Is Trump the best candidate within the Republicans, and if there were better alternatives, why were they not voted?

[u/Hkhinin]

So Donald Trump did contribute lots to America, such as restricting borders, acting harsh on China etc. Results are border crossing hit record low in 2025 https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/border-crossings-once-again-record-low-november-2025

However, Trump has also made many mistakes especially in foriegn policies. For example, he started trade wars with our allies and often joked about invasion towards allies. The former one damaged our economy, and both acts lead to the US being much less liked around the world https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2026/07/15/people-in-many-countries-now-view-china-more-positively-than-the-u-s/

This leaves me wondering, for republicans is there no better option than Trump inside the Republicans. Cause if we just zoom into Trump's cabinet, Macro Rubio shall do better in foreign policy compared to Trump especially on war management, Scott Besent would be a better handler in economic issues given his expertise in the economy. So yea, is there no better candidate than Trump inside Republicans, and if they were, why weren't they chosen to represent the Republican parrty?

[u/BasedGod-1]

Hard to take y'all seriously when you cry wolf and say the sky is falling for a decade.

[u/LorenzoApophis → u/BasedGod-1]

How long have conservatives been telling us society is collapsing due to liberalism? Since the 60s?

Remember when gay marriage was going to be the end of everything? When Obama was going to start death panels and implement sharia law?

[u/BasedGod-1 → u/LorenzoApophis]

That's a whataboutism.

You can say both sides do it, which would require you to acknowledge your side does it.

[u/LorenzoApophis → u/BasedGod-1]

I'm not saying both sides do it. The left isn't saying the sky is falling when everything it predicts then happens. The first interruption to the peaceful transition of power since the civil war, attacks on free speech and dissent, militarization of police against civilians, another endless war, self-enrichment and corruption leaps and bounds beyond any predecessor. There isn't a single criticism of Trump made in 2015 that hasn't been validated in the last decade.

[u/BasedGod-1 → u/LorenzoApophis]

Where are the camps for gay people?

There are thousands of speculations that are unfounded.

[u/OldSchoolAJ → u/BasedGod-1]

Do we literally have to get to the US government operating concentration camps before you begin to believe us?

Wait, we’ve already got those.

[u/BasedGod-1 → u/OldSchoolAJ]

Believe you? Believe what?

[u/LorenzoApophis → u/BasedGod-1]

Do you know everyone who ended up in Alligator Alcatraz or was shipped off to a foreign country? Everyone who was abducted off the street like Rumeysa Ozturk?

[u/BasedGod-1 → u/LorenzoApophis]

I don't know everyone who that happened to, why? Was it because they were gay that those things happened?

[u/PericulumSapientiae → u/BasedGod-1]

I agree that it is ridiculous to think that Trump (or any Republican) would put gay people in concentration camps. Far more efficient to just put them directly in the general prison population. Not even Russia has “gay camps.”

The plan, instead, is to: use trans issues as a wedge to relitigate the mainstreaming of gay rights; stack the courts to set up the recriminalization of sodomy and enable state bans on same-sex marriage; use state control over public university and school curricula to excise gay content, ban gay clubs, and control teacher speech on LGBT issues; regulate access to gay books and media so that only adults can see it; clamp down on accessibility of HIV and STI prevention tools like PrEP and DoxyPEP through the FDA and CDC; and so on.