My latest article (which was posted yesterday) posed the question, “Does Trump Really Think So Poorly of Hillary?”

In the piece, I cite instances over the past decade when Trump has heaped praise upon Hillary. In 2007, Trump told Wolf Blitzer of CNN, “Hillary’s always surrounded herself with very good people. I think Hillary would do a good job.” (Would these good people include Huma Abedin?) Trump would also tell Greta Van Susteren in 2012 while Hillary was still Secretary of State that he thought she was “a terrific woman” and “I think she really works hard and I think she does a good job. I like her.”

Lo and behold, Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed discovered a blog post Trump wrote in March 2008 under the auspices of Trump University (now known the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative) heaping yet more praise on Herself. Analyzing the Democrat primary fight between Hillary and Barack Obama, Trump wondered if the two would form “a dream ticket”. He also wrote, “I know Hillary and I think she’d make a great president or vice-president.”

How many people out there who want Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States have ever said aloud, “I think Hillary Clinton would make a great president.”

How many people out there who want Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States admit to knowing Hillary Clinton?

Trump is a yes on both counts.

Now I realize that Trump supporters will rationalize their man’s past praise of Hillary. This rationalization takes the form of, among other things, “Well, Ronald Reagan supported Democrats.”

Yes, Ronald Reagan voted for FDR four times. Ronald Reagan also had to deal with Communists in Hollywood while serving as President of the Screen Actors Guild and also got to understand the hardships facing small businesspeople and workers while travelling around the country as a spokesman for GE. These experiences, which took place over many years, turned Reagan from a liberal Democrat to a conservative Republican and would serve as the foundation for his “A Time for Choosing” speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater in 1964, his two terms as Governor of California and two terms in the White House.

Trump’s about face on Democrats did not come about because of a change of ideological conviction, but because of shallow opportunism. As Trump himself put it with regard to Hillary, “Why would I say she’s doing a terrible job knowing that I may need help from her or her husband in two years about something that I’m not even thinking about now?”

But if Trump said he thought Hillary would make a great President because he thought by saying good things about her that he could get “help from her or her husband” then it could also be said that Trump is now saying terrible things about Hillary because he needs help from voters to get him into office. But once in office then Trump won’t need anything from the voters until the next election.

Simply put, Donald Trump is nothing more than a con artist. Republican voters ought to be able to see right through him. But you know what one wise Republican said about fooling some of the people all of the time.