Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 40 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Perhaps ideological purity is less important than I thought…
Wikimedia Commons
Snooty pseudo-intellectuals like myself sometimes claim to be above mere politics, and more interested in philosophy and ideas. I care less for the issues of the day than I do for the great ideas that govern our personal and political lives. While this is a fairly common refrain from conservatives, it is unusual among Democrats. Because their issues of the day move from baby seals to racism to illegal immigration to global warming to men playing women’s sports to banning gas stoves to Lord knows what, suddenly and unpredictably. And, of course, it’s difficult to find a cohesive ideology that would explain all their issues, or the transitions between them. So Democrats tend to be purely political creatures. Some Republicans are, too, of course. But some of us prefer to see things through a philosophical lens.
Never-Trumpers mostly start from this more philosophical perspective, but in their case they move quickly from a pursuit of ideological purity to, well, to some rather nonsensical things:
1) They claim to be disgusted by policies they support. Because Trump is unacceptable.
2) They suggest that if you like his immigration policies, then you must also approve of his personal life.
3) They think Trump’s ideological imperfections make him unworthy of the votes of exalted philosopher-kings like themselves.
4) They ignore what might’ve happened if Harris had won over Trump, forgetting that we had two choices in the last election.
5) If Trump does something they don’t understand, they presume that they must know more about his reasoning than he does.
These Never-Trumpers then rationalize these and other sometimes incoherent criticisms by claiming to be incapable of abandoning their principles for mere political gains. Even if I don’t understand some of the arguments of Never-Trumpers, I am largely sympathetic to their basic point: To an ideologue like me, Trump is hard to support. I’m not sure what Trump’s ideology is. Or if he even has one.
Of course, many snooty pseudo-intellectual Republicans (like me) dream of a world in which we could simply present a coherent and inspiring explanation of the benefits of conservative thought, and Democrats would magically start losing elections. We’re more interested in winning minds than ballots, figuring that the second will always follow the first. But I’m starting to think that the primary goal of the Republican party should be to defeat Democrats, rather than promote conservatism. Blasphemy! I can’t believe I’m even allowing such a thought to cross my mind! But follow me for a moment…
First, we need to accept that we will always have a Democrat Party. It’s not going away.
Wikimedia Commons
Consider the Civil War. You might have thought that that event would have been the end of the Democrat party. Or, at least, that it would force the Democrats to fundamentally change their policies and goals. But no. Democrats merely went from The Slavery Party to The Jim Crow Party. They didn’t have to give up racism or oppression of minority groups as their policy goals. They just had to be a bit more subtle about it. But they kept pressing on.
And consider what Abraham Lincoln had to do during the Civil War. He ignored the very Constitution he worshipped, when he needed to. He was despised by Democrats for ending slavery, and widely criticized by Republicans for his philosophical inconsistencies under pressure. He may have been the most unpopular American president in history, even up to today’s time. But despite his occasional ideological sins, he succeeded in saving America as a country, and was later considered one of our greatest presidents. Much later. Long after he died.
Today, most Americans consider themselves fortunate that Lincoln came along when he did.
Wikimedia Commons
Snooty pseudo-intellectuals like myself really struggle with Donald Trump. I don’t think he’s a true conservative. In fact, I’m not sure he thinks about the world in that way at all – I don’t think he’s read Machiavelli or Burke or any of the great political thinkers. Perhaps I’m wrong, but he strikes me as a political animal – a problem fixer – concerned with the issues of the day. Concerned with WINNING, whatever the issues of the day are.
This is not a criticism. He’s obviously brilliant. And sincere, and tough. And a patriot. I don’t pretend to have any insight into his personal thoughts. But even when he has an obvious opportunity to make a simple philosophical point, he prefers to stick with his both-barrels type of rhetoric, blasting his adversaries with insults and ridicule.
Again, I find this off-putting.
Jonah Elkowitz, Shutterstock. ID 2529055697
But I’m starting to think that it’s just exactly what we need right now.
By thinking only of politically defeating Democrats at every opportunity, no matter how minor, conservative ideologues like me end up getting everything we want. Think of how much better the world is for conservatism, and thus for people around the world, just in the past two weeks.
So rather than hoping for political wins to follow ideological wins, we’re getting ideological wins as a result of political wins. Huge ideological wins. Which I didn’t expect. But the results are so obvious, even an intellectual can see them now. Electing a simple political genius has given us the complex ideological victories we’ve sought in vain for decades.
Which, in a representative republic, makes more sense anyway, I suppose.
I’m not comparing Trump to Lincoln. Obviously. I’m simply pointing out that sometimes it takes an unpopular leader, willing to accept the criticism for doing the best he can under difficult circumstances, to get anything significant accomplished.
Shutterstock. EB Adventure Photography. ID: 1971108200
The Democrat party has gained enormous political power in America. Until we fix that political problem, conservatism as a philosophy has no chance whatsoever.
And Donald Trump appears to be just the man to fix it.
It’s just hard for us snooty pseudo-intellectuals to accept.
But I’ll try.
Because for the first time in a VERY long time, things are looking much better. Perhaps I should shut up, enjoy the show, and see how this turns out. Perhaps I just didn’t understand. Perhaps I was mistaken about Mr. Trump.
Which is hard for us snooty pseudo-intellectuals to accept.
Flickr. Michael Vadon.
But that’s OK. Really, it is. Please carry on, Mr. Trump. Don’t listen to me. If you can save this country I love, even through an approach I had not considered, then I’m your biggest fan. Maybe history will view you as this country’s savior. Maybe, just maybe, you know more about politics than I do. Or maybe you’re just the right man at the right time.
Whatever. Please carry on.
Published in General
That was a saying long before Hackworth. It’s true, though.
I am happy with his execution of policy so far. Let it not stop and be backed up with laws passed by Congress so that it will be more permanent than executive orders.
We should base the entire Trump administration on Democrat precedent. Make it as much like the Biden administration as possible! That’s what people voted for, and that’s what they should get.
Trump has been remarkably judge abiding since 2016. My favorite was the way he let loose on the NY judge and his kangaroo court the minute the gag order expired. Clearly, remaining silent was a huge strain on the man.
This!!!!
Sarcasm ‘R’ Us, open for business.
As something of a non-conformist in this little society, I treasure a rare article like this: One that aligns perfectly at each of many points with my deeply held, sometimes contrarian beliefs (or maybe “contrarian method of arriving at conforming conclusions”) concerning the topics of the day. But in a way that will give no offense.
I especially appreciate the new label: Snooty pseudo-intellectual Republican. (I was getting sort of bored with Left-Wing Pearl-Clutching RINO NeverTrumper.)
The proper alternative to avoid the Jacksonian response is for the appeals court and the SCOTUS, when required, to act as promptly as President Trump.
I’m not familiar with how oversight of lower federal courts is handled insofar as any given judge or district being overturned on appeal. Is there effective oversight?
Things are going well so far. But while it seems that the Progressive Leviathan is being tamed, the Progressive Empire will strike back. (Please forgive the mixed metaphor.)
In order to do that, they’ll need dirt on Trump.
MwhuhahahahaHAH!
They’ve used it all! They’ve been making stuff up since the pee-pee tape and the Alfa Bank backchannel!
Trump has a different team this time.
True.
But something’s going to happen. Another Katrina. Another COVID. Another George Floyd. Something. It doesn’t matter if Trump had anything to do with it. It doesn’t even matter what it is.
Again, Democrats base everything on the issue of the day, not on ideology. So once they can find an issue that helps them, no matter how irrelevant to Trump’s policies, then we’ll see how far Trump can carry this.
He’s smart to do as much as possible as fast as possible.
Congress … lead by Progressives … has been ceding its powers to the Executive and Judicial Branches for decades. All the better to enact things they couldn’t win at the ballot box. Like it or not, we are already on the slippery slope. This is, however, the first time our side has tried skiing on it. Maybe if the other side comes to regret the existence of the slippery slope they created we can finally begin to level the playing field. In fact, game theorists have examined many strategies and the Monte Carlo evidence is clear … a simple Tit-for-Tat strategy dominates and that seems to be Trump all over.
He’s not.
And that’s what he’s doing – fixing problems. However, the solutions to many of these problems are conservative, and that’s what really counts in the long run . . .
Democrats are looking to the courts to stop Trump, and they can count on every left wing district judge out there to overstep his authority and constitutional bounds to issue nationwide injunctions. That is the next issue, as I mentioned in another thread, the Trump has to attack when he has built up enough political capital through his quick successes. I was listening to NPR this morning and they were basically cheering at the thought that judges were stepping in the way.
The Dems and their friendly judges no longer have a cooperating DoJ. They’ll have to fight hard for every sixteenth of an inch. And every hour and dollar spent on those battles means one less dollar and one fewer hour spent on organizing and paying rent-a-mobs and such. And their D.C. taxpayer money trough is getting shallower by the day.
But he will not be President forever
This guy takes no prisoners: https://x.com/JDVance/status/1887958058342502623
That’s what this morning’s “You disgust me” post on Ricochet is all about. Enjoy!
A more deliberative version of Trump. We have two rich men in the top executive offices who became wealthy in different ways. Many who inherit wealth cannot cope and fail in life. Not Trump who has succeeded overwhelmingly in multiple ways. Vance has come to his wealth in a different way, earning it from ground-zero, but he has learned life’s lessons well. I am very pleased to have this tandem in the White House.
It’s good to be self-aware!
But Trump understands media. What Trump can do that every Republican needs to learn from is how to frame the narrative against the MSM.
Right? Right.
Want a bit more persuasion, Doc? Click below.
https://eko.substack.com/p/override
Superb!
Wow. I hope that’s really happening. Sounds too good to be true.
I just watched this. Adam Carolla and Ben Shapiro analyze the political system, and the existence of Democrats. I thought it was really good.
I think the fundamental problem is conservatives and libertarians can’t get genuine, permanent traction in a system that relies on inflation and debt growth so much. So towards the end, when they say people that complain about the system become Democrats, I don’t think they really understand the system, but I think the system sucks anyway. The inflation doesn’t equal out and having a system based on constant almost indiscriminate debt growth runs out of runway as it is now.
This has been my personal experience with Democrats 100%.
This is an excellent description of our fiscal situation and our ineptness at fulfilling actual government public goods, which is the only thing government should be doing anyway. Some economists say that 80% of government is non-public goods.