Hey Brian,
Things are often that way with Keyboard Maestro, but the opposite is also pretty common.
Kudos – you did a good job of describing your task and making it easy for people to help you.
Here's how I'd probably approach this job:
Whitespace often slips unannounced into copied text – hence the trim action.
A regex with a negative-lookahead-assertion instead of a more formal IF structure.
@cdthomer – this is a case where I personally would probably use a N.L.A – and the macro also incorporates other techniques discussed in this thread:
RegEx question: how to search for white space repetitions (1 tab and 1 new line)
-Chris