Strict conservative and tea party die-hard Sen. Mike Lee told Politico of his belief that President Donald Trump is a conservative — insofar as he was elected under the Republican brand.
"At any given time, when there is a Republican president, typically we regard that person as the leader of the Republican Party. I would say that is the case today," Lee told Politico.
That and the fact Trump does believe in one conservative principle near and dear to Lee — breaking up the power in D.C. and giving it back to the people.
"He promised in his inaugural speech in January … to be something that will bring about a shift of power from Washington, D.C. back to the American people," Lee told Politico. "To the extent he adheres to those principles, which are, by their nature, conservative, then I think that will bode very well for the future of the conservative movement."
That's news to an ally of Lee's.
"It seems to me it's pretty obvious that Trump is not a conservative," David Boaz, the executive vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute, told Politico.
Boaz calls Trump "a scary authoritarian nationalist protectionist crony-ist," Politico reported.
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