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The First Step Is Admitting You Have a Problem
Regarding President Trump, there are currently several divisions on the Right. While not including everybody, these probably cover most:
- Trump was my guy all along. MAGA!
- I voted for someone else in the primary but with serious reservations and crossed fingers, I voted Trump to prevent Hillary. Policy-wise, I’m pleased.
- I didn’t vote for Trump, but the economy, courts, and geopolitics seem pretty, pretty good.
- Never Trump. Ever. Never eva!!!
The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles (and cigar-group friend) penned “Can We All Finally Admit Trump Is A Good President?“
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
The Iran Deal in tatters, three American hostages safely returned from North Korea, which now offers to denuclearize and end the Korean War after 68 years, five top ISIS leaders captured — and that’s just this week. On the domestic front, in just a year-and-a-half, landmark tax reform has made the U.S. more competitive, fewer illegal aliens are entering our country than at any time in the past 17 years, and dozens of federal judges have taken the bench to defend the rule of law and our constitutional system. According to a poll from CNN of all outlets, more Americans today think the country is headed in the right direction than at any time in over a decade.
The Left unsurprisingly remains steadfast in their opposition to President Trump. What’s disappointing is that a handful of “Never Trump” Republicans remain equally unwilling to admit the obvious: Donald Trump is a good president. Indeed, the remaining anti-Trump voices on the Right seem more desperate than ever to take down the president, if only to prove that, actually, they were right all along.
Michael Knowles is no dummy. Yale-educated, podcast host at Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire and author of the best blank book ever written, Michael posits some truths that many on both the Left and Right could use a good dose of: reality.
We understand the interminable Never Trump anger. After all, Trump traded five extremely dangerous and hardened terrorists for one Army deserter while adjoined by the deserters suspicious looking parents in the White House Rose Garden. Oh, wait … that was the last guy. Today, ISIS has been reduced to a handful of knife-wielding basement-dwelling neckbeards stabbing randoms on the streets of North Mecca (Paris).
But there was this: Trump used State Dept. funds to interfere with and fail to prevent the re-election of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Oh, that was also the last guy. Today we see Israelis dancing in the streets as America had the audacity to recognize Jerusalem as their capital (something every former President campaigned for but never had the guts to acknowledge officially). Meanwhile, Iranian-sponsored Hamas uses the poor Palestinian people as cannon fodder while the White House Press Pool clutches pearls 6,000 miles away.
The list can go on: North Korea, Syria, Tax Reform, etc. It’s not necessary to present the impressive number of achievements in Trump’s first 16 months, but even intellectually honest liberal friends whisper that Hillary probably couldn’t have gotten this done, even if those policies were liberal.
Granted, we are not there yet, anything can happen, but from a conservative perspective, we’re quickly heading in the right direction.
Where are the Never Trumpers on these stunning seismic geopolitical events? You can find some remaining “neocons” on MSNBC or CNN as contributors whose talking points are similar to the liberals they are supposedly countering. They second guess or downplay every achievement, while incessantly cheerleading any and all unsubstantiated leaks on the Mueller investigation or who said what in the White House.
Who needs Fire and Fury from a leftist partisan hack when you get the same breathless narrative from these people on the “right.” While Trump is working to peacefully end the 60-year-old Korean Conflict, they are nattering about porn stars while spending their days trolling Twitter arguing with strangers. This is their life now. #Sad.
The worst part is, they present themselves as the moral arbiters of Conservative, Inc. In their mind, it’s still their show. Complain, and you’re a “Trump Snowflake.” Disagree and you’re a [expletive] Neanderthal, probably uneducated and seeking sponsors for your bowling league.
People correctly tell them this is the reason Trump won, except the NYC/DC/LA elites were usually on the left. But now, their smug, condescending act has become tiresome and boring. So, like millions, we have tuned them out.
We used to like respect these people. We bought their books, watched their interviews and even went on their rip-roaring cruises.
Right after the election, in an interview on my show, one said, “we hope Trump succeeds.”
“Magnanimous,” I replied. After all, it was. They fought tooth and nail against him. “If Trump succeeds, we all succeed,” I’d say.
Then the less than enthusiastic “Yeah… Well, we’ll see.” They were still smarting from their loss.
But it’s almost a year and a half later. Ego is helluva drug and the Id doesn’t easily crack. I didn’t complete my Ph.D. in psychology but I learned enough to know denial when I see it. In psychoanalytic theory, we learned denial is a defense mechanism used to minimize our anxiety. To not admit truths allows us to refuse to accept those facts while remaining adamantly married to our own rigid ideas. In other words, a drone.
Intransigence from those who can’t admit success by this President where there clearly are successes is one such example, and that denial is forever changing the conservative landscape. One can argue Trump changed the landscape, and that’s a valid point. But his policies and appointments are most certainly as conservative as we have seen from any traditional Republican President, and would otherwise be supported by most everyone who values national security, smaller government, and economic policy. We can argue over his process but, so far, the results are unmistakable.
Those once highly respected “thinkers” have all but a few original fans left, while their new followers seep from the same free-speech-fearing, big-government-advocating corners who want the demise of the conservative movement. These people have been relegated to be used as weapons against the President by the antiquated news media and hysterical left (but I repeat myself), only to be eventually disposed of if and when the left regains total power.
To what ends? Maybe the obstinacy stems from a fleeting hope when an impeached President Trump waves his fingers in V formation from Marine One as he’s escorted from the White House, they will be given a token post in a 2020 Kamala Harris administration.
Hate to think they put themselves above country so maybe it’s just appearances. Remaining virtuous and just, and being right, means you can preen across social and print media. Some of these people are brilliant, well-read academics, historians, and their opinions used to matter. We would anticipate their every word (even if we couldn’t understand some of them) as we felt smarter for the time we invested.
No longer. They have joined with the hyperbolic shrill left who aren’t dissimilar to emotionally unstable 13-year-old girls. There are fewer tantrums in a Judy Blume book.
Refusing to even acknowledge this President has beaten the odds and is becoming what may be one of the most pivotal presidents in modern times isn’t a right or left thing, it’s history. And for many of us, we see this group along with the unhinged left desperately attempt to rewrite history as it happens, all so they end up on the correct side.
If President Trump continues on his trajectory, over the next two/six and a half years the credibility factor of many of our former conservative icons will continue to diminish. Or, they can admit things aren’t Armageddon by simply saying “Hey, I may still not like him personally, but he’s achieving many of the same results I would have wanted of any Conservative President. Now let’s work together on the things we all agree on.”
Why is that so hard?
Published in General
This is true.
As a former and current NeverBusher, I’m glad I haven’t been burned at the stake yet. Though there were a few who were gathering wood for the fire.
I used to say something similar about Ron Paul and his opponents/supporters.
Ron Paul says some things that need to be said (not very well, either). So he’s got the most libertarian political power. I don’t get it myself.
I have to say though, I went to a Ron Paul speech a few years ago back when those guys commandeered the Minnesota GOP and it was one of the most fun things I have ever done. It was like being at a New Years day bowl game. Absolutely wild.
Can someone explain to me why category 1 isn’t also exhibiting a foolish consistency?
My refrain is that the EverTrumpers and NeverTrumpers are far more alike than they are different.
One thing for sure, Trump brings out the bad in all the ‘good men’ you just mentioned. Very, very, baad.
This is the first task. The left controls too many things, including the media, and they can just promise free stuff and utopian whatever along with that. The right and the libertarians are in a bad spot.
Since this starts with “I don’t understand . . . .” I’m not going to argue with you. Maybe you don’t. All I can tell you is that as a conservative gay professional living in a very blue urban center and getting most of my interaction with conservatives from online forums like this, I feel like I can’t win for losing. Almost everybody in my real world life is appalled that I’m not a democrat. Almost everybody in my online life is appalled that I’m not “all in” enough with every idiotic tweet that this president spews out. I don’t know how “calling balls and strikes” can possibly be seen by either side as unwise. I don’t know how a thinking person could do anything else.
My closest group of friends from high school are all liberals. They live in Chicago, Madison, and California. They’re appalled that I’m not one of them merely by dint of being a woman. But a gay Conservative, that’s real trouble right there, and takes guts. It’s got to be pretty tiresome too. As to the Trump part, well it looks to me like you have a lot of practice in “not fitting in.” Tiresome, though.
The secret is not really caring all that much what other people think. But I am definitely persona non grata in some social circles where I would otherwise be welcome but for my politics.
Who in this thread has shown disdain for Trump supporters?
Heh. As a straight but highly countercultured guy living in a blue state with 800 + FB friends who are variously anarchists, pagans, libertarians, and brain-dead Democrats and possibly 30 closeted Republicans ( some of whom hate Trump) , and all of whom are nice people, I can certainly sympathize.
I see a bigger threat than you do, re leftism. I just can’t stand the piling on Trump since that allows more political cover for the left. We just see it differently…
I wish category 1 people would take yes for an answer sometimes.
In the beginning of this string of quotes it was stated that Trump opponents make me want to vote for him and his supporters make me want to stay home. Am I to assume that he would be staying home because of his great admiration for Trump supporters?
Definitely so, but it doesn’t make an enemy either.
What have we been given to rally around? We get infantile bickering from congressional Republicans and bombast from a President who changes positions so often that nobody can organize to help him. I understand arguments that we must pledge unconditional support to Trump. He provides little opportunity for conditional support.
Every Republican Presidential candidate I’ve voted for since Reagan got my vote because he was better than the alternative, and every Republican President in my lifetime received conditional support from the party. We didn’t exactly line up behind Bush on immigration reform or Harriet Miers. Heck even the stuff that got through Congress (medicare expansion, no child left behind, …) was criticized by the pundits and left many of us grumbling under our breath. Undying loyalty to POTUS isn’t how we operate and you shouldn’t expect that to change. The fact that since 2016 you think that needs to change might be evidence that we bet on the wrong horse.
You’re taking it too personally – it’s Trump supporters arguments and the way they present them that makes me want to stay home. It’s like Progressives and MAGA folk live in two diametrically opposed parallel universes and I’m standing in third thinking “What the hell are you guys talking about?”
You are so right about that. The left can lie, and call names, and do all manner of awful things, and they often get away with it. We only have two advantages over them. First, our policies generally work, while their policies fail abysmally. Second, there are still some Americans who don’t like people who lie and call names and do all manner of awful things. I know so many people who have moved from being Democrats to being some form of conservative or libertarian, and in every case it is either because they noticed that conservative policies work better, or because they got disgusted with the lies and the intolerance of the left. Mostly the latter. Call it the “disgust factor.” I think it is our biggest advantage over the left, and God knows we need it.
And that is exactly why we must not lie and call names and do all manner of awful things. If we are as disgusting as they are, then we lose our biggest advantage. I understand that there are some people who think that if the left is going to be disgusting then the only way to “fight back” is to be just as disgusting. I think that’s a mistake. The media is not going to change. Hollywood is not going to change. Academia is not going to change. The left is not going to lose its advantages. Not anytime soon, anyway. We can ill-afford to lose ours.
And that’s why many of us who appreciate the fact that Trump has been following conservative policies still sometimes cringe at the man himself. As I said, as long as he follows conservative policies, those policies will work better than anything the Democrats have. That’s the first factor and, so far, it is all in Trump’s favor. But we can’t afford to lose the disgust factor. We can’t afford to become just another Party that lies and calls names and does all manner of awful things, or to be represented by a leader who is seen as doing those things.
Believing that doesn’t make me NeverTrump. For me, the better policies and better outcomes are plenty good enough. Those are all I need to convince me which side I’m on. But that isn’t true for everyone. If we are going to win in the long term, we really need the disgust factor to bring people over to our side. I fret about losing that advantage, and I will continue to fret even though I recognize the good policy results that Trump has been bringing.
As so often happens around here I agree with Larry.
I think you answered that above:
The problem is, all of that Critical Theory, Frankfurt School, Alinsky, and Cloward and Piven stuff is real and it works. They all use it reflexively, now. It works to seize the political system and therefore society’s resources. I basically buy everything that David Horowitz says on this. We have a local guy @shabbosgoy that has also influenced me.
I can if it will help. There. See it?Are you not all impressed?
Round and round this conversation goes, since it began. Trump has done nothing to correct his flaws. The argument now is can anything actually compensate for them. It seems for many it can. Sure the dish has too much salt, but look at all the shrimp and lobster you get! How can you say no to that? Is the basic outline of the argument everyone seems engaged in now.
Well, if we are limited to this thread, not sure. From you in other threads, of course you have.
The way I see it, Keynesianism and Cultural Marxism drive everything in this country now, bottom up and top down. The behavior of the electorate and the motives of political actors. It messes with the structure of the economy. The media enables it. Trump is both a weapon and a symptom. JMO.
People vote based on their own experience. The reason I mentioned half is due to polls showing people are more optimistic now that in over a decade: From the right-wing rag CNN: “The President’s improving issue ratings come amid a sharp rise in positive impressions of how the country is doing. Overall, 57% say things are going well in the US today — up from 49% saying the same in February — which is the largest proportion to say so since January of 2007.”
You may well be right, and the economy is doing very well. POTUS and the Republican congress deserve a lot of credit for that.
I don’t think they ‘should have voted for him’ nor do I expect to hear that. Everyone should keep their own counsel. But it would have been good for the most ardent among them to at least give his policies time to percolate before jumping in front of every camera that would have them.
I don’t think this behavior began with the 2016 election, but it’s sound advice nonetheless.
I could be wrong, but I’m guessing a vast majority of Trump voters supporting his reelection aren’t the cartoonish MAGA hat-wearing, rally-attending sycophants the media sensationalize.
Or some pundits. Or Ricochet commentors.
I don’t think that is a widespread opinion. I know some NT’s, some friends in this thread, who have happily placed themselves in #3. I never told anyone which number I was BTW.
It’s the #4’s that have doubled-down, becoming a fifth column against what most consider some significant conservative wins.