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The Bulwark (Once Again) Endorses a Democrat
The “Reagan conservatives” at The Bulwark really hate Ohio Republican senate nominee JD Vance. (“Trump’s Hillbilly” — they literally called him that.) So this morning, Bill Kristol and fellow Bulwark Operative Tim Miller endorsed his Democratic opponent. “If you voted for Matt Dolan, a totally inoffensive Republican in this primary and don’t want literal authoritarianism advanced by a charlatan who is at the mercy of Donald Trump’s whims go ahead a sign up to support inoffensive Democrat@TimRyan.”
Some say the end-state of Never Trump is becoming a full-on Democrat. I would argue these guys were closet Democrats all along.
Like Glenn Youngkin, Vance is too “Trumpian” for the bull-workers, too aligned to those grubby working-class folk who are upset about irrelevant issues like children being exposed to pornography in public schools, the unchecked import and distribution of deadly narcotics across our wide-open southern border, the mass export of American manufacturing jobs to China, and the replacement of American workers with cheap foreign labor.
In fairness, JD Vance was once a harsh critic of Donald Trump. But, like most reasonable people, his opinion on Trump evolved more favorably as President Trump showed himself to be a consistent advocate and advancer of conservative policies.
Speaking of advancing conservative policies, the New York Times token “conservative” Bret Stephen — who previously pitched the not-at-all radical left idea of repealing the second amendment — now says that a true conservative would not overturn Roe v. Wade. Stephens’s argument is — I am not making this up — that even though Roe was a terrible decision, it’s now precedent and overturning it would be “disruptive” to the political status quo. It would also upset leftists and reduce the esteem of the High Court in public perception.
As conservatives, you are philosophically bound to give considerable weight to judicial precedents, particularly when they have been ratified and refined — as Roe was by the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision — over a long period.
So, Stephens must likewise think the court erred in overturning Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, and Korematsu v. United States for the same reason.
Here, again, you may be tempted to think that overturning Roe is an act of judicial modesty that puts abortion disputes in the hands of legislatures. Maybe — after 30 years of division and mayhem.
Yes, Stephens is literally arguing that conservatives should not want the issue of abortion decided by elected representatives in state legislatures. Maybe Stephens views himself as merely being “prudent,” because the effects of a Roe repeal would be so wide-ranging and unpredictable. But this “principled conservative” notion that the role of conservatism is to preserve the gains of liberalism is precisely why the old Bush-Republican model is dying. And why Bret Stephens and Bill Kristol are reduced to sputtering about “populism” while collecting checks from their left-wing paymasters.
Published in Politics
Has anyone given him the nickname “Wattle Boy” yet?
If not, I’ll award him his well-earned prize.
I’ve always said that in this era it’s very important to be able to come up with original observations about public policy. I would add you should be able to come up with original observations about the various think tanks.
Is that “G” for “gag”?
Karl Rove hates JD Vance. That’s a point in his favor, but it does show the Bush Republicans have their knives out.
Good post. One can conclude two possibilities for these NeverTrumpers. (1) They were never conservatives in the first place. Or (2) derangement. Any “conservative” that can still argue that Hilary would have been the better choice is really suspect in his conservative beliefs or in his mental stability.
Maybe he could answer it for me.
Also, congrats to Jon Gabriel!
Like I said above, Vance is going to have to fight Democrats and the GOPe.
A couple more pieces from sources Gary hates:
J.D. Vance And The New Right Are Racking Up Wins, While The Establishment Stabs At Their Backs
The Next Senator from Ohio: J.D. Vance
Isn’t it funny how someone who at one point started to distance from the Bulwark both cannot resist going back, and uses them as a metric for other conservative publications.
The really funny thing is that someone who dismisses others as being in a cult of personality,uses a site where their is only one voice to attack a site with many points of view.
With the economy in free fall, you might expect a huge GOP victory in November. The problem is that we are still led by Trump, and the American People don’t want Trump either. We shall see what happens next. This reminds me of 2010 when we had good candidates beaten in the primaries in DE and NV. Good luck with that. J.D. Vance won in Ohio, let’s see if the Trump candidate wins the GA and ID governor’s races.
Trump: The first Republican to lose the House, the Senate and the Presidency in one term since Herbert Hoover.
Why are you crying about that? You wanted that.
I contributed to the two Republican Senators in Georgia when Trump undercut them before the January 5, 2021 runoff election. Where were you Drew?
I want you to wake up and see where following Trump has lead us to. What are you going to do when Brian Kemp wins his primary? Are you going to walk away? Are you going to support the Democrat?
This is the type of leader that the Republican Party needs.
You had that. You spent five years opposing him and voted for “Obama with Brain Damage.”
Comparing Trump with Churchill is comparing Satan with Jesus. Perhaps you will realize in the balance of time.
Tiki torches inbound; the NAMBLincoln Project is running to support Tim Ryan.
As Breitbart said, Trump is 55 — 0 in endorsements so far. That’s an indication that the voters trust his judgement. They may or may not have him #1 in their preference for president — I don’t know — but they want his policies. Bullwank and the Bushes and other fools can’t see that. Well, maybe they DO see that, actually. Why else would they be obsessed with destroying Trump?
EDIT: From 2000 Mules, by way of TGP:
I just don’t see it. Trump won his election by appealing to issues that voters cared about. Regardless of how people perceive Trump’s personal behavior, those issues are still high on the list of voters priorities. Adding in high inflation and high gas prices.
The average voter (not political junkies like us on this site) looks at candidates based on what the candidate believes/promises, not based on what a former President thinks. If the Republicans have the answers voters like, they will get the votes regardless of anything Trump does or doesn’t do. A former President, in a mid-term election, is basically a non-factor.
Sure Trump’s endorsement matters to his supporters, but Trumps biggest supporters were never gettable votes for the Democrats. The votes that are up for grabs belong to people more concerned with their own personal life then with Trump.
True that. Rove can take his white board and put it where the sun doesn’t shine.
A non-trump supported Republican Governor winning a primary in a state I do not live in will have exactly no impact on how I vote in my state.
I will not now nor likely ever support a Democrat. I have actual principles and strongly held personal beliefs that are in direct opposition to everything the Democrats run on and how they Govern. I will never vote to give power to people who flat out tell me they hate me. Voting for a Democrat because the Republican is less than ideal betrays everything I believe in.
You sound like my 4 year old Great Niece explaining Santa Claus to me. She is so earnest. She is so cute.
The place to adjudicate such claims is in Court. But Trump was 0-60.
That is so funny coming from you.
Just to clarify there’s no way you would’ve supported Churchill. I don’t believe you would have supported the founding fathers in the American revolution. To be honest getting your age I’d be astounded to discover that you actually supported Ronald Reagan from day one ans not somebody else in the primaries.
You see the thing is you appear to be celebrating the obvious correct person after the fact. But in the modern world the best that I can tell you support those behind the status quo. Those behind the status quo back then did did not support Church Hill and in fact they despised him. The very scene that you show has the opposition cheering him while his own party sits silent. Well until they get their senior statesman who is dying of cancer to agree to support Churchill and then they all fall in line.
Churchhill is definitely a hero in that scene. I am sad to say I think you would have been in the camp waiting to be told it was OK to support him, or worse, with Atlee.
Well, Bryan, you live in Georgia. Who are you going to vote for in the Governor’s primary. In the Governor’s general election?
No substantive argument then, just your usual blather. And personal attacks. What a hypocrite! Why am I not surprised?
EDIT: BTW, it will be settled in the court of public opinion. My bet is that you’ll be on the losing side. Are you strong enough emotionally to handle that? I doubt it.
You might want to go back and see my edit And respond to that too.
Unlike you Gary no matter who wins the Republican primary I will vote for the Republican even if he was not the Republican I voted for in the primary.
In fact in every presidential election I have voted in the person nominated was the last person I would have voted for in the primary. But since I want my party to win I have always helped my nose and voted for the person that won the primary justhe primary just like people like Bill Krystol called on Trump to do.
You see Gary unlike you I want the democrats to lose. I’m not going to throw a tantrum because the person in the primary I didn’t like managed to get the nomination. I’m not going to spend money and time in resources to support somebod that is going to vote against everything I believe in.
I fully expect a Republican governor to win and I expect that I will be voted for that Republican governor perhaps twice. While the fact that I’m a conservative and I tend to vote Republican is pretty open knowledge I am not going to weigh-in on how I’m going to vote in the primary in the primary because It turns out we have a secret ballot.
For Karl Rove and many other consultants and pollsters, it’s about money. Remington Research had Dolan up in their polls. Oops.
For McConnell, it’s about continuing as the Republican leader in the Senate. Hopefully oops.
Yeah, not supper thrilled today or at the time when I had to vote for McCain or Romney. Frankly I feel McCain embodied much of the things people say to complain about Trump. That said I still feel either would have been better than Obama.
What you are describing is the historical view of elections. Fight like heck in the Primary then rally around the winner.
That’s what pisses me off so much about the GOPe. They lecture us about how we have to vote for the RINO squish if he wins the primary, but if they don’t get their RINO squish in the primary, they eagerly endorse and vote for the Democrat.
What Gary Robbins et al. cannot face is that Trump would easily beat his candidate Biden easily according to polling conducted this past week. Trump carried men by 29%, women by 12%, and Hispanics by 8%. He also topped 50% overall. Trump isn’t going away.
Trump beat him in 2020, he can beat him again!
At some point they transitioned from “political grifters” to “political whores”.