The views of the average Republican voter have shifted over the last 5 years.  It is mostly a positive shift, although there is a lot of progress to be made still.

This is largely due to the Trump effect.  For all of his flaws, Trump has moved his followers into being slightly less statist.  I think there was already major discomfort in a major faction of the Republican Party.  That is why Trump was able to exploit this and get the nomination in 2016.

To be clear, I am talking about the average Republican/ Trump follower.  I am not talking about politicians and bureaucrats who claim to support Trump.

I was talking to a friend the other day.  He is a big fan of Trump.  He knows that I am a libertarian.  We can have a good discussion, but there are areas of disagreement.  Sometimes there are disagreements on the most important topics.  He sees immigration as a very important issue.  It’s not that I don’t think it is important, but it is not a top issue for me.  I also think it is largely an effect of other bad policies.

If you dramatically reduce the welfare and warfare state and enforce property rights, then immigration becomes less of a problem.

In our conversation, I was criticizing Trump for people he surrounded himself with.  I said that people like Bill Barr and Nikki Haley are not, and never were, Trump’s friends.  Haley opposed Trump in 2015 and 2016 when he was trying to get the nomination.  Barr is another leftover from the Bush regime.

I mentioned Mike Pompeo to my friend.  He said he views him favorably.  I told him not to be fooled.  Pompeo is just politically savvy.  He will take Trump’s words and manipulate them into a more hawkish stance on foreign policy.  He is careful not to directly criticize Trump because he knows how much support Trump has.

I have seen the same thing with Lindsey Graham over the last several years.  He is still a major war hawk, but he makes himself appear to be an ally of Trump.  He has slipped up a few times, and I think some Trump supporters recognize now that Graham is not an ally.

I also mentioned George W. Bush to my friend.  He is not a fan.  My friend suspects that Bush was behind the 9/11 attacks, or at least knew it was going to happen.  This is a major thing.

It’s interesting that Trump has turned a large portion of the Republican Party against Bush.  This helps cut down on the militarism.  I just don’t understand why more of them didn’t see an issue when Trump was appointing Bush regime leftovers to his cabinet/ administration.

Police, Military, Intelligence Agencies

I watch Fox News a little bit.  I have seen some shifting there based on viewer preferences.  Most of it is positive, but I understand there are many shows and people on that network that still promote war and militarism.

While CNN and MSNBC talk about Russia, many on Fox News are talking about China, and not in a good way.  It is just more poking at the hornet’s nest.

It’s not that there aren’t a lot of things to criticize about China, but they ignore the many crimes of the U.S. government.  The criticism we do get internally is about Biden and Harris, not about the whole corrupt system.

But there are exceptions.  Tucker Carlson holds the big primetime spot at 8:00 PM on the east coast.  While he is not a libertarian by any means, he has largely been a hero for those promoting liberty.  He has done some great work exposing the deep state.  If Bill O’Reilly were still in there, we would be getting old Republican talking points promoting tyranny and war, sprinkled with a few good things here and there.

I sometimes see parts of Gutfeld before I go to bed.  This is a mix of comedy and political/ current events.  I certainly disagree with things that are said on the show, but there are a variety of guests with a variety of views.  Sure, there are no hardcore leftists on there, and most of it leans conservative, but I can’t help but notice the libertarian leanings of some of the people on there.  I have heard criticisms of the drug war, the police state, and other things that would make a libertarian happy.  I saw one episode where Dave Smith was one of the guests, so that in itself puts it ahead of almost any other show on television.

The Republican base still defends the police and military.  They still even sometimes defend the intelligence agencies.  They’ll say things like, “Most of the people with the FBI are good people, but there’s a few corrupt individuals at the top.”

Still, I’ll take what I can get, because I also hear criticisms of U.S. foreign policy and criticisms of the police that I wouldn’t have heard 5 years ago.

There is more skepticism of power, including those who actually carry out the enforcement.  Conservatives have seen videos of the police tackling and arresting someone because they weren’t wearing a mask, or going to a restaurant to shut it down because they had indoor dining against the restrictions.  More people are seeing the viciousness of the state come out.  And it can only be vicious if it is enforced with force.

People have also seen the brutality in other first-world countries.  There were people in Australia getting arrested for being out without a purpose.  There was a pastor arrested in Canada for having a church service.  This exposes the state for what it is.

Trump did his part in exposing the deep state.  Some of it was done inadvertently.  The corporate media, in trying to attack Trump, also helped to expose themselves as liars, as well as exposing the lying and criminal intelligence agencies for what they are.

Conclusion

The Republican politicians and bureaucrats are still mostly corrupt.  Some of them read the political tea leaves and change their rhetoric accordingly.

The average Republican who has generally supported Trump has gotten better.  Trump is a major improvement over Bush.

There is still way too much reliance on the state.  But there is less militarism than before, and there is a little bit of skepticism towards too much police power.  This is a step in the right direction, and libertarians should exploit this.

I find you can talk to most Trump followers.  It is easier to nudge them in a libertarian direction than you will get with almost any leftist.

The state has less consent of the people than it did 5 years ago.  Overall, this is a positive occurrence for liberty.

Now we just need to get the Trump people to start questioning the idea of the state educating our children.