The movement conservatives are shocked #theirvotershavenoprinciples

Philip Klein of the Washington Examiner sees this: “For several years, talk about the civil war within Donald Trumpthe GOP was typically described as a fight between conservatives and the Establishment. But a combination of the historically large field — 17 candidates at one point — and the political force of Donald Trump has revealed that there are many more divisions than that.”

Klein goes on to explore those divisions, which he describes as “Old Establishment” (Jeb Bush) vs. “New Establishment” (Rubio), anti-establishment movement conservatives (Cruz) vs. conservative pragmatists (Rubio again), and populists/nationalists (Trump) vs. everyone else.

Prior to last year, it seemed the split in the GOP was basically a conservatives vs. McCain/Romney/Bush big government “compassionate conservative” establishment that included the congressional leadership of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner (and now likely Paul Ryan as well).

But with the rise of Donald Trump, you definitely get the idea there are a lot of populist Republican-leaning voters who despise the establishment like conservatives do yet don't give much credence to making government smaller.

As a general group, these populist voters believe:

1. In whatever they want, including government goodies if they favor them (like ethanol subsidies and government healthcare) and for lack of a better way to put it, to "Make America Great Again," with the “great” part loosely defined.

2. In using government power to spy on people (such as data collection, drones for law enforcement and government oversight of the internet) if it suits them. They say "I don’t have anything to hide and we need protection."

3. In sparing use of military might. They are against sending American troops overseas because they assume the wars aren't in America's interests and they're too expensive and costly. They're against war but heartily support veterans and would eagerly dump billions into helping them because the troops were forced to fight some politician’s unnecessary war.

4. In government pensions and services if it assists them personally and aren’t the least bit concerned about whether it’s constitutional or how much it costs – as long as someone else is paying. They care about the national debt but don’t understand most of it is driven from entitlement programs which they favor.

5. In taxing the wealthy because like Trump says, the system is rigged and the rich need to pay their "fair share." They don't care about statistics that indicate the top 1% of payers already contribute nearly half the total income taxes collected.

I used to think this voter’s movement was embodied in Pat Buchanan, but Buchanan is a full spectrum conservative. Trump is not.

Because Buchanan is a conservative, I reasoned Buchanan’s populist followers were conservatives too. And many of them are. Like Trump, Buchanan favors an America first trade and foreign policy. But Buchanan also is a true believer in the Constitution and limited government.

And needless to say, Buchanan is a dedicated religious man and is definitely socially conservative. Trump is at best a late convert to these causes, at least if his life-long record is any indication.

As Klein suggests in his article, it isn’t clear whether these people will vote Republican if Trump isn't the nominee. They sure won't vote for Hillary or Bernie, but they’ll just as likely say "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference who's in office. They're all corrupt."

Populism groupthink and the Trump phenomenon

Because this populist bloc fervently believes all of government is corrupt, they don’t care about or look for distinctions in how it’s run or how Congress functions. They don’t recognize that not all of those in Congress are corrupt and there's a real battle being conducted by a growing conservative group to save what's left of the original intent of the Constitution.

The populists seem like they didn't pay much attention in civics class, probably thinking at a young age it's all stupid and doesn't make a difference. Now that they're adults, they don't know who actually runs government other than the president and maybe a couple members of Congress.

They vote if they have time but if they skip an election or two it doesn't matter to them. They’re not politically active and resent the attention devoted to elections, preferring to tune them out and complain about the negativity and irrelevancy of politics.

They don't contribute to or volunteer for campaigns either, because the system is corrupt. They love the fact Trump is financing his own campaign partly because it means he’s beyond the system but also because there isn’t anyone asking them to contribute. It’s like getting a freebie.

They know there's a Supreme Court but don't know who's on it or how each Justice votes. They seem not to care that the president appoints these Justices for life. They're not like the 10% of Americans who think Judge Judy is on the Supreme Court, but the vastness of government confuses them and they're ends-oriented people who are more concerned about whether their taxes are too high or their potholes aren’t fixed.

These people have some libertarian beliefs (like legalizing marijuana and tolerance of same-sex marriage), but they're more pragmatic than anything else. They're mad as hell and they don't care what Trump has actually stood for in the past because he's mad as hell too.

They see Megyn Kelly as part of the corrupt media establishment, so they don't care if Trump says disgusting things about her.

And they applaud because Trump boycotted last Thursday’s debate.

For them, it all boils down to one thing – Trump is a smart, blunt-talking businessman who has succeeded his whole life and will fix things. He’s from outside the system and that’s enough. He’ll make great deals whereas all the previous government leaders have been too stupid to know a good deal if it smacked them across the face.

Trump will “Make America Great Again.” But what does that mean in practice?

Every American has a right to make up his or her own mind. But the Trump candidacy is a ruse.

Here’s my prediction: instead of being another Ronald Reagan, when Trump fails these folks due to his lack of any real principled foundation, they’ll turn on him like nothing we’ve ever seen before. They’ll say he’s joined the “corrupt” system and go back into political hibernation, even more convinced that nothing ever changes.

Thankfully, there’s a solid anti-establishment alternative in this year’s field for Trump voters, should they give him a chance. His proposals would lead to the ends these people desire without all the hyperbole that comes along with Trump.

He’ll restore the Constitution which will give them the freedom and accountability they demand and the economic prosperity that will pay for the rest. That’s the “Great” in the slogan.

Ted Cruz can be the Reagan-like leader Trump supporters seek. Let’s hope they’ll give it some thought before voting and then somewhere down the line leaving the system altogether when Trump ends up being the man he is rather than the impossibility of what he promises.