Donald Trump has formed into a much more authoritarian figure after his "drain the swamp" calls during his campaign.
Despite claiming conservatism by running on the GOP ticket, his ideals are anything but conservative, and some of them are not even new.
His proposed border wall was one of the staples of his campaign to highlight his harsh stance on immigration. Tougher immigration laws are generally considered a conservative ideal, but a giant wall on the border of our country is as impractical as it sounds.
No true conservative would support a border wall, although the reasoning is different than that of Trump's Democratic opponents. A border wall is an absurd waste of taxpayer money, and forcing another country to pay for such a monstrosity is something only fools would believe.
Trump has really only done two conservative things while in office: nominating a conservative judge to the Supreme Court and his promise to cut two regulations for every new one proposed.
Donald Trump reinstated a ban on Transgender people serving in the military, something most conservatives support. Yet, his reasoning behind the move was inherently flawed. Claiming transgenders in the military are a tax burden is absurd, and even more so hypocritical from a President whose travel expenses are leaps and bounds ahead of the most recent President.
Donald Trump himself has been a tax burden on the average American, and is happy to sign spending bills for his wall.
Trump has showed he has no concept of healthcare when he praised Australia's single-payer system. Such a system has failed in numerous countries, including our great United States.
Vermont, the state that hails "democratic-socialist" Bernie Sanders, recently withdrew their plan for single-payer healthcare.
Yet, more than anything, Trump pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Joe Arpaio has had one of the "toughest" stances on illegal immigration in the country. Operating in Arizona, Arpaio managed to violate the constitutional rights of thousands of people in an attempt to deport illegal immigrants.
People that looked Latino were profiled, and if they failed to produce ID at that moment, they were taken into custody. People in his camps were treated without rights, underfed, and had an absurd suicide rate.
Donald Trump has had nothing but good things to say about Arpaio, one of his earliest and most vocal supporters of his Presidential campaign.
This article from the Washington Post highlights the grave mistreatment of the people in Arpaio's "jails."
The idea that someone that so grossly abused the use of the police and created a mini-police state in Arizona is repulsive.
The idea that a man that has called Latinos a number of slurs and has formed a career around exploiting that community is anywhere near conservative makes me sick to my stomach.
Yet, the pardon by President Trump shows he is okay with gross negligence of the Constitution and blatant racism.
Trump has become authoritarian day-by-day in office, and his endorsement of such a man only further accentuates that idea.
As conservatives, how can we say we stand by the Constitution when our President, the one our party elected, does something like this?
Trump's gross neglect for the Constitution and conservative ideals, along with his trouble denouncing Nazis and White Supremacists is something no conservative should be comfortable with.
For the sake of our movement, it is time to get on the Trump-hate train. He has no redeeming qualities, he is a liar whose recent moves have exposed who he really is.
