[Hoot Gibson]

Despite the childish campaign that Trump is running, I don't doubt that he is a very intelligent man. I believe that he was pretty confident that his friend Hillary Clinton was facing some serious legal issues before he decided to run. Trump is not targeting the same voters as Cruz. There is an overlap between the two candidates' target constituencies, but Trump's simplistic populist message plays on voters' hopes and fears. His pitch does not appeal to voters' core values. You hope that he will be the conservative that he never was. Liberals who support Trump think that he is just saying what he needs to say to get elected, but will rule as the liberal that he was before 2015.

All the evidence that one needs that Trump will say whatever it takes to be elected is his support of mandating the use of more ethanol in our cars. It takes three gallons of gasoline or diesel to produce four gallons of ethanol. Ethanol produces more poisonous pollutants than gasoline. It also damages engines that have not been specially designed to burn ethanol.

Iowans who have grown dependent on ethanol subsidies and higher corn prices would have been perfectly content if all the candidates had continued to support the current federal mandates on ethanol use. Yet, Trump decided to support forcing us to burn more ethanol and pay higher prices for gas and food.

Advocating greater ethanol usage is the worst kind of pandering. Burning corn for fuel is inefficient and expensive and it drives up the cost of all meat, poultry, and processed food products, either as a direct result or as the result of higher fuel prices. The only reason for Trump's position on higher ethanol use is to beat Ted Cruz in the Iowa primary. Will he keep his promise to Iowa farmers? Probably not, because he will not need Iowa's support in November to beat Bernie Sanders or whatever other loser Democrats choose to run. Compare that to Cruz's principled position of phasing out ethanol subsidies and mandates and allowing the free market decide the issue.

The worst result of electing Trump over any of the other Republicans is that it is doubtful that he would make any real effort to appoint conservatives to the Supreme Court. His criticism of Scalia and comments about what a great SC Justice his pro-abortion sister would be demonstrates that this is not a priority for Trump. Trump's positive comments about Justice Thomas after he slammed Scalia was just more pandering. Trump could get a more liberal judge confirmed before a Republican Senate than Bernie Sanders could, and he might just do so.

I respect your position on Trump. Like you, I have advocated voting for the lesser of two evils in past election years but I regret those votes. I believe that electing another authoritarian to the White House would be a disaster. Trump might try to keep a couple of important promises and get work started on a wall with Mexico, but the knives of both the GOP and Democrats would be waiting for him as soon as the honeymoon was over.

I hope you are right about Trump, but I would be shocked if he became a great (or even average) president. In fact, I would be surprised if he serves a full term if he is elected.