Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. Trump and Escalation

 

There’s a scene in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series when Lieutenant Gordon worries about escalation. If the forces of justice become bolder, will the forces of evil not become bolder in response? An objective in any competition is to overpower one’s opponents. Both sides know this.

Many Republican voters have fallen into a trap of believing Trump himself is the catalyst of escalating political tensions. When Trump is no longer President, they suppose, life will return to normal. Not only conservatives are making this supposition, as Mollie points out.

Such hope is in vain.

Trump is crude. Undoubtedly, it affects a nation to designate such a crude man to a position of leadership. But that is not why Democrats now act as they do.

Trump has appointed many judges and, without benefit of legislative assistance, altered many regulations. But his presidency has not transformed American law, nor does he regularly act beyond his authority like a tyrant. In regard to laws and government, his presidency has been much like any other. That is not why Democrats now act as they do.

If the Left’s current behavior is by any degree a response to the election of Donald Trump, then that response is to the renewed boldness in conservative behavior.

Most people voted for Trump for a very simple reason — he fights. After generations of Republican capitulations and weak objections to relentless lies, corruptions, and assertions of power by the Left, Trump recognized in voters on the Right a desperation for bold and forceful resistance. We yearn for a leader who will get off defense and play offense like someone who really wants to win. Stop hiding behind the walls and stage a counter-attack.

I voted for Ted Cruz in the last Republican primary and would do so again. One needn’t be a Trump cheerleader to acknowledge this positive aspect of his appeal.

Leftists have become bolder because conservatives are at last daring to resist.

That change among rightwing voters will not end with Trump’s term (I hope and pray). We have been backed into corners. Like any cornered animal, in fearful awareness of diminishing options, a conservative is forced to acknowledge the necessity of bold behavior and aggressive gambles.

Conservatives hide their views under constant and often explicit threats. For speaking out as progressives feel free to speak out, conservatives commonly fear to lose grades, scholarships, associations, contracts, jobs, careers, and even the safety of their families. We are attacked.

It is a story as old as time. The tyrant blames the captive for his abuse. “Do not resist,” he says, “and I will not be forced to strike you.”

Conservatives can either meekly submit to oppression, tolerating ever more restrictions in hope to retain some semblance of uneventful (“peaceful”) anonymity, or conservatives can defy attempts to bully them into a dull, silent, false imitation of liberty.

What conservatives cannot do is fight back without provoking those who attempt to enslave them. Democrats have been pleased by their victories over the decades. If Republicans and/or conservatives frustrate those gains, or even recover lost ground, of course, Democrats will respond in fury.

Whether President Trump is elected to a second term or not, whoever might replace him, Americans have entered another era of raucous and bitter competition for cultural dominance. If the maelstrom quiets before freedom is won, our nation will not be better for it.

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  1. RightAngles Member

    What conservatives cannot do is fight back without provoking those who attempt to enslave them

    True, and we can only hope those we elect in the GOP realize this and don’t let it affect their choices. Like you, I didn’t vote for Trump in the primaries either. But once he was our nominee, I was behind him 1000% and still am. I love him more and more as time goes on. One of the biggest eye-openers for me was when the Senate did nothing about Obamacare. After 7 years of wailing that if only we gave them the majority, they’d take care of that. But when we gave it to them, we found out they had prepared nothing. They had 7 years to put something together, but they had not.

    That’s when I knew they never had any intention of doing it. They liked things just the way they were. I realized that there aren’t even really two parties. Just a bunch of career pols who like the status quo just fine and don’t care about us at all. And they STILL don’t understand why we elected Trump. As for some of you oh-so-fastidious Republicans who can’t stop themselves from informing me that he’s a bumptious oaf, get over yourselves. Oh and by the way, we already KNEW THAT. And we don’t care. Get it through your heads, we do not care. Trump is the man we needed right now, and nobody else from our supposedly deep bench of 2016 could ever have pulled this off. They couldn’t even have beaten Hillary. And every time one of you posts negativity about him, you are HELPING THE LEFT.

    This was a really great post, Aaron. Well written and eloquent.

    • #1
    • July 21, 2020, at 10:26 AM PDT
    • 18 likes
  2. Codename: Bunsen Honeydew Coolidge

    Excellent post, Aaron!

    • #2
    • July 21, 2020, at 12:48 PM PDT
    • 4 likes
  3. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Spot on. 

    The Left is unhinged because their “arc of history” and their unstopped march to power is being interrupted. 

    They are the ones who, unprecedented in our Republic, refused the peaceful transition of power. 

    • #3
    • July 21, 2020, at 2:25 PM PDT
    • 6 likes
  4. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Completely agree. But, it’s not conservatives I worry about. Not real ones who tend to be wildly supportive of Trump’s presidency. It’s that squirrely 15% in the middle — the swing voters — who might be convinced that the beatings will cease once their morale improves (and they vote straight D). I’m concerned about what portion of the country suffers battered wife syndrome. 

    • #4
    • August 2, 2020, at 6:45 AM PDT
    • 8 likes
  5. Brian Watt Member
    Brian Watt Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Keep in mind that the “geniuses” at the Lincoln Project want to hand the reins of power over to Democrats like those who wouldn’t let AG Barr speak and who think Antifa is a myth but really want the violence to continue.

    • #5
    • August 2, 2020, at 1:39 PM PDT
    • 5 likes
  6. aardo vozz Member

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Spot on.

    The Left is unhinged because their “arc of history” and their unstopped march to power is being interrupted.

    They are the ones who, unprecedented in our Republic, refused the peaceful transition of power.

    Not to nitpick, but this is not exactly unprecedented. There was the dispute over the election results of 2000. And let’s not forget that little dust up that occurred following the election of 1860.

    • #6
    • August 2, 2020, at 3:10 PM PDT
    • 3 likes
  7. Brian Watt Member
    Brian Watt Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    The. Juxtaposition. Of. These. Two. Tweets. Democrats won’t condemn what’s happening in the Andy Ngo video. Democrats and members of the Lincoln Project will instead focus all their energy condemning Donald Trump. This is the 2020 Election in a nutshell. I’m absolutely convinced that the only way that Democrats can win is by illegal vote harvesting and fraudulent votes in districts that look as they are going for a Republican candidate or Trump.

    • #7
    • August 2, 2020, at 3:54 PM PDT
    • 2 likes
    • This comment has been edited.
  8. Sisyphus Coolidge
    Sisyphus Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Let us not forget the election of 1800 when Vice Presidential nominee Aaron Burr, having received just as many Electoral College votes as Presidential nominee Thomas Jefferson, argued forcefully that he should be President. 35 deadlocked votes in the House of Representatives when Hamilton prevailed on Jefferson’s behalf with some Federalist friends. Good times.

    • #8
    • August 2, 2020, at 4:08 PM PDT
    • 4 likes
  9. philo Member

    Aaron Miller: …nor does he regularly act beyond his authority like a tyrant…

    A wonderful piece Mr. Miller but I am hesitant to give even the smallest of inch to the now insane left without a solid case. I submit that it would be damn hard to show that he acted beyond his authority to any extent beyond what has been acceptable to all of his modern predecessors. 

    • #9
    • August 2, 2020, at 4:48 PM PDT
    • 3 likes
  10. TBA Coolidge
    TBA

    I might have added, ‘blowback’ to the list of words to strike from our vocabulary last month. 

    It has a real meaning in physics, but is useless for war and politics because neither of them operate on rational forces. 

    When you’re tempted to use the word blowback, consider ‘retaliation’ or ‘overreaction’ instead. 

    • #10
    • August 3, 2020, at 3:02 AM PDT
    • 2 likes
  11. Flicker Coolidge

    TBA (View Comment):

    I might have added, ‘blowback’ to the list of words to strike from our vocabulary last month.

    It has a real meaning in physics, but is useless for war and politics because neither of them operate on rational forces.

    When you’re tempted to use the word blowback, consider ‘retaliation’ or ‘overreaction’ instead.

    And “unpack”. How about using a really weird word, such as “explain” or “analyze”. (We now return you to your program in progress.)

    • #11
    • August 3, 2020, at 1:19 PM PDT
    • 3 likes