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The Challenge for Republicans
My feelings this morning are so radically mixed that my brain resembles a Cuisinart. I cannot help but be glad that Hillary Clinton was defeated. I am shaking my head in amazement about the Senate, and accordingly about the Supreme Court.
The election results feel like a gorgeous, gleaming new BMW in the driveway. But instead of a bow on the roof, there’s a vial of nitro glycerin.
I wish President-elect Trump nothing but good this morning. I pray for him and for the country, but fingers of fear still grip my heart. The glow of victory cannot obscure or perfume who the man is. Trump has demonstrated emotional unsteadiness, cruelty, and wild irresponsibility. He is most unhinged when his fragile ego is wounded. He is, in many ways, a spoiled child.
His character is the great challenge for the nation and the Republican Party going forward. On this post-election morning, it seems advisable that those Republicans who signed statements of opposition to him – particularly foreign policy experts – reassess. A president has the most scope for independent action on the world stage, and it is there that he can do the maximum amount of damage. Trump has indulged in ignorant bluster to gain popularity (he would crush ISIS “very quickly,” “take the oil” from the Middle East, renegotiate NAFTA, force Mexico to pay for a border wall, “get along very well” with Putin, and encourage nuclear proliferation). But one thing we know about Trump is that he will say almost anything for attention and effect, and he has contradicted himself thousands of times. He will need advisers with experience, judgment, and keen psychological skills to temper his instincts and guide him toward policies more in line with American interests and values. Even foreign policy experts who were appalled by Trump’s campaign rhetoric — in fact, especially they — should consider serving in his administration.
Trump has been on both sides of most of the contentious issues in American life. He’s been pro and anti socialized medicine, for and against (mostly) entitlement reform, for (mostly) and against abortion. He is, primarily, an entertainer, who hasn’t given much thought to public policy at all, but is expert at playing to a crowd and ventilating its resentments. But even more than riling up his audiences, Trump’s lodestar has always been himself. Everything comes back to him, especially when he’s feeling attacked or disrespected.
I am praying that because he will now have his heart’s desire – the nonstop shower of attention and yes, flattery, that comes with the Oval Office, that this will serve as a tonic for his outsized ego and perhaps supply him the calm he will need to serve wisely.
Others will need wisdom as well. After the shock of his victory wears off, the press will return to treating him as radioactive – which will be taken by his supporters and much of the Republican Party as evidence that he must be right. That’s a mistake for both sides. The mainstream press is biased, openly so, and they need to swallow hard and own it. That doesn’t mean they are always wrong. As I’ve said often during the general election, the press and Democrats have cried wolf on racism and xenophobia so many times that they’ve discredited themselves. A few (Bill Maher, for example) have acknowledged as much. But what the Republican grass roots did not grapple with adequately is that this time, many of the outrageous charges the media trotted out were true. Their job was easy. All they had to do was quote the candidate, not dig through his middle school records to find some prank. Trump has said reprehensible things and winked at open bigotry. He is indecent and loutish. The right-wing media Trump empowered have circulated absurd conspiracies and lies. They are no better, and in some ways worse, than the “lying media” they despise. Our duty to stand for responsible journalism and to rebuke the Brietbarts and InfoWars types only grows more urgent this morning.
Trump has frightening, undemocratic impulses. He admires strongmen. But — perhaps this is a saving grace — he also has a notoriously short attention span. The great challenge for Republicans will be to oppose him if (when?) he strays in dangerous directions as president, whether in restricting civil liberties, undermining international alliances, inaugurating devastating trade wars, or casting aside Constitutional restraints on executive power. This will be the most difficult of trials for Republican office holders, because their constituents will not thank them for it, only their posterity.
God grant all the charity and grace to navigate the uncharted waters we’re in.
Published in General
Are you sure you are happy Clinton lost?
As a NeverTrumper who was pretty sure Clinton would win, I was expecting to just grind through four years of horribleness and focus on family and church. Now I feel a bit more optimistic and hopeful. Trump has tremendous upside and downside to his presidency. I hope the Trumpers are right and that the advisors will win out.
I don’t feel better about Trump than I did yesterday, but I feel better about the balance of power. I was bracing for conservatism to become a fringe movement, with the real political argument taking place between Trumpian populists and progressive Democrats. Now, it looks like progressivism is a lot less popular than I thought, and I’m thrilled. Down ballot Republicans outperformed Trump, and defeated Democrats soundly.
It looks to me that in the near future, the political argument will be between Trumpian populists and conservatives, with progressives on the fringes. I’ll take it!
Dear Mona,
I am sending you my special Trump Presidency Care Package. It contains:
Mona, once in a while we’ve just got to take a chance. Let Gd make the choices. It will work out.
Regards,
Jim
I don’t think the American voters are enthusiastic about Trump. I think this is a referendum on the economy and state of the world under the Democrats’ rule.
Spoken like a NeverTrumper who is reluctant to admit error. The enthusiasm knows no bounds. My wife waited an hour to vote yesterday. Millions more did so. Had not so many NeverTrumpers voted for Johnson, or even Hillary, or left the ballot blank, she would not have won the popular vote. I hope you feel good about that. I am not the only one who has said that Ricochet is a NeverTrumper site. You are getting a reputation. I’m sorry I subscribed again.
Yes. While the polls didn’t reflect it, the election results indicate that 2016 was like 2008 in reverse. The financial crisis doomed McCain, and the Obamacare premium hikes, among other things, doomed Clinton. This was going to be a bad year for Democrats. I regard the primary win of Trump as a loss, but that loss is a lot easier to take with a win last night. You can’t win them all, but we did win last night.
A diet of crow for breakfast would have gone down harder, but been more seemly.
I am happy that Clinton lost. I am also sad that Trump won, even though I was rooting for him last night. I would have preferred literally any other republican imaginable.
Let’s try not to have too much sour-winning, can we Bryan?
Fact remains that absolutely none of the concerns of the NeverTrump or the ReluctantTrump contingency have disappeared. We’re in a tough spot, but it does look hopeful.
Having conservatives who are willing to hold this next administration accountable will be key.
Thanks, Mona!
I’m glad that Trump underperformed the other Republicans. I trust them more than I trust Trump. I’m still very concerned about what Trump will do as president and worried about the elections in 2018 and 2020. I’m glad that the counter balance to Trump will be other Republicans and not Democrats.
Feel free to leave.
The Trump administration could be successful, and I sincerely hope it will be. But conversation about conservatism (i.e. Ricochet) still needs to focus on conservatism and on ideals. That is not just a necessary component, it is an essential one.
You’re wrong. I voted for Trump.
I’m sure it’s happiness mixed with a slight desire to remain relevant.
Does she need to eat crow? I don’t recall Mona predicting that Trump was going to lose especially big. I seem to remember her being concerned about him possibly winning, which is what happened.
Then again, I also took a hiatus from listening to Need to Know because, even though I don’t disagree with her and Jay, there’s only so many times I can listen to themselves repeat the same emotional shock very week. So it’s possible I just missed it.
Based on what you say here, I’m not quite sure why you did, then . . .
I just watched Paul Ryan’s presser. Paul is smart, humble, and focused. He can work very well with President Trump. The agenda is, overall, a good one.
I am now positively enthusiastic about the good that can be done.
As for foreign policy: Trump will be a major upgrade over Obama; how can he not? And the fact that he is unhinged is increasingly looking like a feature to me, and not a bug. If Trump’s advisers and designees are Mordechais and not Hamans, all will come out fine.
The only way that I think Trump could be worse than Obama is if he casts doubt on what the United States will do in response to something that would be previously have been considered provocative. E.g. if he makes it sound like the US won’t honor committments to NATO. Wars have started that way before, see the Persian Gulf and all consequences stemming from it.
Obama did this already – see Ukraine (where we had guaranteed their territorial integrity in return for giving up nukes), refusing to place anti-ICBM weapons in Czech Republic and Poland, etc.
“Paul Ryan will not be House speaker”
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/sean-hannity-paul-ryan-speaker-231039
Again – if conservatism doesn’t remain relevant, then we’ve really lost. As I said, I’m hopeful that this isn’t the case. It doesn’t matter that Trump won, or that he may have lost the popular vote, or that liberals didn’t come out. We have what we have, and literally nothing changes the criticisms of Trump or the failures of liberalism.
So yes, the ideology that Mona embraces needs to stay relevant. It is incumbent upon a group of election-winners to find the humility to engage in that honest discussion of both the strengths and weaknesses of this upcoming administration.
Paul Ryan will be House Speaker.
Sean Hannity continues to show himself to be a fool. I would be just as happy to be publicly rid of him as I am to be rid of the Clintons.
Mona, I am a confirmed NEVERTRUMPER like you and I agree with all you said (in terms of concerns) but there are SO MANY upsides to last night for conservatives. Here are my top twelve observations “about last night.” We have much to be encouraged about.
Agreed. The ego-boost for those who completely abandoned principle this year (in that list, I am including virtually none of the trump voters at Ricochet, fwiw) is one of the biggest losses to come from this win. Nothing about Chris Christie has changed, or about Hannity or Coulter, or even people like Bannon. None of our criticisms have gone away. But now we’ll see over-confidence and validation of those who flatly rejected those criticisms. Again, there are still a lot of good conservatives in Washington (Paul Ryan is one), and there is still great possibility for success, Hannity and Christie notwithstanding.
I am not sure I agree. Mona hated Cruz with as much passion as Trump. Mona appears to embrace a love of the status quo a good bit.
you know Mona, now that the election is over, maybe you should take a month or so off…..sit on a beach somewhere and drink rum for a few days…..let your thoughts roam…maybe come up with some things to say that we have not read hundreds of times before.
I don’t mean conservativism, I mean Mona.
The conservative brain trust have been harping on how Trump will turn America into a giant nuclear crater after throwing this race to the democrats and ceaselessly calling his supporters ignorant trash for months now.
Trump’s election is as much of a repudiation of Obama’s legacy as it is Mona’s endless pining for open borders and denouncing the amnesty-opposing base as racist. So while it might be generous to be humble, the election winning group owes no humility.
Mona’s brand of conservativism isn’t the only one out there and quite frankly is a demonstrated election loser.
Now, I don’t think Trump will deliver on anything but that’s a different story.
If “Hope and Change” can turn to wormwood and gall after eight years through hubris, overreach, and insular thinking, don’t thing #MAGA is immune to a similar fate.
I think one of the things that prudence will demand of us all over the days between now and January 20, 2017, is that we step back and give the new President-elect and his team some space and time to put things together. Once that’s done, we can start tearing things apart, if we’re so minded.
Too much immediate obsessing over the tea-leaves, staring into the crystal ball, insisting that we have ESP or second sight, or dissection of the daily stool, to look for clues as to what it all means, and then asserting our right to start a fight about it will simply result in the same sort of acrimonious and counterproductive argument we’ve see too much of recently.
Mona doesn’t like Trump. She didn’t vote for him. But she’s written a post here where she doesn’t actually call him a fascist, or his supporters deplorable. She acknowledges that her brain is scrambled, and that her only wish is for the good of her country. She would like the most committed NeverTrump foreign policy experts to consider reconciling with Trump, and even serving with him in positions of power if they are asked to do so.
Most of the negative things she says about Trump, she’s said before. I could wish she hadn’t chosen to repeat them in such detail here, now, but it is what it is.
Nevertheless, like the curate’s egg, there are things to like about this post. Especially the closing:
For a while, we’re going to need to keep an eye on the ball, and to celebrate the curate’s eggs when we see them. Over time, we’ll also see if things improve. I’m betting that they will.
Honestly Mona, I never would have guessed that you would be glad that Hillary Clinton was defeated. I’m still not sure . . .