With sometimes impulsive, inflammatory tweets that create needless feuds (and inevitable accusations of all the “isms”) plus the resulting negativity in media and political precincts, President Donald Trump often obscures the actual accomplishments of his administration so far and needlessly elevates several of his foes.
On the other hand, Trump has shown the often-spineless GOP how to fight back against the Democrat-media complex, and some officeholders have actually followed his example.
Like him or not, moreover, he is perhaps the only POTUS in recent memory that has actually fulfilled many of his pro-America campaign promises. A former Democrat and independent who ran for the highest office in the land on the GOP ticket, the 45th president is implementing a conservative agenda that many, do-anything-for-a check Never Trumpers supposedly nonetheless spent their careers supporting.
The hypocritical, defeatist Never Trumpers probably don’t like that Trump to his great credit, and with all his faults, is serious about avoiding endless war, securing the border, and reforming and reversing one-sided international trade agreements that have wiped out American jobs and hollowed out the U.S. manufacturing base.
In essentially abandoning their right-wing ideological agenda that they spent their cushy career supposedly espousing, Never Trumpers on the Washington-New York circuit perhaps can’t seem to look beyond the president’s hair, his outsized personality and his bombastic, irreverent rhetoric (and he’s not a detail guy), or his tan makeup to see the big picture that ordinary Americans can process.
Moreover, despite all the faux outrage and manufactured controversies du jour, many other politicians have said similar things to what Trump has expressed, except he does it in a far more non-PC way.
Not a Normal Presidency — and That’s a Good Thing
Syndicated columnist Mona Charen used to be a sensible regular on various political roundtable TV shows. Earlier this month, the self-described lifelong conservative and current Never Trumper revealed in a Politico essay that she voted Democrat in the 2018 U.S. House elections (how did that work out?) and would consider voting Democrat in the 2020 presidential election. That is, if the Democrats nominate a moderate, so called, like Joe Biden which would be a manifestation of “embracing political normalcy again.” She claimed that this is not “a normal Republican presidency.”
With the latter comment, Charen is 100 percent on target, but not for the reasons that she presumes.
Charen noted that “If [Trump] gains a second term, conservatism may well be irredeemably tarnished.”
It’s just the opposite; conservatism (whatever that means) under both Bush presidents, for example, tarnished itself. Low-energy conservatives who ran against Obama fell short of the mark.
Grassroots, right-leaning and/or populist-leaning voters (which also includes Democrats and independents) rejected the GOP establishment and conservative-in-name-only logrollers when Trump got the nomination and went on to win the White House.
Look at the mess the elitists in the so-called Conservative Party in the U.K. made in the past three years by failing to implement Brexit, thereby thwarting the will of the people.
Never Trump Never Learns
In a perceptive article posted at the American Greatness website, Julie Kelly mentioned Charen and others in addressing what she described as the crumbling Never Trump–Left alliance.
“This collection of failed magazine editors, Iraq War propagandists, washed-up columnists, Russian collusion pimps, and losing campaign consultants have dogged Donald Trump and his supporters for three years. While some anti-Trump ‘conservatives’ who contributed to National Review’s infamous ‘Against Trump’ issue in early 2016 have become supporters of the president, others cannot let go—but their obstinance is less about principle and more about grift: Acting as the useful conservative idiot for the Washington Post or MSNBC has breathed new life into once stale careers and burned reputations.
“A slew of groveling NeverTrumpers have published columns proffering advice that no one asked for to people who don’t want it. And in the process, they’ve proved correct those of us who’ve been critical of the motives and alleged ‘principles’ these high-minded has-beens claim to possess over deplorable Trumpkins.”
Referencing another Never Trumper “principled conservative” writer who probably no one ever heard of and who claims that “Trump is an existential threat to the United States,” Kelly added the following:
“[He] is really saying that voters should disregard the dangerous policies and hardline tactics of every single Democratic candidate to satisfy his vain need to oust Trump. The candidate’s leftist plans to upend our political system and our economy don’t matter, only his or her ability to win 270 electoral votes and deny them to Donald Trump. That, dear reader, is an actual existential threat to our country. “
Putting the “Con” in Conservative
Whatever alliance that may have allegedly existed between the globalist, Never Trumpers and leftists is all over, Kelly explained:
“Of course, pivoting on issues that once defined the Right in order to suck up to the Left has been an animating feature of NeverTrump….But like the fat person who gives dietary advice, these political losers are being dismissed, even mocked, by the Left…For three years, NeverTrumpers have refused to criticize Democrats for anything, with the possible exception of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation debacle. They’ve played the role of the dummy to their leftist puppet masters, aiming all political fire at the president, his administration and his supporters. When NeverTrump was saying on CNN and MSNBC and in the New York Times exactly what the Left wanted to hear, Democrats were eager listeners
“Now that NeverTrump is blasting Democrats for their unwinnable agenda of open borders, free healthcare for illegal immigrants, the Green New Deal, and college debt forgiveness, the Democrats have no interest in their opinions. NeverTrump has been used by the Left and they’ll face another political No Man’s Land in 2020.
“Couldn’t happen to a more deserving group.”
[Featured image credit: OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay]
