Conservative Columnist Says Trump Is 'Dangerous' And 'Not Even A Conservative'

Presidential candidate and reality TV star Donald Trump may be energizing some Republican base voters, but Matt Lewis, senior contributor to conservative news site The Daily Caller, thinks he’s bad for the conservative movement.

“He's actually very dangerous,” Lewis said Thursday on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe," arguing that support for Trump represented “a strain on the right that's not conservatism, it's sort of a right-wing populism."

Like most conservatives, Lewis sees the presidency of Ronald Reagan as the movement's high point. But since then, he said Thursday, conservatism has been "dumbed down."

“Obviously, it started out as a very thoughtful, intellectual philosophy. I do think it got dumbed down in the years after Ronald Reagan,” Lewis said. He suggested conservatives were "reaping what we sow with Donald Trump.”

“It’s not conservatism -- he's not even a conservative!” Lewis reiterated, pointing out that Trump previously supported single-payer health care and abortion rights.