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A Real Threat to Democracy
I feel as if I’ve just been kicked in the gut by a good friend. He was, for many years, the epitome of intelligence and reason, with a lively sense of humor. We’ve been estranged for a while, mainly because of his political positions. After hearing one too many of his podcasts a few years ago, I pretty much avoided him. After reading one of his latest pieces on the Bari Weiss blog, I’ve decided we’re done. I’m talking about Jonah Goldberg.
This is not really a post about Jonah Goldberg. It’s about my bewilderment about the defaming of Republicans and Conservatives by using the broad-brush of assuming that we are all Donald Trump fanatics, who continually fawn over him and apologize for him. I think this viewpoint about who we are, who I am, is deeply flawed, and I can’t figure out why it persists.
Goldberg and others seem to refuse to accept that a huge number of those who voted for Trump—not even necessarily people whom I would call “Trump supporters”—were desperate to dislodge the DC Swamp. We didn’t really like Donald Trump, but it was clear that he was fearless and prepared to take on just about anyone. Many of us became convinced, particularly after the attacks on Trump after he was elected, that the Washington establishment was determined to protect every ounce of abusive power that they had. And I don’t think there was another Republican who had the guts to do that. That he was rude and crude and held disdain for proper etiquette was not relevant.
So, what am I so upset about? I feel that most Republicans and Conservatives are not sycophants to the person and platform of Trump. Most of us would never riot at the Capitol. Most of us would not dress like crazy Shamans. Most of also would not have the gumption that Trump displayed. But he was willing to do it on our behalf (and probably for his own motives).
Most of us dreaded the Tweets but liked that Trump got things done. Most of us disliked his personal attacks but liked his pushback on Xi. Most of us were annoyed at his bragging but were amazed that he was able to deal with Covid-19 the way he did.
What especially disturbs me about Jonah and the criticisms of others who hate Trump is that they are defaming most of us in the Republican Party and those who are Conservatives.
How does that help the party? How does that contribute productively to the future of this country? How does that help re-establish conservative values?
If some people are misguided, they aren’t the people who support Trump; they are the people who are determined to keep the edifices from crumbling. The rest of us are tired of the status quo and those who malign our institutions and values.
Jonah and his ilk would be better off exerting their energies against our real enemies.
Published in Politics
And how! It seems obvious to me the algorithms that drive social media “feeds” are designed to play on our primal desire to win social reward from our in-group and inflict social sanction on those nasty out-groups.
No kidding. Goldberg’s not just projecting. He’s projecting in Sensurround!
I am saddened by the Jonah Goldberg thing because Liberal Fascism was (and still is) a very important book to me.
I don’t have to agree with everything an author says or writes. Much as I respect Kevin D. Williamson, I think he’s way off base on Trump in general. Still, I give away copies of his “Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism” every Christmas to people who should read it but probably won’t.
But it’s gone beyond disagreement with Goldberg; he seems to be looking for deeper ends to jump off. Very sad.
Exactly. Liberal Fascism was a very useful book, but whatever he once was, the Jonah Goldberg of today is a solid member of that establishment. Conservative Inc. stalwarts like Jonah serve the media-political-intelligence-complex and the endless war faction of the defense-industrial complex. The “Conservative” wing of the Uniparty answers to the same masters as Pelosi. AOC and the other woke pols have a different–and expanding– donor pool from that of the senior Uniparty functionaries like Pelosi. Trump, and nationalist populism, threaten the globalists (and their Uniparty allies in “both” parties) so it’s no wonder that the alliance between Pelosi and Cheney has Jonah cheering.
It’s ironic that Goldberg himself attributed Trump support to a tribal mentality.
And that’s the point. Some people were unable to separate his personality from his accomplishments. I’d rather have a boorish lout in office who gets the job done than a smooth-talking conservative who says all the right things, but can’t do the right thing for fear the MSM would call him names (which they will do regardless).
I can’t wrap my brain around folks who still think Biden is more preferable in office than Trump. And hey! I think Biden is a bigger jerk, lout, and boorish person than Trump ever was . . .
I’ve heard him talk to an Austrian economist and he is really knowledgeable about that stuff. Now he comes off like a GOPe that has no idea where populism and Socialism is coming from and what to do about it really.
TBH, I’d really respect him more if he admitted his beliefs changed. I can understand a person changing as he grows older, or as circumstances change.
I’m not convinced he’s changed at all. I think he just can’t keep the mask on any longer.
Yes. I used to read his Mom’s (Lucianne) column and have always felt that compared to her, Jonah is a lightweight and much too self-referential.
Yes. It’s the demonizing part that gets me. This isn’t in any way the result of even-handed rational thought. It’s not even emotional thinking. It’s mentally-ill or sociopathic thought.
Good post Susan. My political perspectives have “evolved”, you might say, over the past 5 years or so. I’m one of those that couldn’t bring myself to vote for Trump or Hill-billy in 2016. Purell had not yet ramped up hand sanitizer production to provide enough material for me if I had marked an X beside either of them.
Trump as President proved to me that he was who I thought he was, but that he also was pretty solid on most policies. I hated many of his tweets and fervently hoped one of his staffers would hide his phone, until he would put one out that I agreed with. The only thing off the top of my head that I was not happy with was starting the withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan (and putting a deadline on it – dumbest move on the planet, regardless of what party you represent), but it took Joe Biden to really **** that up. When 2020 rolled around, there was no question whatsoever that I would vote for Trump.
I’ll be honest – one of the reasons I dropped from Ricochet membership a few years back was because of some of the people I referred to as “Always-Trumpers”. There were too many comment streams I saw where if someone said something that was anything less than 100% RAH RAH TRUMP they were excoriated. That vitriol seems to have diminished, at least somewhat.
And I also became extremely disappointed to witness Goldberg’s descent. I found Liberal Fascism to be one of the best political books I’ve ever read (not that I’ve read a lot – I’m mostly a pure history geek). I remember laughing my backside off at many of his columns over the years. But now I can’t read anything that he writes. I shake my head, simply don’t understand how someone could pull such an about face. Or at least how someone who held relatively solid conservative ideals could pull such an about face.
So, thanks much!
Thank YOU, TGA! Actually I could have written your comment! ;-)
Aren’t you getting used to it with Joe Biden?
Nah, he’s never had a solid principle or intelligent thought in his brain.
Unfortunately that’s true. BTW, welcome back, TGA!
Yeah, I skipped your qualification in the last sentence.
Several years ago I was in the company of two previous Rico members at an event completely unrelated to Ricochet. One shared that she had left in a huff because there were too many Never Trumpers. The other shared that she had left at the same time because there were too many rah-rah Trumpers.
And then they shared that they were both happy with Trump as president.
Hear! Hear!
Initially, I thought Trump was a typical liberal masquerading as a conservative. I voted for him reluctantly. He governed far more conservatively than I suspected. He won my heart when he got us out of the Paris climate accord. I suppose it was largely theater, but the climate accord was 100% theater. The exit was certainly the sort of theater I preferred, and was something no other Republican candidate for the presidency would have done. I disagreed with his reluctance to reign in spending, but otherwise almost completely approve of his governance. The Goldberg I had read over the previous ten years would certainly have to agree. What happened? I don’t know. Whatever happened, he seems to be getting immeasurably wealthier, and I am not against being wealthier. To my mind, he seems to have stumbled upon the opportunity to grow his wealth while simultaneously feeding his visceral hatred for Trump. From his perspective, a perfect combination of events. I hope he can recover some semblance of reasonableness.
I hesitate to arm-chair psychoanalyze Jonah, but what the heck…
My theory: Jonah graduated from some small, formerly all-female, liberal arts college, if I recall correctly. He moves in circles largely populated by Ivy League graduates, where having the “right” credentials is very important. I’ve many times suspected that his love of quoting well-known conservative philosophers is him compensating for a sense of inferiority for not having graduated from Yale or Harvard.
Combine this with the status anxiety mentioned up-thread, and it explains his recent descent fairly well, I think.
It’s a shame, really.
That provokes an interesting thought. Is it possible that there was a change in medication around 2015?
Yes. That makes it really puzzling that Goldberg vehemently opposes the most free-market oriented president we’ve had since Reagan.
What’s wrong with Goldberg?
I don’t know.
My guess:
1 — He has OCD and lives in a self-maintained orderly world, including the political order of the US;
2 — a major part of Goldberg’s life is understanding and (as he sees it) bringing order and clarity to the political order through his writing, which he sees as both his avocation and his livelihood;
3 — and Trump’s political disorderliness (from “Lock her up” to running for president without experience and winning) destroyed the orderliness of Goldberg’s world;
4 — and Trump curtailed Goldberg’s ability to increase order in the world through orderly writing about and bringing clarity to the orderliness of the world.
So:
1 — He grew a beard.
Susan, I’ve never been a Goldberg fan, in part because of a juvenile tendency on his part that I find irritating. But he joined the small number of tiresome holier-than-thou cranks awhile back. I thought self-identifying as “the remnant” was presumptuous, think he’s too precious by half, and now avoid him.
I’ve been a big Bari Weiss enthusiast, and I’m disappointed that she featured his essay today. But, because I like most of what she’s been doing, I’ll continue listening to her. Just not today.
Goldberg doesn’t seem to understand that conservativism in practice is messier than conservatism in theory. It is the essence of conservatism to understand that. In other words, conservatives understand that good enough is good enough.
Didn’t know that. How is he making his money?
So were most of the commenters.
I was just spit-balling about the OCD.