have a person living in an area that’s not even necessarily a good area, and government, whether it’s local or whatever, government wants to build a tremendous economic development, where a lot of people are going to be put to work and make area that’s not good into a good area, and move the person that’s living there into a better place — now, I know it might not be their choice — but move the person to a better place and yet create thousands upon thousands of jobs and beautification and lots of other things, I think it happens to be good. (Fox News, 7/19/05)

Also, Chocola appeared on MSNBC last night to discuss Trump:

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There, is I’m sure, more to come since Trump has been making public statements about politics for two decades now.  Given all of this, one wonders how any self-respecting conservative could actually bring themselves to take this guy seriously.

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Southern Hoosier says:

    The Republican party elite are always attacking the outsiders. They would rather see Democrat insiders elected rather than Republican outsiders.

  2. The Club for Growth is hardly part of the GOP elite.

    But Trump is a fake, a phony, and a fraud.

  3. wr says:

    Trump is an outsider?

  4. Moosebreath says:

    “Also, Chocola appeared on MSNBC last night to discuss Trump”

    This by itself is interesting. For all those who posit that MSNBC is the liberal equivalent of Fox, can one picture one of Fox’s opinion shows inviting the head of a liberal lobbying group and giving them the equivalent time to make their case, even if it were to make a case against a Democrat?

  5. Anyone defending Trump on any grounds – especially these silly “Republican elite hates outsiders” crap – is either a troll or a fool. End of story.

  6. Neil Hudelson says:

    I want to make some sort of Club for Growth/Club for Hair joke here. Just can’t quite connect the two…

  7. Southern Hoosier says:

    wr says: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 16:46

    Trump is an outsider?

    Damn right he is. He’s been out there courting the Tea Party isn’t he?

    Christopher Bowen says: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 21:43

    Anyone defending Trump on any grounds

    And pointing out that Trump is not part of the Republican elite is not defending him.

  8. tom p says:

    The Club for Growth is hardly part of the GOP elite.

    They are hardly fiscally conservative either. But then again, neither are any of the GOP in national politics.