To those who are reading who identify with the political left, please, for the sake of my blood pressure and sanity, stop conflating Trump with conservatism.

If you want to know what conservatism is, please, find the time to read or listen to these books. All of them are free, so feel free educate yourself.

Compare for yourself Trump’s stances on the issues to Clinton’s. For the sake of a standard, ask yourself, “how would this list be different if Ted Cruz was the Presidential candidate?”

Compare the above chart to this one from 2012. You’ll notice how much more often Trump has the “?” or “NC” label where Romney has the “Pro” or “Con” label. You’ll also notice the solidarity he had with Obama in 2012 to build a barrier across the Mexican border.

To me, his stances look like someone trying to please his support base and having trouble doing so given his own personal beliefs. Once again, that’s just my personal observation.

He made the infamous “grab ‘em by the p****” comment in 2005. One year after telling CNN that he identified more as a Democrat. To be fair, Trump has never been consistent with regards to party loyalty. It’s almost as though Trump sides with the party which appeals to his own personal interests. Like he’s not a political ideologue.

Trump’s comments are almost identical to that of Bill Clinton in 1995 and Barack Obama in 2007. What did Trump have in common with Obama in 2007?

So what’s the conclusion? That Trump ran as a Republican because the Democratic party went too far left for him? I’ll leave that for the reader to decide.

To my conservative readers (by which I mean those who share the philosophy of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, not the alt-right or the party loyalists), let’s be honest with ourselves. We, speaking broadly as a group, not necessarily all of us, elected a playboy narcissist because he was better than the Bill of Rights-crushing juggernaut Killary Clinton.

Bullet dodged. We can breathe somewhat easier for, at the very least, two more years. Maybe four.

Let’s remind ourselves that the Republican party, first and foremost, wants political power. It doesn’t care about principles, as proven by it’s nomination of Donald Trump.

With all this said, the conflation between us and Donald Trump is much easier to make when we defend him in his stupidity. Yes, we should praise Trump when he does something conservative like he promised to do, but we don’t need to defend his “grab ‘em” comment. The comment is reprehensible and he should feel the full force of public outrage for saying it.

I know it’s only one example, but it’s one among many. Remember when the people we listen to and respect were begging us to look over Trump’s shortcomings in order to keep Clinton out? We were urged to vote against, not to vote for.

Let the left create demagogues out of their politicians. It’s a strategy they’ve been using for nine years. First with Obama, then Hillary. Lets hold our politicians to our principles instead of crashing with someone the left keeps trying to tie us to. The politicians can either submit to those principles or flounder supportless in Washington.