Josh R

Software Executive, Reader, Composer, Traveler, History Buff, anti-communist, anti-fascist, former GOP, principled conservative, supporter of Ukraine.🇺🇸🇺🇦

[Josh R @jjroach3]

Donald Trump Is Not a Conservative. He’s a Warning.

By a lifelong Republican who still believes in conservative principles.

It’s time to say out loud what many on the right whisper privately, and what is going to be increasingly made public: Donald Trump is not a conservative. Not in philosophy, not in temperament, not in governing style, and certainly not in respect for the institutions that conservatives have spent generations trying to preserve.

Trumpism isn’t the future of conservatism—it’s its undoing.

Conservatism Once Meant Something. Trump Burned It Down.

Real conservatism champions limited government, personal responsibility, fiscal discipline, and reverence for the constitutional structure that restrains human ambition. It values rule of law over rule of man. It elevates character and humility, not chaos and ego.

Trump embodies none of that.

Instead, he has offered a politics of resentment, centralization of power, and a cult of personality so intense that many Republicans now treat the presidency as a throne rather than a constitutional office. This isn’t the legacy of Goldwater or Reagan. It’s the legacy of leaders conservatives once warned the nation about.

A Man Who Worships Power Cannot Be a Conservative

The first principle of conservatism is that power must be restrained, because human nature is flawed. Trump’s first principle is that power should be accumulated, because he believes he alone is virtuous.

Conservatives fought for decades to limit presidential overreach. Trump smashed those boundaries with the zeal of someone who had never read a page of The Federalist Papers but is certain he understood them better than the authors. He threatened to use the DOJ against political enemies, demanded personal loyalty from public servants, attacked judges whose rulings he disliked, and treated independent institutions as his personal subsidiaries.

That is not conservatism.
That is authoritarian instinct—plain and simple.
A Fiscal Conservative? Don’t Make Me Laugh.

Trump exploded the deficit in times of economic expansion—something no conservative president had ever done. He signed every bloated spending bill that crossed his desk, raised tariffs (a hidden tax on consumers), and showed zero interest in entitlement reform or long-term financial stewardship.

Conservatives used to talk about debt as a moral issue. Trump treated it like Monopoly money.

Trade Protectionism Is Not Conservative Economics

For decades, conservatives fought for free markets, open competition, and lower barriers to global commerce. Trump shattered that consensus with old-school economic nationalism dressed up as populist bravado. His tariffs punished American consumers and businesses more than foreign adversaries.

Reagan said, “Protectionism is destructionism.”
Trump called tariffs “beautiful.”

One of them was a conservative. The other was Donald Trump.
Character Still Counts—No Matter What Excuses His Followers Make

Conservatism is a worldview rooted in virtue. Burke wrote about the necessity of ordered liberty supported by personal restraint. Buckley demanded decency and seriousness from the conservative movement. Reagan modeled optimism, humility, humor, and faith in America.

Trump modeled none of these.
He brought pettiness, cruelty, and narcissism into the center of the Republican identity. For too many, character no longer mattered as long as the leader punched the right enemies. That shift alone disqualifies Trump from being called a conservative—because it erases the moral foundation of the movement.

He Has Contempt for the Constitution He Swore to Defend

Conservatives revere the Constitution because it restrains the passions of the moment. Trump sees the Constitution as an inconvenient rulebook that keeps him from doing whatever he wants.
He floated ideas like “terminating” parts of it after the 2020 election—a statement that should have permanently disqualified him from conservative life. He showed open disdain for federalism, attacked state leaders who disagreed with him, and repeatedly praised strongmen abroad whose power he envied.

No one who speaks like that should ever again be called a conservative.

Trump Isn’t a Philosophy—He’s an Erosion

At its core, conservatism is about preserving the things that keep a nation strong:
its institutions, its norms, its fiscal health, its civic virtue, and its constitutional order.

Trump undermined every one of them.

The real danger isn’t just Trump himself. It’s the precedent he sets: that a president can ignore norms, pressure institutions, centralize power, and shred the guardrails of democracy—all while claiming to be the guardian of “real America.”

If conservatives allow that to stand, the movement won’t survive. The authoritarian left won’t destroy conservatism—Trumpism will.
Conservatives Must Choose: Trump or Conservatism

Those of us who still believe in conservative principles face a choice, and it’s not complicated:

We can defend the Constitution, or we can defend Trump.

We can stand for limited government, or we can stand for unlimited executive ego.

We can preserve the conservative movement, or we can watch it mutate into a populist personality cult.

But we cannot pretend that both visions are conservative.

One is rooted in centuries of wisdom about human nature and the fragility of self-government.
The other is rooted in the impulses of a single man.
Trump is not a conservative. He never was.
He is the loudest alarm bell the right has heard in generations—and if conservatives ignore it, we may never again recognize the movement we once believed in.

[Josh R @jjroach3]

@WollastonWntr63 Every word of this is true. #SlavaUkraïni

[AffirmedAlydar 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 🇩🇰 @WollastonWntr63]

Trump has always had something nasty to say about everyone.
Except Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation.
A bit odd considering nobody has done more to deserve to be on the receiving end of nasty comments from an American president than 🇷🇺.
And Trump and his VP attempted to humiliate and denigrate Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the actual victim in this conflict whose leadership has been historically heroic, during a WH visit in February 2025.
You must know the obvious but feel that you have more influence if you don't come right out and say it. Trump may or may not be compromised but he's at least a fellow traveler of Putin's, someone who commands more respect from Trump than anyone who's ever lived. That is not an appropriate posture for an American president to have given who Putin is and what the United States of America is supposed to represent.
If Trump were a Russian asset nothing he has done to weaken the United States and break apart the West would be any different from what he's actually done.
I understand the position you're in, at least I suspect I do.
Thank you for being on the right side of this but I long for the day when we all can feel free to discuss with complete honesty what is actually happening and who and what Donald Trump actually is.
Much of America would not be able to accommodate the truth with that just yet and I get that.
But we need to get there and the sooner the better.

[Nicolas Tenzer @NTenzer]

They haven’t learned a thing...
There has never been a “right time” to negotiate with Putin’s russia.
Today, less than ever.
Moscow is growing weaker—this is precisely the moment when we Europeans must deal it the fatal blow without flinching.
Full stop.
https://t.co/dgoQZ4m9c6

[Pete Buttigieg @PeteButtigieg]

I am not making this up: Secretary Rubio actually sat before Congress today and said “the war is over.”

It’s a bizarre lie to tell when Americans know there’s obviously a war underway - not just from seeing it on screens, but from paying its costs every day at home.

Leaders with this little respect for the American people have no business in office.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

Sen. Shaheen grills Rubio: "In 2017, you wrote as a Senator that Vladimir Putin will never be a trusted ally or a reliable, constructive partner.

But since taking office, you, President, Vice President, Steve Witkoff — not one of you has been to Ukraine.

And yet, your envoys talk to Putin on regular basis. President has invited him, given him red-carpet treatment on American soil, but yet you won't come up here and brief Congress on any of it.

Decisions Congress has made on Russia have been systematically undermined. Congress passed support for Ukraine, but administration has slow-walked it.

Instead of sanctioning Russia, administration issued oil licenses that have sent billions to Moscow. Congress has asked what this approach has produced.

Russia has conducted five times more drone strikes on Ukraine since 2024. More U.S. businesses are being directly targeted than at any point in this conflict.

Russia is providing targeting intelligence to help Iran hit our facilities and personnel in the Middle East, while we're helping them fund this war."

[Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸✈️🏍️⭐️🎖️ @RepDonBacon]

Mr Witkoff has gone to Moscow eight times to negotiate peace… zero times to Ukraine. Most Americans know this is not right. Don’t pretend to be neutral when the facts are obvious. Can we get someone serious in the position to do this right?

[Josh R @jjroach3]

@slantchev Mearsheimer should be arrested for treason against the free west. Russia is the enemy of the free world. You side with Russia, you side with evil. Treason.

[Irwin Redlener, MD @IrwinRedlenerMD]

Trump and Vance have abandoned an ally that has been defending America's democracy for more than four years in favor of an avowed adversary committed to chaos and destruction of the West. Such an unforgivable betrayal of America's interests. No American should tolerate this from an American President. I weep for Ukraine and feel deeply embarrassed and infuriated about the unrepentant incompetence of this administration.

[Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸✈️🏍️⭐️🎖️ @RepDonBacon]

Congress can no longer wait on the Administration to act. That’s why we will vote this week on military aid to Ukraine & tough sanctions on Russia. America must have moral clarity in regard to Putin’s invasion and murdering civilians. 70% of Americans want a stronger response.

[Anders Åslund @anders_aslund]

Trump appears to abandon his idea of a slush fund for criminals.
Needless to say, Trump is not concerned about his idea being criminal but that too many republican senators would not go along with his crimes.
https://t.co/QliL6H1QVj

[John Jackson @hissgoescobra]

Facts: Russia has the 5th highest HIV rate in the world, 52% of Russian hospitals lack hot water, 20% of Russian homes lack indoor plumbing, the life expectancy is 13 years below France, the domestic violence, alcoholism, and death rates are off the charts. Enjoy.

[Josh R @jjroach3]

The best thing that could happen is for Europe to continue to massively supply Ukraine with arms, intelligence and funds in order to fully DEFEAT Russia. Then, Ukraine and Europe need to DEMAND that Russia handover Putin for war crimes, or we will continue to squeeze sanctions against them until the Russian economy completely crumbles.
Hand over that evil bastard Putin, or the Russian economy will be brought to its knees, just like their pathetic Orcs dying en masse on the front line. (Forget the traitor Trump - he’s now irrelevant. We need adults only in this war against evil Russia.) NO negotiations with Putin. Russian complete defeat is now the goal.
#SlavaUkraïni

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

🚨 THAT SHOULD SET OFF ALARM BELLS INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE.

According to the analysis, Trump hasn't just lost support nationally.

He's losing ground everywhere.

🔥 Every single state.NIncluding deep-red states that are supposed to be politically untouchable.

The most stunning number?

Wyoming.

The most pro-Trump state in America.

Down 25 points.

Kentucky?

Down 23 points.

Even states like Florida and Ohio reportedly moved from positive territory to negative.

[Josh R @jjroach3]

The best thing that could happen is for Europe to continue to massively supply Ukraine with arms, intelligence and funds in order to fully DEFEAT Russia. Then, Ukraine and Europe need to DEMAND that Russia handover Putin for war crimes, or we will continue to squeeze sanctions against them until the Russian economy completely crumbles.
Hand over that evil bastard Putin, or the Russian economy will be brought to its knees, just like their pathetic Orcs dying en masse on the front line. (Forget the traitor Trump - he’s now irrelevant. We need adults only in this war against evil Russia.) NO negotiations with Putin. Russian complete defeat is now the goal.
#SlavaUkraïni

[Josh R @jjroach3]

The best thing that could happen is for Europe to continue to massively supply Ukraine with arms, intelligence and funds in order to fully DEFEAT Russia. Then, Ukraine and Europe need to DEMAND that Russia handover Putin for war crimes, or we will continue to squeeze sanctions against them until the Russian economy completely crumbles.
Hand over that evil bastard Putin, or the Russian economy will be brought to its knees, just like their pathetic Orcs dying en masse on the front line. (Forget the traitor Trump - he’s now irrelevant. We need adults only in this war against evil Russia.) NO negotiations with Putin. Russian complete defeat is now the goal.
#SlavaUkraïni

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

Pastor Mark Burns: Being here in Ukraine, with the people, I can say that propaganda from Russia is very real — and how it’s used in Christian conservative circles to essentially dislike Ukrainians.

And so when I saw with my own eyes that Ukrainians do love God, are not racists, are not godless society as they were being portrayed, are not corrupt people — they’re normal people just like you and me.

And the fact that Ukraine is bigger than just blue and yellow map that you see on CNN — they’re real people. Real mothers, real daughters, real children.

And when I saw that and atrocities that Russians were doing — not the war, but war crimes they had been committing against Ukrainians — my heart immediately shifted and changed from being just a Republican to being a human being.

And I had to choose then to speak for what is right, and not necessarily what is popular. That’s what changed my heart.

[Kateryna Lisunova @KaterynaLis]

ZELENSKYY: Putin who doesn't even get all the real statistics about what is actually happening.

“Russia is going to hit a real crisis due to its own stupidity. We've been saying for a long time that it's up to the Russians to end this war. Ukraine has suggested all possible formats for real negotiations, for guaranteeing security, and for a respectful peace. The only one who needs to make a decision is the Russian leader (Putin), who doesn't even get all the real statistics about what is actually happening” - Ukrainian President on Monday, June 1st, 2026.

[AnatolijUkraine @AnatoliUkraine]

The greatest success of Russian intelligence wasn’t hacking servers.

It was convincing millions of people that every institution is the enemy, every fact is a lie, and every conspiracy deserves equal weight.

Once that poison takes hold, the damage becomes self-sustaining.

The Kremlin can step back.

The chaos keeps working on its own.

[Regina @regie2bme]

@MaxBoot Thought provoking. Still, Congress has some cards too. This is one that should be voted on in the House this week. Americans like me want to see it pass!

[Josh R @jjroach3]

Only Traitors support Russia.