“I’d rather stick my head in a bucket full of scorpions and battery acid than say
anything about Donald Trump.”
[funky music]
Donald Trump says that he's bringing the Republican party together.
Trump: I get along with people.
I'm a unifier.
I'm very much a unifier.
But the GOP is more divided than ever.
Romney: Dishonesty is Donald Trump's hallmark.
Liz: Is the GOP as divided as it seems?
More than six months ago, you pledged to support the Republican nominee whoever that may be,
do you continue to pledge whoever the Republican nominee is?
No I don't anymore.
You don't?
No.
We went to CPAC, the mecca of the conservative movement, to see how they’re dealing with
the rise of Donald Trump.
Do you think Donald Trump is a conservative?
[Awkward giggling]
Hum.
The senators he helped elect are the ones who wrote Obamacare.
It's made the transition to being a Republican a lot harde for my personally.
I feel like I have to answer for every single thing that he said or how people in his audience
are because for me I actually do believe in conservative values.
Many conservatives don't even think Donald Trump is one of them.
I don't know how people consider him a conservative really.
So they really really don't want to vote for him.
Ok let's play a game.
[laughter]
Would you rather vote for Donald Trump or walk across hot coals with Joe Biden holding
your hand the whole time.
Joe Biden!
Can I frolic with him and at the end can he kiss me on the cheek?
Absolutely.
Ok then I'd be okay with this.
Would you rather vote for Donald Trump, or have to eat kale for the rest of your life?
Only kale.
I’m a pescetarian, so I’d rather eat Kale.
That would actually be amazing.
It’s like the super food.
So, for sure, Kale.
Would you rather vote for Donald Trump or have to attend a 12-hour long seminar on micro-aggressions?
I’m feeling a little triggered right now.
I’m a huge micro-agression right now aren't I?
I would call it a macro-aggression.
But of course….
there is a limit.
Scenario.
Which probably could potentially happen.
Would you rather vote for Hillary or Donald Trump?
I’d vote for Bloomberg.
I'm just saying.
I would probably have to research third parties and go with that.
If a gun was to my head and you said I had to vote for one of the two of them, I would
take the bullet.
You only have two options!
They’re both democrats!
In reality I think the Republican party needs to rally around whomever is going to win the
nomination at this point.
If it’s against Trump or Hillary, gotta go with Trump then.
You would rather vote for Donald Trump than Hillary?
Yes, yeah, yes.
[awkward acquiescence]
So if conservatives are all making that face, where is Trump's support even coming from?
Right.
Oh my god.
My friend Chris works right here.
This is perfect.
"Bernie Sandwiches"
Hi Chris, I have a question for you.
Yup.
Do you have a couple minutes?
I do.
So if conservatives don't think Donald Trump is a conservative, how is he the front-runner?
Because conservatism isn't that important to a big part of the Republican base it turns
out.
Conservatism in the conception of so-called conservatism is about limited government,
free-market, but what the base is responded to is just straight up nationalism.
It's not a question of how big government should be but who government should work for.
Limited government conservative, when you think conservative, you think the government
shouldn't do X, Y, Z because that interferes with the market.
If you're a nationalist, you don't really care where those lines are drawn, you care
about who is the government delivering for, who are they protecting, who is at the center
of what the government does.
We've seen that kind of nationalism that kind of right-wing nationalism in Europe with lots
of parties that are perfectly happy to be part of the big government as long as they
control it for their people.
That's what Donald Trump is tapping into.
Thank you so much Chris.
You're the best.
I'll see you soon.
Oh and here's your sandwich.
[Chris intercepts sandwich flawlessly]
Chris is right.
A majority of Republicans believe preserving Social Security and Medicare is more important
than cutting the deficit.
And 52% of Republicans say they're annoyed that corporations aren't paying their fair
share.
So maybe Donald Trump isn't a conservative but he's clearly tapping into the conservative
base.
But the problem for him is going to be that 17% of Republicans will not support him if
he's the nominee.
So Donald Trump may not seem like a unifier right now but he's going to have to be one
if he wants to win.
[funky music]
You having fun yet?
So you would rather die than vote for Donald Trump?
Yes.
I would much rather.
Is there a specific kind of death that you would not want in order to not vote for Donald
Trump?
I would take eternity and hell.
I think the Republican party needs to realize that it's changing.
And they gotta figure out what to do because the train is leaving the station and a guy
like Trump if he wanted to could probably turn around and grab a couple other people
that are running for office and say let's start the new Republican party.
It's not as if history hasn't done that before.
Chris: Yeah.
I think that's true.
I think there's a real cleavage moment and a huge part of it has to do with the fact
that I don't think conservatives in Washington the processional Republican political class,
the professional conservative movement have delivered much for their base, frankly.
Joe: Oh shit.
Liz: Don't die.