It's a start

Two weeks ago I penned a blog post clarifying my position on Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee for President. As someone who has voted Republican in every election since 1992, I recently found myself seriously considering abstaining from a vote for President if Mr. Trump continued to woefully lack substance.

Here's an excerpt of the post I wrote on May 5:

If Trump can actually give me something to work with, I will latch on to it and charge forward. For instance, the Supreme Court seat left vacant due to the death of Antonin Scalia. If Trump were to furnish a list of potential nominees in the motif of Scalia, I'd be sold! Yes, the Supreme Court is that important. And it would also go a long way to emphasizing on how the GOP needs to maintain its majority in the Senate. As of now, Trump being at the top of the ticket has put said majority in jeopardy.

On Wednesday, Trump seemed to take a step towards mobilizing conservatives like myself.

Today Donald J. Trump released the much-anticipated list of people he would consider as potential replacements for Justice Scalia at the United States Supreme Court. This list was compiled, first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership.

Mr. Trump stated, “Justice Scalia was a remarkable person and a brilliant Supreme Court Justice. His career was defined by his reverence for the Constitution and his legacy of protecting Americans’ most cherished freedoms. He was a Justice who did not believe in legislating from the bench and he is a person whom I held in the highest regard and will always greatly respect his intelligence and conviction to uphold the Constitution of our country. The following list of potential Supreme Court justices is representative of the kind of constitutional principles I value and, as President, I plan to use this list as a guide to nominate our next United States Supreme Court Justices.”

Click the link here to see list of justices Trump is considering.

For me personally, this is the most open minded I've been about Trump's candidacy since he entered the presidential race nearly a year ago. As an added bonus it took the spotlight away from Senate Democrats' dog-and-pony show on behalf of  Merrick Garland, who is President Barack Obama's nominee to replace Scalia. Thankfully the GOP majority has stood firm in its commitment to having the next President fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy.

Next up for Trump is he is scheduled to release a detailed economic plan, one which will includ a vow to repeal the overbearing Dodd-Frank bill.

Could we finally be delving into actual substantive issues this presidential campaign? Let's just say I'm cautiously optimistic this will continue.

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