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Trump, Conservatism, and Me
Greetings, Gentlemen and Gentle Ladies of Ricochet. I’ve been away for a while, I know.
Some of you wrote to the editors to ask what happened to me and whether they should be worried. I was touched by that. You’ve heard, then, that I’ve been working on my book, which is coming along well. But in truth, that’s not the only reason I’ve been away.
About a week ago, the Blue Yeti, who also noticed my absence, sent me a message to ask if I was okay. I was on the verge of writing, “Oh, yes, I’m fine, I’m just working on my book,” but then I stopped myself and thought, “Why not tell him the truth? It is, after all, the truth.” And so I did.
I wrote back and said that I was horrified by Trump. That I’m heartbroken for my country and for what I thought were our ideals, our decency. That it seemed to me the United States was experiencing the political equivalent of a psychotic break, one that has at best turned America into the punchline of a joke, and at worst will end the American experiment altogether. That I was exhausted from arguing about Trump. That I’ve already lived through this presidency once, in Turkey — although it took years for Erdoğan to sound the way Trump already does — and didn’t want to chronicle this story twice in my life.
“I’m outraged by Trump and what’s become of conservatism,” I wrote,
I’m depressed by all of it and sad that I’ve devoted so much of my life to a political ideology that in the end looks as corrupt to me as socialism. This hasn’t seemed like an appropriate thing to share with our entire membership, so I’ve been keeping quiet before saying anything rash — either to our members or to you. But I’ve been feeling this way now for long enough that I probably just need to say it.
So the answer, really, is that I’m not so okay. I’m quite depressed. A large part of it is an overdue reflection about my role in all of this, and a realization that whatever I believe about politics, it has no place in the conservative movement as it now exists.
The Yeti asked if he could call me. We spoke for a while. He started by trying to reassure me that I wasn’t responsible for Donald Trump’s election. This on the one hand is obviously true; but on the other, I’m not sure I can escape the responsibility for this disaster that every American shares, whether or not we supported him or voted for him. We’ve all, together, created — or failed to do enough to prevent — the conditions such that a phenomenon like this might emerge. We all share some part of the blame for allowing our country to descend into nihilism and despair; we all contributed, in some way, to the hollowing out of civic virtue, to the eradication of gravitas and dignity from the public sphere, to the conflation of reality television with reality, to the dumbing-down and the commercialization of everything, to mindless and unprincipled partisanship, to the cultivation of the imperial presidency. We are all all in some part responsible, even if our only contribution was doing too little to prevent it.
And in my case, the contribution was greater. I didn’t mean to, but I did. Ricochet, after all, was part of a gullible media that offered Trump five billion dollars’ worth of free advertising because we assumed his candidacy was just a terrific joke and great for site traffic. “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,” Les Moonves said. I can’t say our editorial approach was more foresighted.
I’m not so full of my own sense of importance as to believe what I write has much influence over anything, but it’s a fact that for the past few decades I’ve supported myself by writing by writing about, and for, politicians and audiences who called themselves conservatives. I believed I shared a set of assumptions and values with conservative readers, or at least, I believed their assumptions and values closer to mine than those of the American left. But it turns out that a substantial cohort of those people did not share my assumptions and values. And a significant number of them are now given over to isolationism, protectionism, nativism, authoritarianism, and sheer craziness. Or outright nihilism. Not to mention opportunism. I want no part of that.
Newt Gingrich, arguing that Margaret Thatcher was the model for the Trump presidency, recently buttressed this claim by allusion to my book about Thatcher, which made me cringe. As I replied in the American Interest, the idea is utterly unserious; that he could assert this is profoundly disturbing for what it says about how little the truth matters to anyone in this perfervid political climate:
I was glad to see my largely forgotten book mentioned, but at the same time I was baffled—because the comparison is ludicrous. Readers who doubt this may consult the online Thatcher archives, which contain every known statement made by Margaret Thatcher between 1945 and 1990; or take my word for it for $12.10 on Amazon. They will find nothing to suggest that Thatcher and Trump are similar in any relevant aspect, be it their political ideals, beliefs, moral values, temperament, style, experience, intellect, competence, decorum, or probity.
What does it mean, then, when a respected senior American politician makes this argument in a respected American newspaper? We’re not, after all, talking about an archaic figure known to us only through a disputed Delphic verse. Margaret Thatcher is very nearly a contemporary. She died in 2013. What she believed is as well known as the formula for the area of a triangle. It would be one thing if the newly Trumpesque Gingrich had in his article renounced Margaret Thatcher and her ideals. That would have been surprising, to be sure, but it would have at least made sense. But this is not what he did: He instead made his actual memories of Thatcher vanish in an act of mental thaumaturgy, and returned from his underground dungeon lair with a shape-changed new version of history.
I told the Blue Yeti all about this, and told him that basically, I’d prefer never to write about politics again. I’m exhausted with it, growingly cynical, and deeply pessimistic. When I finished, I expected him to say that he was sorry to hear it, and to accept my resignation.
But instead, he asked me to write about what I’d just told him, all of it. He said I wasn’t alone in feeling this way, and told me that more people than I realized shared my sentiments. I don’t quite remember what he said next, except that he seemed sincere in thinking I should write about this, and adamant that my point of view was one that should still be represented here. He said that if the Trump presidency implodes, or explodes, someone will have to make the case for classical liberalism and the vigorous virtues, since the conservatives who’ve eagerly hopped in bed with the Id in the White House won’t seem particularly credible after that. He suggested — kindly — that I pull myself together.
I figured he was probably right. “Pull yourself together and get back to work” is, usually, good general advice.
So, are there any more of you out there who are feeling like me? Or will I have to do this single-handedly? I will, I guess, if I have to, but it would be nice to know I’m not alone.
Published in General
As a constitutional conservative this past election was (in the end) easier for me than for Claire. If Mrs. Clinton and the Dems were empowered by her election in 2016 to fill two or three vacancies on the US Supreme Court, then our constitution was going onto the trash heap of history because of the rewrite job done by the five or six left wing attorneys sitting on the Court during the next 20 years.
They would prevent conservatives from halting and turning back the aggrandizement of the executive branch and of the judiciary. The legislative branch would become impotent in the face of the modern filibuster rule and rule by administrative edict (i.e. regulations).
The key to our return to constitutional government is (1) Donald Trump coming through on the roll-back of the administrative state and (2) The Republicans in Congress standing up for their Article One powers. The “Great Man” theory of the American Presidency that originated with Franklin Roosevelt (with a foreshadowing during the Woodrow Wilson administration) must be curtailed. We do not need a Great White Father (or a Mother-in-law from Hell) in the White House. With Donald Trump there is some possibility of that occurring because Republicans might be able to resist the cult of personality far better than Democrats.
The bottom line: Politics (in Washington) needs to become less important in the lives of all Americans. The elections of Warren Harding in 1920 and of Calvin Coolidge in 1924 gave America the antidote to Woodrow Wilson’s liberal fascism. If Donald Trump is half the man that Cal was, we are going to return to the greatness of constitutional government.
This view, common on Ricochet, depended on two beliefs:
First, Hillary, despite her massive corruption and deep financial ties to Russia, was proven not to be a Trumpesque tool of Putin by her threats of war with Russia and Syria. Benghazi… trivial. Iran… not that important. The rest of her track record at State… irrelevant, except that it gave her experience and she knew the major players internationally.
Second, the fact that she has been running to the Left for years meant nothing, so that eight more years in which Her Hillaryness would
would just make the American people eager to elect a Republican.
And that people who were concerned afraid of the damage this and more would do to the Republic were foolish alarmist deplorables. Because the EUrocrats didn’t like Trump. And intellectuals who shared these concerns were class traitors.
Agree. More than likely she’s getting her news from CNN and the NYT.
See, this is an indication of a serious problem. Formerly sane, clear thinking people walking around with pictures of Hillary in their pocket.
I’m a bit sickened by these comments and decided I should say something. [Redacted] Clair is a thoughtful writer and frankly, not exactly on the fringe on Trump, even if she’s not in lockstep with you. If you don’t like what she writes, don’t read it. A lot of us appreciate her commentary and regardless, it’s not for you (or Curt) to tell her to shut up.
Point taken.
Or alternatively, she hasn’t fell prey to cult of personality that seems to envelop Trump and it is easier for her to offer a more objective analysis of what is actually happening.
After today’s headlines – all bets are off – scary – thank God HRC did not win.
And we thought the crybabies who couldn’t work or go to school were bad – H in the wallet is really out there….
I have Reagan, Bush 2 and Romney on my fridge, but I keep Hillary in the dark and sit on her. She only comes out when I get squishy on DT. So far, so good. If I can make it until June, I think I can be rid of her.
Great first posting Andrew. Thanks you
This reminds me of a road trip in the Seventies, when I pulled my Pacer into a truck stop along I-70 in Missouri. Went into the rest room and was confronted with a row of at least 15 urinals, each of which had a picture of Ayatollah Khomeini pasted to the back. I wish I had thought to take a picture but I would have had to wait until everyone else left.
I’m only up to #66 but I interrupt my thread review to highlight @rebark’s observation.
This is essentially where I am. I neither offer a full-throated defense or denial of Trump, though I find myself the “devil’s advocate” more often than I ever expected, either which way.
@claire it is unconservative to give up a fight, which I’m certain you know. We hold our values not because of our friend’s assurances, but because they’re true.
@claire I hear ya. Ricochet has made me quite depressed. I came here because I loved the idea of conservative ideas ricocheting around between us and possibly giving birth to a new conservative revolution. Instead, I came here to watch conservatism die.
I’m coming to the party a bit late but with the breadth of essays that appear on Ricochet it should come as no surprise that at some point your, including my world view is going to be challenged at times. I’m not sure why that becomes so personal. As I told parents when I was coaching youth soccer, six year-olds to be exact, there are a billion Chinese that don’t care about the score, or whether we win or lose a match. So remember that the next time when you find that someone disagrees with you. Put forth a logical argument and then if your blood pressure is still sky high take up something less frustrating like golf.
@casey, it only dies if we let it.
True. Like Protagoras, in 2400 years we’ll be on top again! (Or maybe like the Pirates.)
You’re talking to a Cubs fan you know — don’t tell me about droughts.
I hope you enjoyed your Easter weekend.