The picture of Donald Trump was taken by me at his very first public presentation that has taken him to the edge of the Republican nomination for president. This was at Freedomfest in Las Vegas last July. And what was notable about this presentation was that he sought out the invitation to speak. He was not on the program until he asked that he be included. And he perfectly well knew that Freedomfest is the most important annual meeting of conservatives and libertarians in the United States. What’s more, he gave one of his free wheeling speeches off the top of his head that had half the audience on its feet at the end. My feeling at the time was that in speaking to that audience he was in home territory among people who understood what he was about and about whom he understood what they were about. I live blogged his presentation and in re-reading it now, I can again see his vast appeal.

There is a post at Instapundit by Roger Simon, IT’S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! Roger Simon: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love The Donald for Xmas. This is the passage quoted:

All the Republican candidates have their flaws, as does, in spades, the woman far at the front of the Democratic pack, described almost twenty years ago by William Safire in one of the most prescient op-eds ever as a “congenital liar.”

But my interest here is not in detailing everyone’s weaknesses – I like to remain friends with people – but, as a Christmas present to the angst-ridden, to try to explain how Trump’s flaws can be turned to the advantage of Republicans and conservatives. This is particularly important if, as appears highly possible, he wins the nomination. What do we do about it?

The answer is obvious. The solution to conservative angst over Trump is simple: stop criticizing him, co-opt him.

You don’t have to co-opt him. He is with us. Nobody understands all of the issues and everyone needs input to find their way. But what seems apparent on the evidence so far is that Trump is already onside with most of what we conservatives believe and would like to achieve. Marco Rubio had spoken the day before and left no impression other than he was too callow for the job. Given that it was Freedomfest, the libertarians there were largely ready to support Rand Paul. But it was only Trump who actually made fixing things seem possible. It may be a mirage. He may in the end not have what it takes. But unless he is the greatest charlatan in political history – putting even Obama into the shade – what you see is what you get, and what you get is possibly the most conservative candidate we have seen since Ronald Reagan. What constitutes a conservative in the era of Obama and Clinton is something different from what it was in 1980. Donald Trump may be as conservative as it is possible to be at the present time and still get elected in the United States.