I was maybe the earliest person who was constructive toward Trump who served at a high level in the Bush administration. I took a lot of guff from my former Bush colleagues who didn't see what was happening in the country. I'm not smarter than they are or a better person than they are. I just traveled a lot around the country.
Matt SchlappI think where conservatives were wary of Trump is he had not advocated for conservative positions for decades. He had been more meandering in his politics, including being a Democrat, including writing checks to Democrats. I have said that it's impossible to say what a candidate is until they get to office, especially someone who has never been in office before.
Matt SchlappI do think Donald Trump has conservative instincts. I think he had anti-Obama instincts. I think he saw Obamacare, the Obama foreign policy, the Obama economic policies as harmful to America.
Matt SchlappYou know, when you don't have your real income, your take-home pay increase for a decade or a decade-and-a-half, it makes you awfully discouraged. And then when you see other things in society changing so rapidly, and you think that government is ineffective and unable to - incapable of taking steps, appropriate steps to make sure that America can lead, lead on the international stage and lead the international economy, I think that was so much of this.
Matt SchlappDonald Trump has clearly put conservative around him, he's clearly taking conservative policy positions, and I think for conservatives, the first, most important pick was selecting Mike Pence, then picking Neil Gorsuch to fill this tiebreaking vote on the Supreme Court. Looking at the Cabinet. Most conservatives are pretty happy.
Matt Schlapp