Donald Trump hasn’t offered many details about his policy proposals beyond immigration, but his supporters don’t seem to mind.
Shortly after Trump unveiled his multi-pronged approach to discourage unlawful immigration to the U.S. and reform the country’s immigration system in a 2,000-word position paper, Republicans began pressing the New York billionaire for specifics on his tax policy, plan to defeat the Islamic State and entitlement reform.
“I hope that [Trump] takes advantage of APPS to have a sit-down conversation and have a detailed conversation about things of substance,” former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush reportedly said during a forum with the defense contractor group, Americans for Peace, Prosperity, and Security.
“That’s what Americans want in the end, that’s what I’m going to focus on,” Bush added.
But Republican strategists predict that Trump is unlikely to deliver the same substance on other issues that he recently offered on immigration, especially since his supporters think it’s OK.
Nico Moorman, a 22-year-old economics major at DePauw University who backs Trump for president, says “so what if his platform isn’t comprehensive?”
“Trump is gifted in other areas,” Moorman told the Washington Examiner. “What he’s lacking in details, he makes up for in his convictions and principles.”
According to GOP strategist Rick Wilson, “once you start telling people that you have specific policies, it gets harder — if you’re a normal candidate — to go out on the stump and make vague promises of miracles.”
But Moorman says Trump hardly qualifies as a “normal candidate” and remains confident that the real estate magnate will expound his views if his support begins to wane or he finds himself up against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the general election.
“Trump’s the kind of guy that will study up when he needs to,” he said.
One New Hampshire voter told Bloomberg Politics recently that Trump’s resolve is enough to win his support regardless of any details he may be failing to provide.
“I haven’t heard a lot of positions,” the voter was quoted as saying. “But one thing is when he takes a position, and I’ll use the John McCain thing, he didn’t turn around two days later and say ‘Oh no, that’s not what I’m supposed to say.’ He stayed with what he believed in, and that’s, to me, what I’m looking for.”
Count them among “millions of voters” who, according to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, are sufficiently satisfied with Trump “calling out the charlatans.”
“At this point, it really doesn’t matter whether Trump has specific policies to vexing problems,” the commentator said.
Wilson notes that although the former reality TV host has a tendency to “make very big promises and change his policies several times,” his supporters remain unfazed.
“I think he’ll continue to come up with whatever they want to hear and his rhetoric doesn’t have to be deep, well-thought-out or considered. It just has to sound good,” Wilson said.
Former McCain campaign aide and GOP strategist Ford O’Connell attributed Trump’s success without substance to his celebrity status and said the former reality TV host can “do whatever he wants when he wants because he’s setting the pace still for the rest of the GOP candidates.”
However, O’Connell says Trump will need to “demonstrate that in a head-to-head matchup with Hillary Clinton he can win” if he wishes to expand his support to right-leaning independents and voters who currently back other candidates.
“Running out with every single policy detail isn’t going to make him more electable, but if he can continue to roll them out as he consolidates his momentum that will benefit his campaign,” O’Connell told the Examiner.
The bombastic front-runner currently leads the GOP field among Republican voters in Iowa, North Carolina, Missouri, and Florida – and his appeal appears to be spreading.
Last Friday, approximately 30,000 people — the largest crowd at any presidential campaign event so far — gathered at a high school football stadium in Mobile, Ala. for a pep rally hosted by Trump.
