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 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Is this a Deal that Conservatives Should Make with Trump?
In his press conference last night, Donald Trump was asked whether he could win the presidency without conservatives. After his obligatory “I’m a conservative” line, Trump basically said conservatives would stand to lose everything if they don’t support the Republican nominee.
Senator Ben Sasse and other Republicans have said they will not support Trump if he wins the nomination and others are considering a third-party or independent bid if it comes to that. If either of those happen, Trump is likely right: conservatives will lose anything.
What is the highest conservative priority, the one thing that would be more important for constitutional government than anything else? First, I’d suggest judicial nominations. Consider the appointment of Scalia’s successor, the likelihood that there will be more vacancies on the Supreme Court in the next few years, plus all the other appellate appointments the next president will make. A close second would be eliminating government unions and shrinking the administrative state. If conservatives could get control of judicial appointments or eliminate government unions, would it be worth making a deal with Trump?
Do you agree? Are there better priorities that would justify supporting Trump?
The issue is that I can’t think of what Trump can do that would convince me he isn’t just a big fat liar, given his clear lack of coherence on the stump, and in his past. That is his catch. He claims Regan also switched from being a liberal to a conservative, but Reagan had been a conservative with a clear public record for many years prior to running for president and certainly before winning the nomination. Trump, if he even is some kind of conservative has only been so for a few months.
The best solution for us all if Trump wins is for a few key players in the GOP like Ryan and McConnell to actually sit down with him and ask him what he wants to get done. In the best of all worlds, he asks them the same question. All three want to keep their power, all three want to look good and all three know if they can agree, it becomes a whole lot easier.
It really is that simple. The best solution to mutual destruction is to sit down and have a drink together instead. All three are smart enough to figure that out.
McConnell and Ryan can tell the donors they will not get immigration their way, the President will not budge. That gives them cover to defy the donors. The donors get some other crap they want as a consolation prize.
Meanwhile, Trump gives wholehearted support to whatever thing McConnell and Ryan wanted that did not make him break a commitment to the people. I frankly have no idea what that is. They have both done nothing so long , I expect they would have to ponder for a while on what they wanted to actually accomplish.
The GOP has been at war for so long, many of you have forgotten how it does work when the executive and the congress can work to each others desires and funding bases.
Why do I have this simple idea? Because it feeds their self interest with the least risk. About 95% of human behavior follows that condition.
Post Post Script: BTW, notice I did not mention the word “Conservative” in this. If you want that, then the guys who make peace first better be conservatives, if they all have not lost the election running in libertarian Rastafarian free silver parties.
(If you have not thought about it, one problem with GOP donors is when there is a President, the donors get all excited by dealing with the President and do not push the President around. Majority Leader and Speaker they treat like guys who wash their car. The donors have been running the GOP since Bush was a lame duck. McConnell and Ryan are scared of them .)
Agree. The conservatives have to have developed a credible alternative to supporting Trump which, if executed, might not win but would deny Trump the victory. That means Trump has to deal. Of course, Valiuth correctly raises the problem of how you ensure that Trump keeps any deal after the votes are in.
Deals made in mutual self interest are self enforcing. If a deal is truly win-win, only a lunatic walks away.
One of the last combinations I want to see sitting around a table hashing things out are McConnell, Ryan, and Trump. Everyone at that meeting has an agenda and none of them is less government.
Sign a blood oath to appoint Cruz to the court. Which probably requires an explosive belt and a conservative coalition gets to hold the detonator.
Can’t make handshake deals with a man whose own friends gleefully admit that all deals with him must be in writing.
My problem is that there’s literally nothing Trump could say to convince me that he’d make good/originalist appointments. This is someone who has wanted to shut down parts of the internet, explicitly calls for war crimes and torture, salivates over eminent domain, and who just last week said he wants to loosen libel laws, the very same laws that are being used against Mark Steyn and NR by Michael Mann.
He agrees to treat the presidency as he does his licensing deals. In return for putting his name on the presidency, he has absolutely nothing to do with the running of the enterprise. He appoints whom he is told to appoint, signs what he is told to sign, and vetoes what he is told to veto.
If Obama is still wanting to appoint a moderate to the court, I say we at least entertain the idea.
Stage 3 – Bargaining
Sadly, that’s not always true. That’s why there are courts, lawyers and breach of contract actions. My professional life is largely about pursuing people who reneg on deals after other people do their part. And if Trump renegs, you have to wait until 2020 to do something about it.
… why not skip Stage 4 …..
OR …. we could skip Stage 3 too and go with Lindsey Graham’s latest plan …..
HAHAHA I was just mentioning to a friend how it seems so many on the right are in the 5 stages of grief when it comes to Trump.
Trump may or may not make good/ originalist appointments, we KNOW Hillary will put in a true believer Ruth Bader Ginsberg type.
Our electoral system is based on the requirement to create a majority, not just a plurality, in the electoral college. It forces groups to come together and seek common ground as opposed to just “sticking to your guns” and hoping to get more votes than everyone else. Refusing to vote for the nominee because of this or that is a repudiation of that concept, and will lead, deservedly, to the political wilderness, where we can all wallow in the knowledge that we are right.
No. I won’t vote for him when a lot of his supporters are fond of the phrases burn it down, blow it up, etc. They also dream about Cruz on the ticket, I suppose as a fireman to protect a few areas they don’t want destroyed. I refuse to both provide a match and bring water.
I thought Lindsey Graham was going to murder Ted Cruz in the Senate or something.
He would if he could.
The casual observer might conclude the voters are responding today to the GOP reneging its 2014 campaign promises.
Lindsey must give himself whiplash with his 180 degree gyrations ….
Last I heard was that nobody in that room full of lawyers would indict him if he did.
I guess that’s the deal we will all have to consider if he actually wins this thing. My foremost loyalty is the United States of America, not to a party nor to an ideology. Now I advocate that my beliefs – traditional conservatism – are best for America, but that doesn’t mean they are a current option.
So the question may come down to, who is best for America, Trump or Hillary (commonly known as Hildenbeast). That’s the deal we have to make.
I haven’t made it yet. If Trump does win, I will wait until the convention where a VP will have been chosen, and a party platform agreed to, and where we’ll get Trump’s positions fleshed out. That’s the proper time to come to a conclusion.
That’s why I can’t understand how reasonable and smart people are already saying Never Trump.
I tend to agree. I might suggest the same for second and third even.
Not sure I agree on second. But it’s a darn good one. It might be second. Definitely in the top five.
Definitely worth considering!
If Trump, came out today and said that he would put Cruz into Scalia’s chair on the bench, name Scott Walker Labor Secretary, promising to make public unions illegal and name Rick Perry his VP with a statement that he will be put in charge of finding and cutting wasteful departments in the Fed Gov’t., I’d jump on board.
That being said, he would never say any of this things because he is an agent of the ruling class.
I do think it is an emotional reaction that is not much different from that of conservatives who stayed home in 2012 because they decided Never Romney and all we got was #BHOPartDeux.
It does seem emotional. I guess the emotion of Hildebeast actually being president hasn’t kicked in yet. It did for me when Scalia died.
Yeah, I think I would too.
I hope you’re wrong. I suspect you’re right. But maybe he’d at least say “You’re fired!” to a few more federal employees than the average President.
I agree with your overall point, but am skeptical that the bit quoted above would occur. I suspect Trump would pull a Nixon2China.
I don’t know. Kagan is bad but’s she’s not as bad as Sotomayor.
If we’re to take anything Trump says seriously, I’ve honestly no reason to think he’d do better.