Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for president, says conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer, though he won't commit to vote for him in November until he is assured he will be conservative in office.
Trump is a populist, and while that is a perfectly legitimate political philosophy, Krauthammer said, it is not conservatism.
"Populist conservative is a contradiction in terms," he said.
Many Republicans say they signed on to the party because they are conservatives, and Trump doesn't fit that bill, Krauthammer said Tuesday on Fox News Channel's
"The O'Reilly Factor." Krauthammer was a liberal Democrat before converting to conservatism in the 1980s.
"But there are going to be just as many people who say, I'm not a doctrinaire conservative and I want someone who is going to shake things up and get phony politicians out on their ears," host Bill O'Reilly countered. Those people have larger numbers than the ideologues, he said.
"If you are right, then Trump will be president in January of next year," Krauthammer conceded.
When O'Reilly said the party platform will be conservative, Krauthammer responded, "You and I know that a platform doesn't mean a damn thing. What has he been saying and what has he been advocating? That's what counts."
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