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How Happy Do We Have to Be about Trump?
Michael Walsh of PJ Media asks “What, Exactly, Is the #NeverTrumpumpkins’ Problem?“
It’s a serious problem, it seems, because he doesn’t just call people “NeverTrumpumpkins” (is that hashtag a thing?), but “Vichycons — the collaborationist #NeverTrump crew whose views are increasingly indistinguishable from the hard Left.”
I’m not sure who he’s talking about, because I listen to some #NeverTrumpers — mostly National Review columnists and Ricochet podcasters — who remain Trump skeptics, but “Vichycons” and “undistinguishable from the hard Left”? Well, as I said, I don’t know who he’s talking about.
It’s interesting that Walsh is so concerned about the state of #neverTrumpers’ emotions. In the beginning, he asks why they’re so miserable. Then he asks what more do the “dead-enders” want?
Walsh seems to be the one with the unhealthy emotional investment in other people’s outlook.
Exactly how happy are #nevertrumpers supposed to be? Is it enough to smile several times a day, or do we need to grin like drunks on their first evening in Los Vegas?
Can we say we like some of Trump’s appointments or must we be ecstatic over every one of them?
Can we say we are glad Hilary is not president, or must we commit suicide because we chose not to support Trump before the election?
May we disagree with specific policies, or must we cast away every principle we formerly called conservative and wait for the Trump administration to hand down our ideas? I’ve been surprised at how well the Trump administration has done so far, but even Trump booster Sarah Palin knows crony capitalism when she sees it.
For Walsh, it’s not enough for Trump to become our pope (“The misguided flap over Carrier is emblematic of their total lack of political savvy and, frankly, Christian morality”). He also tells us that Trump threatens our lives (“The Tower, the hangman and the axeman tend to concentrate the mind wonderfully. Something for the #NeverTrumpumpkins to ponder”).
For this voter who couldn’t raise the pen to vote for Trump, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the transition. I’ve decided to wait for him to do something before I evaluate. I apparently think more highly of Trump than Walsh does, because however prickly and thin-skinned Trump has been at times, I don’t believe he threatens the lives of those who chose not to support him.
The late great jazz pianist and lyricist Mose Allison summed up 2016 very well with his song, “I don’t worry about a thing, ’cause nothin’s gonna be all right.”
Donald Trump is the president-elect of the United States. As far as I know, Michael Walsh has not been chosen as his enforcer. Maybe Walsh should relax and let him build his administration and grant the rest of his fellow citizens the right to evaluate it as we see fit.
Published in General
Wow. What took you so long? I was criticizing him well before he was elected.
I’ve been excoriated, on one occasion or another, by both sides over the past eighteen months. I consider it a mark of singular achievement.
Perhaps the reason is that I disagree with something that Trump is doing or saying. It is possible that it’s that simple.
Actually, I hope you’re right. I’d rather see Romney as the VA Secretary. He’s a turn-around guy, right? And he’s got some knowledge of the pitfalls of single-payer healthcare. In a previous life that was a disadvantage for him, but it might pay off here.
Good. You won’t find many more skeptical than I when it comes to the mainstream media. We can at least agree that they are indefatigable in their efforts to mislead and confuse.
I do remember Rush having to defend himself for not holding Bush accountable for Sarbox and McCain-Feingold (this was all pre 9/11) – at the time he defended Bush for having to play a compromised hand, what with Jeffords having jumped ship over the Dairy Compact. I still say Rush was wrong in that regards.
Except there was no NeverBush contingent on our ‘side’. Everyone to the right of Lincoln Chaffee wanted Bush to win. And the other difference is the hostile media environment that far surpasses the antipathy toward Bush the W . So early criticism by high profile nevertrumpers in this context is counterproductive. And it’s counterproductive for them too! They won’t have any credibility when they are so very unforgiving considering the stakes and how much he has shown to be effective and conservative. A lose-lose.
It rankles me to hear petty criticism from the same people who got him so wrong before. They also got the political zeitgeist wrong as well. These were the same people who claimed he was a stealth Democrat, wasn’t serious about winning, had zero chance to win and would cause the GOP to lose the House and Senate.
That was last month!
I think Romney will be tasked with the monumental job of overseeing the Trump business transition and legal constructs for the company. He’s the perfect candidate. NOT to run the company, to make sure there’s a legal and financial framework to satisfy the inevitable charges of conflict of interest. Romney having been a fierce critic,and someone everyone respects as being a man of near impeccable ethics is perfect. (Trump smart enough to hire people who don’t have his skills and attributes)He’s very knowledgeable and would assemble a fine team.
I think that’s what Trump really wants him for, whether he takes it I don’t know, but Sec of State…can’t see how they can square what Mitt said about Trump.
If Mitt retracts, then what does that say about his ability to asses character? If Mitt doesn’t. Wow. Is Trump really that humble? Is he that weak? Don’t think so…
I did wonder about that. But I think the level of trust that Trump would have to have in Romney for that to occur would have to be, to use your word, “monumental.” And for Romney to accept–what’s he going to do if, in the course of doing his job, he comes across something he considers ‘shady?’ (Note: I’m not accusing Trump of anything, I’m just not sure it’s possible to run a multi-billion dollar enterprise without some things being ‘shady,’ at least in the opinion of one person or another).
I actually think it would take less, in terms of personal suck-up-the-insults-and-trust-the-guy for Trump to put Romney in the SoS, or some other Cabinet position, if he actually wants to do something with the guy.
I do think it would be plausible for Romney to say, as many have (maybe starting this election cycle with Ben Carson? I’m not sure), that in coming to know Trump on a personal level he has discovered a depth of understanding and intellect that he didn’t bla bla bla. You get the idea. The basic non-apology apology. I don’t forget that Trump said some unkind things about Romney, too. Even Trump has acknowledged as much, in rather gracious remarks a week or so ago.
I think at one point that Trump said he’d announce his plans for transitioning the business some time in the middle of December, so I guess we’ll see. It doesn’t look as if he’s going to turn it over to the kids, or at least not to Ivanka, based on today’s events with Algore, and her stated preferences. Maybe to Donald Jr and Eric to actually run things, whoever is setting up the umbrella framework?
Note:
Uncivil.Just saw this.
Use some context or shut up.those opinions are nearly worthless in changing anything except providing fuel for the other side. Nevers have little influence on Trump, but can sabotage Trump. All these things are perfectly cogent.
Try reading a whole comment
if you are capable.Thanks to Jan Bear for this!
My point was that Bush should have been pushed harder to be more conservative (e.g. not expanding Medicare, etc.). I’m not faulting anyone in particular that he wasn’t. As for myself, I was a Democrat in 2000 and voted for Gore. I became a conservative in 2001 and as a baby conservative didn’t really understand the issues well enough to understand where Bush was failing to be conservative. I educated myself and am less naive now. I was steered toward being a better conservative and that’s what we all need to do for Trump now.
Certainly, now that Trump is president, we must be careful to criticize policies and not the man.
Hartmann von Aue:
It is amusing, isn’t it. We can be “effective saboteurs” and “thwart” Trump but at the same time “are nearly worthless” and “have little influence”. What’s the guy’s real name, Sibyll?
Not uncivil?
Taking me out of context entirely and then calling me a schizophrenic? Maybe you didn’t get the reference?
What is the punishment at Ricochet for using two-word and three word phrases out of context and stringing them together in one sentence meant to convey some internal contradiction? Anything?
Sounds like a damn fine plan. I heartily concur.
What does “getting beyond the election” consist of?
Why? His flaws aren’t just limited to his horrible policies.
He’s still the sleazy conman he was before the election. That he was able to get 46.1% of the public to vote for him doesn’t change that fact.
When we all unite against the Hillary supporters and drink their blood from their skulls and hear the lamentations of their women. Or something less gruesome.
Fred , your ability to ask questions that go nowhere is becoming professional grade.
Unless the man deserves criticism. Bill Clinton, for example, deserved policy criticism for things such as Hillarycare (which failed) and his partial gun ban (which did not) and he also deserved robust to the man criticism for his personal behavior which included the sexual misbehavior with a White House intern and subsequent perjury that got him disbarred.
Too late with me. There are certain professional pundit NTs who were so foolish in the face of the all-out war the Left is waging, I will no longer waste my time considering their opinions. I’m speaking here of Bill Kristol, Evan McMullin, a few contributors here at Ricochet, sadly, among others. I fear they may have worked their careers into a dead end. But, whatever compassion I have for their misfortunes, you better believe I have only contempt for their continuing myopic hysteria. I wake up every day thanking God that Donald Trump won — and, yes, I think anyone who calls himself “conservative” should too.
The good news is the media class was due for a stable cleaning, and the lefty propagandist wing is nearly finished. That a few conservative pundits were swept away in the miraculous Herculean effort that was 2016 is their loss.
@
Criticize both as far as I care, but be accurate and in context. That’s my gripe. This is way out of proportion and simply naysaying by those who have already lost both their credibility and leverage.
I’ve been a conservative since the Reagan era and not just because of him, because I experienced socialism firsthand. Maybe I’m not a ‘conservative’ anymore if I have to constantly LOSE, so I’m no longer attached to that label. Mona Charen can have it.
But once someone is elected we voters don’t have much clout, even on internet chatrooms begging for more members. What we CAN do is push back against propaganda and gaslighting and try to convince the guy next to us that he’s got it wrong.
Don’t blame me. It wasn’t for lack of trying on my part.
Yes!
I was just trying to point out that continuing down that road would lead to more credibility erosion. I have lost it all myself as well, but just pointing out they are digging a deeper ditch for themselves.
I have learned so much this cycle!
I really don’t know what your phrase means. You are invited to explain it to me.
I was naive, I guess.
Still, Bush was infinitely better than Gore – or Kerry at the time. I don’t think many could have been so prescient to see that Bush would botch the political aspect of the war and beget Obama, or realize the depth of Democrat/media depravity in undermining the war for political advantage, and the chaos that ensued.
But in retrospect (which is the best place to learn politics) he hails from a certain faction which I now see clearly.
Anyway, late to the game. I’m here now.
This seems pretty close to my take on things.
Other than I was Reluctant Trump.
I feel like @franco et al won’t be happy until @monacharen and other NeverTrumpers do this:
Not good enough. They need to be wearing sackcloth and ashes.
I was thinking a walk of shame…I’d post a pic but….CoC.
My ears are burning.
Amy
I don’t want Mona to be anything but herself. No supplication is expected or needed. She is an icon of neocon thought and I always want to use her as a beacon of the neocon point of view. She is a lighthouse by which I navigate.
Looks like she’s pretty solid in her views. Quite decided. It shows me something.
Ask me before you suppose what I want, por favor.
Why can’t we criticize the man? Didn’t we criticize Obama the man all the time? From his snarky attitude to his egotistical self absorption (do we not recall the counters of how many times he refers to himself in a speech?). The president isn’t the Pope, he is just another elected official. He deserves no more respect than the Speaker of the House or the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Now I will say, though it should not have to be said, that the bar for respecting people in general should be pretty high even if they hold no fancy titles. But, men earn respect by what they do, and and in the grand scheme of American history Trump has yet to do all that much. Or at least not anything 44 other people have not done. Impressive enough to make the history books for sure, but then again not everyone who achieved this distinction have all that much honor attached to them despite their electoral victory.
I will judge him by the same standard that I have judged him and other presidents. By what he does. So far he is doing well, and I am not displeased. Maybe even somewhat amused. But, he has yet to do much to quell my biggest misgiving about him.
Maybe because, ostensibly, you are an American? And, who said anything about fealty. Stealing bases again, Fred? For shame!