Charisma News ran an op-ed recently saying why the writer, a strong charismatic leader, felt Donald Trump would shake things up in Washington. I agree that Donald Trump would be better than President Obama, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. He’d even be better than Mitt Romney or John McCain, both liberal Republicans.
But Trump is a recent convert to conservative values and one of the most secular and foul-mouthed candidates in history.
Why would we support him when we have a principled conservative in Ted Cruz who shares our Christian values? Cruz would also shake things up but from a conservative point of view. And if he doesn’t win this nomination, the conservative cause (and the values we have) will be set back a decade!
The primary next week is pivotal. It is why I’ve lent my name to other conservative leaders in the letter below. Please think and pray about this and help spread the word in your circle of influence!
AN OPEN LETTER TO AMERICAN CONSERVATIVES and PATRIOTS:
Donald Trump’s growing delegate count should focus the mind of every conservative on exactly what a Trump nomination would mean to each of the three legs of Ronald Reagan’s conservative coalition, and to our new 21st-century conservative coalition partners of the Tea Party and liberty movements. The conservative signers below have come together to sign this most important letter, and I ask you to join us on this urgent mission.
On March 15, just a few days from now, the states of Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and the Territory of the Northern Mariana Islands will vote. Their votes will allocate 367 delegates and could put Donald Trump—or principled limited government constitutional conservative Senator Ted Cruz—over halfway to the 1,237 delegates required to win the Republican nomination for president.
The possibility of a Trump victory in the March 15 primaries should convince conservatives that unless we coalesce behind Ted Cruz, the conservative agenda will be stalled for at least another decade.
Cultural conservatives in particular should recognize that the nomination of Donald Trump would mean Republicans would field one of the most thoroughly secular candidates for president to ever to represent either of America’s major political parties.
Trump is the poster boy for the kind of Big Business—Big Government cronyism that stacks the deck against new market entrants and uses pay-to-play politics to protect and give advantages to those who are prepared to buy influence with politicians—as Donald Trump has regularly bragged he does.
Likewise, Donald Trump’s views on national security and national defense should give pause to every conservative. While Trump’s testosterone-fueled rants to “knock the (obscenity) out of ISIS” sound conservative to the establishment media, they bear little resemblance to Ronald Reagan’s “peace through strength” philosophy and policies.
Ted Cruz is everything we conservatives have been waiting for in a candidate for president. We urge you to pull out all the stops to inform your conservative friends, contacts in your network of associates, newsletters, press appearances and so on about Donald Trump’s record and policies and to do everything possible to ensure that Sen. Ted Cruz comes away with the most delegates from the March 15 Republican primaries. From this effort, we can build a solid and united conservative movement behind him going forward to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
We, the undersigned, with great respect for those with divergent views on the strengths of any one candidate, with an urgent sense of purpose for the future of our constitutional republic that may be permanently and irreparably harmed unless we act, and with thought and prayer for guidance from Almighty God, urge all conservatives to unite with us behind the only candidate for the Republican nomination who stands a chance of defeating Donald Trump—and that candidate is Ted Cruz.
Names reflect personal, not organizational affiliation.
Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman, ConservativeHQ.com; Ken Cuccinelli; Sandy Rios, Director of Governmental Affairs for AFA; J. Christian Adams, Attorney; Ginni Thomas, President, Liberty Consulting
Stephen Strang