Many admire Trump for his audacity to say things that ordinarily a person, especially a career politician, would never say. I jump in support of Trump in our daily conversation if I find someone not supporting his views.

United States faces a number of issues that have not been heavily debated before. Trump is right to speak out. He has started debate on issues such as illegal immigration, bringing jobs back from other nations, and foreign nations taking advantage of the US in trade.

When Trump decided to run, very few people thought that he would be a serious long-term candidate. It began to change when he found himself dragged in the Mexican “offensive” speech controversy. Within a few weeks the San Bernardino, California shooting happened and provided justification for his concerns about border control and immigration.

Trump’s tough stance on jobs, immigration, veteran welfare, and foreign policy keep his numbers going up. Real unemployment is indeed very high; illegal immigrants have indeed violated US laws and should not be rewarded for this; there is evidence of healthcare and public welfare fraud while there are war veterans on the streets.

In the beginning, it was surprising to see how well Trump connected with Main Street. He is perhaps more connected to both Queens and Manhattan than any other candidate. He understood the two different worlds of Queens and Manhattan and how they reflect the issues facing America.

I believe that Trump’s positions are easy to support because of the evidence around his positions. His positions on immigration, veterans, healthcare and jobs resonate with me.

It is very easy for me to proudly argue and support Trump’s positions with my peers in social gatherings. For example, I do not believe that amnesty is necessary since the US does not depend on illegal immigrants to make this country great. Just because someone has come here illegally does not entitle them to a green card. There are millions of very qualified individuals who pay a heavy tuition to attend and graduate from top US universities but are forced to leave the US. As a result, these talented men and women create competitive businesses in their home countries and in turn we have to compete with them. Essentially, we educated and create our own competitors and then kick them out. There is no reason why illegal immigrants should be preferred over them.

There are many homeless with cards reading “Gulf War Vet” or “Vietnam War Vet” in their hands on the streets. You would rarely find a veteran on the streets in any other country. For all the service they did for United States, it is important to find out what leads them to end up on the street and resolve that problem.

Obamacare has made healthcare more complex. It has benefitted insurance companies to sell more policies, healthcare practitioners to see more patients and hurts those who are poor but not entitled to subsidies. Under Obamacare, people in poverty and “on-paper poor” don’t pay anything, middle-income earners pay the most while the higher income earners are not affected much. In addition, it’s likely that most of the emergency room visitors or the people who would benefit the most under Obamacare are the same millions of people who would benefit under amnesty that Obama administration wants to grant.

Trump is also familiar with the loopholes that people use to avoid government taxation and regulation. People take payment in cash so that they don’t have to pay for taxes; take a mix of cash and check so that they qualify for Obamacare. There are incentives for those who make very little to simply stop working and rely upon welfare. Illegal immigrants have put downward pressure on wages. This increased competition for low-paying jobs, along with outsourcing by companies, has increased unemployment numbers and reduced median incomes.

However, his views on security and privacy make it harder to defend him as a conservative candidate.

In all the things that Donald Trump stands for, the troubling part is his commitment towards privacy and security issues thereby raising a question mark on his commitment towards the US constitution.

While I tend to agree with most of Donald Trump’s positions, I find myself in a difficult spot when he discusses security and privacy. It’s puzzling that Trump is in line with John McCain for denying US citizens their rights granted under the constitution. It’s puzzling that he wants Apple to create software to break into its own iPhone

There is not an easy answer to the Apple versus the FBI issue. Trump has operated business and he knows the challenges of a business very well. He called for a boycott of Apple products and very conveniently said that Apple must comply with the government request. It sounded like a good political speech. However, this is not a political issue. This is a real challenge that the US government and Apple face. His “one liner” boycott Apple would not solve this issue. It would have been a good practical example of his problem-solving skill if he had offered a solution for this issue rather than taking a political stance like Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

There are several challenges if Apple honors the request. For example, how will Trump react to China or Mexico’s request to Apple for Trump’s iPhone access? Should Apple create an arm to serve the government requests? Should people’s data remain private? Should businesses regularly be forced to provide a solution for the government? Should a business be forced to create distrust with its customers? Should a business be punished for being more innovative than the government? Wouldn’t it infer that Trump supports government overreach? Would Trump’s administration fund companies to create a separate department to serve government requests? If so, wouldn’t he be expanding the size of the government (which I believe is contrary to conservative beliefs)?

It is very likely that Trump did not understand that Apple lacks a “secret code” to break into the later versions of iPhone. Perhaps he does not understand the technology. A “typical Trump” thing to do would have been to realize that he did say something that he did not know well but has to support whatever he said.

Trump has always been a major brand but it would be wrong to say that he is a bigger brand than Apple. It is wrong to assume that anyone would stop using Apple devices simply because Donald Trump said so. Trump himself is a good example of it. He was tweeting with iOS device right after he called for Apple’s boycott.

Rather than a wild card, he should perhaps throw a card that makes sense. Trump has put his conservative supporters in a difficult spot.

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About the Author : Riti Patel is the founder of Salereporter, an App that sends instant notification of deals around you. She also operates a digital strategy & web development firm in Washington, DC. She could be contacted at www.ritipatel.com