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Admit it: Trump’s Victory Is a Win for Conservatives
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).
Conservatives should be the first to recognize that Donald Trump’s victory was a win for them. Indeed, many forward-looking former NeverTrumpers have welcomed the electoral outcome. And yet, a few of the usual suspects still seem fixated on the fact that Trump is not one of us; and they are only tentatively accepting the proposition that Trump’s victory is preferable to that other of the two possible outcomes.
I sense that some of our colleagues are carefully positioning themselves and patiently biding their time in preparation to pounce. For the new President will certainly violate some conservative principle at some point, and those violations will certainly deserve clusters of posts asserting his assault on conservatism. We’ll be treated to dissertations on the damage that the Orange Populist has wrought on the “conservative brand.”
I get it that the “I told you so!” card is one of the most sought after cards in the deck; and I truly appreciate that many here are devoted to defending conservatism in its purest forms. But none of that moves conservatism forward in the real world. Sen. Mike Lee (R–UT) presents some surprising ideas on the importance of populism, and I’d like to zero in on this particular passage from the most principled of principled conservatives:
The chief political weakness of conservatism is its difficulty identifying problems that are appropriate for political correction. Conservatism’s view of human nature and history teaches us that problems are inevitable in this world and that attempts to use government to solve them often only make things worse.
This insight actually makes us good at finding solutions.
…
Populists, on the other hand, have an uncanny knack for identifying social problems. It’s when pressed for solutions that populists tend to reveal their characteristic weakness. Unable to draw on a coherent philosophy, populists can tend toward inconsistent or unserious proposals.
The rough terms of a successful partnership seem obvious. Populism identifies the problems; conservatism develops the solutions…
There is much to debate in Lee’s piece, but I’d like to pick up on this simple proposition and suggest that our primary focus right now should be exploiting the many opportunities that lie before us in the wake of our populist ally’s crushing defeat of the Democrats.
By all accounts, the Democratic Party a decrepit wreck. Breathe in the feeble despair over the popular vote. The Pelosi reaffirmation confirms that the party is a slave to its progressive instincts, obliviously doubling-down on identity politics at a time when its political potency has been buried under the rubble of a collapsed blue wall.
Let’s face it: Trump’s electoral strategy was a tremendous success. He not only won the election, but he decimated conservatives’ archenemy, attacking the leftist vision for America built by Pelosi/Reid/Obama, propped up by the media, and finally repudiated by an exhausted nation. The Clinton machine was “destined” to hold the corrupt, lawless Democrat coalition together long enough for demography to determine the arc of history. Thanks to Trump, the Obama phenomenon, including most of his administrative legacy as well as his Leftist rhetoric, can be deposited in that dustbin designated for debunked ideologies.
Populist Trump defeated candidate Clinton, but he also discredited the progressive support infrastructure throughout the media and academia. It is now abundantly clear that none of the conservative candidates could have delivered this kind of defeat to progressivism. Trump’s victory was decisive, and not merely partisan. It provides the greatest opportunity in decades to enact conservative reforms. He’s bringing serious people with conservative ambitions into his administration. Let’s get to work.
Published in Politics
I know it is unchristian of me, but I have to agree.
Unless one never fully considered George W. Bush president (and therefore never felt betrayed by his failure to be fully conservative) and disagreed with him at the time. I recall plenty of conservative criticism of George W. Bush.
Besides, truth is truth whatever the last Republican president did, and whatever happens to be politically popular. Saying “Bush did it first” isn’t a defense on the merits. I don’t think it’s the biggest deal in the world, but it certainly looks like bad policy.
Your argument seems to be, “Bush was not conservative so it’s okay if Trump is not, either.” If you don’t remember Bush fondly, how is that a defense for Trump doing something that you claim is pretty much the same thing?
And what? I’m good with taking Trump’s election as a win for conservatives and I am not going to spend the next year arguing that point with the purists. We do that here over and over and the world goes on.
Catch me if I am wrong, but to declare a theft, one has to have ownership in the first place.
Here’s a thought. Why not hold off on declaring Trump’s win a victory or defeat for Conservatism… until he’s actually done something in office? Maybe appointed a decent judge or two and gotten them confirmed, maybe? Repealed Obamacare, perhaps? Not caused a wipeout of the Republican congress in the next election? Not sold out all our principles for deals with Democrats?
So do I. But it doesn’t matter. Bush was a boat anchor chained to the conservative movement and he dragged it to the bottom to drown.
Again, history matters, etc. The GOP leadership was fine with the relentless crony capitalism that enriched the donor class during the Bush administration- I noted only one small example of it- but when rank-and-file voters wanted some redress of grievances all of a sudden steely principles appeared that forbade any action.
In this example- also small, but a political triumph- Trump managed to save a few American jobs, at trivial expense- and once again those steely principles appear, to lecture us about why nothing should be done.
I’m not buying it. If the usual suspects of the gop really believed in their principles Bush would have governed completely differently- and he certainly wouldn’t have been suing to stop some small company from testing its cattle for a deadly disease.
We don’t live in that happy world.
I make no argument that Bush was not a conservative. In fact it seems to me that various other people make that argument, in a vain attempt to avoid association with his failure.
This fools no one. As far as the public was concerned Bush and his policies were conservative policies- and their failure was a failure of conservatism.
Hence, Trump. The difference is that Trump- obviously a talented politician- is taking actions that will enhance his popularity, thus resulting in greater public support for any future policy initiative Trump may suggest.
Bush repeatedly did the opposite, essentially destroying the Republican party.
Lucky for the gop, the democrats were even more incompetent, thus opening the door for Donald Trump.