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To Trump or Not to Trump: A Response
As all of Ricochet will be shocked to learn I disagreed strongly with EJHill’s recent post regarding what he sees as the binary choice before us this cycle. I don’t have much to add here that I didn’t already express in the comments of that post, but I would like to point everyone to a piece by Ricochet alumna Rachel Lu:
So here’s the situation as I understand it. We have a lot of deeply alienated conservative voters who, strangely enough, actually supported conservative principles that now seem to have been carelessly jettisoned. Some are sufficiently upset that they’ve left the party or at least declared they won’t vote for Trump. Those people could make the difference in the election.
What are we doing to win them back? Heaping on the blistering scorn! It’s a pretty great strategy. Hurled insults rarely fail to appease disgruntled voters.
I lied when I said I didn’t understand. I do. What we’re seeing is a lot of poison-pen personal therapy. Everyone is angry, and ranting in public is a great stress reliever in times of political turmoil.
Nevertheless, if you want to win this presidential election, I recommend investing in a stress ball, and dialing back the printed scorn. Maybe Trump supporters aren’t the only voters in America who like feeling respected? Here are some suggestions from a Never Trump conservative for talking more constructively with conservative voters who truly loathe our nominee.
Rachel proceeds to lay out five techniques that would assist Trump supporters in their efforts to win back disaffected conservatives, but it is number 2 that I find the most valuable:
2. Don’t Try to Nice Up Donald Trump
Aggressive efforts to rehabilitate Trump may have helped him make headway with less-engaged voters. It’s not going to work on Never Trumps. They tend to feel the rehabilitation effort has already deeply compromised the conservative movement.
Consider how this might look to a person who truly loathes Trump. He watches as friends or favorite writers dip their toes gingerly into the Trump tank (because he’s better than Hillary!). A week later the same person decides Trump isn’t really so bad at all. Six weeks later he might be crowing about Trump’s Ciceronian statesmanship and heartfelt love of the common man.
We’ve seen many sad and desperate attempts to project wildly unrealistic visions onto the mogul. Everyone’s clutching at the thinnest straws to prove Trump is what they want him to be. Never Trumps aren’t buying it. This is a man who has spent most of his life selling people out and taking people in (not in a hospitable way). To say he is untrustworthy and of established bad character is something of a comical understatement.
Have our conservative allies forgotten that, or do they just not care? It’s excruciating to see people you respect become so deeply deluded. (Whenever I say something even mildly sympathetic to Trump, I get messages from alarmed readers effectively begging me not to go to the Dark Side. I understand how they feel.)
Even if you don’t agree with Never Trumpers’ evaluation of Trump (and Trumpism), you should at least be able to appreciate there are many non-ridiculous reason for distrusting both. Such an acknowledgement will earn you some credibility; downplaying the awful will not.
It is the slow creeping way that I have seen many of my former allies move from rejection, to acceptance to cheerleader that has been the most disheartening element of this particular cycle and I think Rachel hits the nail squarely on the head here.
The one thing to keep in mind is that despite its unfortunate moniker very few people are actually #NeverTrump. Human beings are persuadable on almost every issue, the problem is that we have just given up trying. I can attest that even I can be persuaded off strongly held positions. After an immensely enjoyable two days in San Francisco with @JamesofEngland (#MiniRicoMeetup, Hi @peterrobinson!!), I have been thoroughly convinced not to vote for Gary Johnson – who I previously held as the only ethically un-compromised candidate in the election. This was accomplished through patience, relevant facts about the candidate in question and mutual respect. I learned a lot of lessons over the last two days – the primary being that patience is more persuasive than righteousness. A lesson I should have learned long ago – thank you Ricochet!
Published in General
Trolling me or tinfoil hat?I’m not sure which it is. You’re telling me that Trump has the government agency connections, political clout, and Leftist convictions as Hillary. Hilarious.Yeah, where would I ever get that impression.
As I said to a sparring partner of yours earlier, a little overboard here.
Simple-minded, unoriginal, and beside the point.
I’m leaning toward “trolling,” although “tinfoil hat” remains a possibility.
Don’t worry. We’re just kidding around.
Note:
Continuing to dig at a fellow member after being repeatedly told to stop.…as evidenced by #272.
Yeah I’m leaning towards a word about you that would get me banned. I’m out.
Feel free to PM it to me. I won’t squeal. Pwomise.
Good night, everyone!
Trump is the corrupt centrist Democrat.
Trump will have more opponents.
I disagree; he’s as much of a Republican as anyone on here. We are either the big tent party we’ve told the public we are during every presidential election, or we’re a tiny little party populated only by people who call themselves intellectual conservatives and spout Hayek and Meyer.
That’s what I mean by “people who got us in this mess”. Primary voters are to blame….along with others in the media that threw away principles for rating. (looking at you Hannity you twit)
Don’t see the facts supporting that assertion. Lots of Republicans here that have never donated thousands to Democrat politicians and the Clinton foundation. There is a LOT of space between doing that and a small group of intellectuals.
You give the voters no credit for having even a modicum of intelligence. There were many debates where each candidate was given the opportunity to elucidate his views. Early on Hannity gave each the freedom to further clarify on his show. In fact, I clearly recall an interview he did with Cruz that gave, at least to me, the impression that he was privately a supporter. He didn’t go all in for Trump until it became apparent that he would have the necessary delegates, and Hannity was opposed to the Nevers attempts to go around the electorate.
Will he? If trump actually pushes for maternity leave do you think the Democrats will oppose him? No they won’t, they will use this as evidence of Democrats being “Bi-Partisan” with Republicans when the Republicans weren’t willing to be “Bi-Partisan” with Obama. When trump pushes for other leftist policies I doubt the Democrats or the media will halt him. They will only try to halt him when they think he is pushing for a non leftist policy.
In regards to the bureaucracy (which is the fourth base of government in America) trump will do literally nothing. In some cases we know he will appoint leftists to positions of authority in the bureaucracy and I doubt he will carry out any purges against any agency (which would actually kill a significant amount of regulations). He might change some heads (which as I already noted will be his favored leftist instead of Obama’s favored leftist), but he won’t change anything fundamentally.
As to the Republican Party I think there will be constant critics like Mike Lee or Ben Sasse (maybe some other senators too) but given the fact that Reince Priebus has used political threats to make dissenters join I don’t know how many will critique trump given the fact that their political futures might rely on supporting trump unequivocally. trump has thus far successfully co-opted many major Republican Politicians to not only endorse him but to also vocally and regularly support him.
That’s why the “trump will receive more criticism than clinton will” argument isn’t persuasive to me.
You’re right, I don’t give much credit to the intelligence of voters who voted for the clown show in the primary. They were obviously voting from emotion, anger, or as a reaction to the anti-Americanism of the current administration……I get that. But I watched the debates and to think Trump was anything but bombast and empty slogans is ridiculous. People always say they hate politicians who just tell them what they want to hear but that is a huge lie. They love it and Trump voters love it more than most.
I can’t possibly speak for all the voters as I certainly don’t know them or what motivated their preference for Trump. That said, I speak for myself and delight in the belief that he will shake up the political class that has encouraged the political correctness that permeates the air waves and our colleges. If he wins, it will be thrilling to watch the reaction of the press as they try to make sense of the unwashed masses who elected someone they so clearly revile.
If Trump pushes leftist causes, he will probably be able to get them through. When Hillary definitely pushes leftism, she will definitely get it through. Every criticism you make is more true of Hillary. You are willing to sacrifice the near future in the futile belief that there is a long term gain. No big leftist program has ever been discontinued; Hillary’s won’t be either.