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A Petulant Kevin Williamson: Trump Deserves No Credit for the Dobbs Decision
Hoo-Boy. Roe v. Wade was overturned last week in no small part due to Trump-appointed Justices Comey-Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch. If Hillary had prevailed in 2016 (as Never Trumpers would have preferred*), all three of those justices would have been replaced with ideological clones of Ruth Bader “Populations We Don’t Want to Have Too Many Of” Ginsberg. (Which, incidentally, means the gun rights and religious schools cases would have gone the other way as well). The Babylon Bee brilliantly as usual captured the spirit of the thing.
“As Nominee, Donald Trump Would Do Incalculable Damage to the Pro-Life Cause,” wrote French in 2016. “Get ready for a slow-motion pro-life train wreck if Trump’s the nominee.”
Never Trumpers have been a bit stung by the criticism they’ve gotten. “Well, we did like his supreme court picks but any other Republicans would have chosen the same type.” This ignores the salient point that there wasn’t another Republican on the presidential ballot to vote for in 2016, and they were really pulling for Trump’s defeat.
Anyway, Kevin D. Williamson isn’t going to take this lying down. He has produced one of his trademark screeds saying that Trump deserves no credit, and Never Trump deserves no blame, for the outcome of the Dobbs decision.
“A lucky or unlikely outcome, no matter how pleasing it is when it happens, does not retroactively redeem stupid and irresponsible decisions. The fact that something dumb worked out in a fortunate way does not mean that the thinking that went into it wasn’t stupid and irresponsible.” – Kevin D. Williamson (It’s behind the Wall of Shame, so Twitchy provides an excerpt.)
So, no, the Dobbs decision does not make me regret opposing Donald Trump in 2016. If anything, it highlights exactly how shallow and dishonest Trumpist criticism of the conservative movement often has been.
Donald Trump was, until he decided he wanted the Republican presidential nomination, an across-the-board social progressive: not only pro-abortion but “very pro-choice” in his own words, a supporter of gay marriage, a supporter of left-wing gun-control proposals, etc.
…
Donald Trump is still a ridiculous buffoon, and those who supported him in 2016 were still fools to do so.
To be honest, this is a big reason I prefer Trumpism to Bush-Republicanism. The Bushies viewed elective office as a mandate to pursue their personal policy preferences even when they were at odds with what their voters wanted. George W. Bush’s focus on passing an amnesty for illegal immigrants is no doubt the premier example. Whereas Trump evidently pushed policies on gun rights, anti-abortion, and religious freedom that were at odds with his personal beliefs, because, unlike Bush, understood that he was obliged to represent the will of his voters in office and not his personal beliefs.
*Never mind their silly, desperate schemes to throw the election to the House of Representatives. Four years later, they declared that disputing the results of a presidential election was tantamount to sedition.
Published in General
One wonders where they got their capital from.
3/4 of the people on the principles first stage have gotten most of their money from Omidyar and Bezos. Kristol and his partner have taken in a ton of money. The writers at the Bulwark would be nowhere without Omidyar.
What a weird spot to be in.
I think he’s a trial lawyer. I don’t get how you be that and get yourself in this position.
Andy McCarthy has a long history of being too eager to believe Democrat lies.
Where to begin?
The gal’s lawyer is already walking it back:
To be honest, Hillary wanted to make her own pick and she told the Dems to wait on Garland. Mitch was just along for the ride.
It is good for tax collectors and owners of assets. But you knew that.
The impeccable strategy of the inevitable one. Hillary in ’24!
Just for clarity, I’m talking about spewing boiler plate about trade when you don’t have the whole picture down. Then they whine about populism.
David French has “special friends” too? Evidently it goes with the territory.
And, yep, there he goes again! That guy is really something.