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What Would Buckley Say?
National Review is not only the birthplace of the Never Trump movement, but also the “Reagan, Never Again” Reform Conservative movement. National Review without William F. Buckley isn’t National Review.
I don’t blame NR for publishing its famous “Against Trump” issue. They thought, with good reason, that Trump would push the Republican Party to further to the left than even another Bush. At the time of that issue, Trump might have actually been further to the left than he was by the time he became President.
When Trump governed as a conservative, some of the writers at NR became more sanguine about the Trump Presidency. Just like many of us at Ricochet, they changed their minds. Rich Lowry even expressed regret at having published the “Against Trump” issue.
Now, National Review contracted TDS in a big way. You won’t find a kind word about Trump anywhere unless it’s from a guest writer like VDH or Conrad Black.
Also, they have been silent on the voter fraud issue, which ought to matter even if there wasn’t enough to change the result. Maybe they think they will be mistaken for capital building rioters. They should relax.
I can only guess at what Buckley would think about Trump, and would likely guess wrong.
Buckley was a bit of an intellectual bad-a** in his day, and was friends with Reagan and Limbaugh when they weren’t socially acceptable. How would he have reacted to Trump? Your guess is as good as mine.
Also, what would he think of National Review today? Athwart history, anyone?
Published in General
National Review just published an excellent editorial which I think sums up the current debate, “This We Believe.” https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/01/this-we-believe/?fbclid=IwAR36LnxB3A7FrvuocwYLG37fM_um6uA21CkHEIt53MT7QAfkbKUVcDxiSM8
Under the Code of Conduct I am unable to simply reproduce this editorial. However, I will leave you with the first two paragraphs:
“High among the things American conservatism seeks to conserve is our country’s political inheritance from our founding, an inheritance that makes it possible for us to be a free, prosperous, decent, and self-governing society.
“That work is unending and sometimes arduous — because the inheritance is complex and often misunderstood, because the threats to it are many and varied, and because conservation is rarely reducible to resisting change. Our claim is not that the Founders were perfect but that they were wise, and that we need to fit the times to the Constitution more than the other way around.”
What I like about this is that it returns to first principles. I believe that the above is what WFB would say if he were still alive.
You can’t be serious.
For heaven’s sake, that was eight years ago. And Steorts objected to a joke, not the column, which you’ll note is still up. And didn’t Trump himself – what’s the word – evolve on the same-sex marriage issue?
Should that joke have been beyond the pale?
About the time I stopped reading and supporting. What a coincidence! I had spent almost a quarter-century writing checks to help out. Used to be a great learning tool/magazine. I even saved some of the issues.
I suspect this is a fundamental misunderstanding of her actions. I see it as she both accelerated the long planned transition to her next gig and greatly increased the size of the paycheck she will [be] getting once there. She will be having the last laugh.
Liz relying on the kindness of liberal Democrat strangers for future gigs in Washington would run into the latent problem of her branding as a Cheney, which to a ton of angry progressives on the left, still sets them off in the same way saying the words “Niagara Falls” did in that old vaudeville routine. She could serve as one of the House impeachment managers next month, and it wouldn’t matter — Cheney would likely be stuck in the same Purgatory that brands like Starbucks are, where no matter what they do that seemingly jibes with what people on the left want, they’re always on the outs with the angry left side of the coalition that will never love them (and in the case of Antifa riots like the one in Seattle last week, actively search out Starbucks to destroy because of that hatred for the name).
It won’t be liberal Democrat entities that pay her bills…
Guess comments like Columbo’s might harm the market for future cruises?
So, no Pierre Omidyar cash, like with The Bulwark, then?
Dan McLaughlin, who’s been part of the ‘soft’ #NeverTrumpers at NR, had an interestingly ambiguous post today that started off sounding like it was going to be another chastening of those who support Trump, but seemed to pivot midstream to the reality that the #NeverTrump crowd is in the minority in the GOP, and walking away from the party because of that is the wrong thing to do:
In contrast to this, the hardcore #NeverTrump crowd either still thinks they can purge the Trump supporters from the GOP and go back to telling everyone what to do, or they’re so embittered by their loss of influence, they want the total destruction of the Republican Party. That’s Bulwark/Lincoln Project land, and NR is nowhere near that territory.
I generally agree, but I’m not sure that I buy the “nowhere” part. McLaughlin himself had a recent column in which the inflammatory title was actually changed, but the substance of which was that conservative=s are now free (free at last!) to express themselves in the absence of Trump. It veered seriously close to Bulwark land.
McLaughlin, like Lowery or Liz Cheney, overreacted to the idea that they might be able to keep Trump out of the 2024 field, and at least in the case of the two guys at NR, now seem to be having second thoughts, either based on self-awarness that they made a major mis-step by giving into their base feelings about Trump, or based strategically on where this would have to take them intellectually in the upcoming days (“Patrick Leahy is a perfectly legal substitute for John Roberts, and there’s no problem if he serves as both judge and juror!“).
There’s no coming back from endorsing a Democratic Party show trial. In contrast, the Bulwark/Lincoln Project types would have no problems with that, and would follow it up with “And then lets impeach Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley!” as part of their salted earth plans for the GOP that rebuffed their brilliance for the cretinism of Donald Trump)
I don’t know an NeverTrump person who believes that they can purge Trump voters and Trump supporters. It appears to me that at most, the NeverTrumpers like The Lincoln Project and The Bulwark are focused on Trump, and his closest ring of sycophants, like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, and in Arizona, Representatives Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs, and twice Senate Primary Loser Kelli Ward.
But there are many Republicans who I could and would support. For example, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey went to Trump rallies and voted for Trump. But he was never a Trump sycophant. I would have had no problem voting for Doug Ducey for the 2022 Senate race. However because Ducey did his duty in certifying the Biden victory in 2020, Trump has turned on Ducey, and a Trump aligned Republican Convention censured Ducey, who the next day said that he would not be running for the 2022 Senate seat.
Idiots. The state convention censured the two term governor who was the best bet to beat Mark Kelly in 2022. What were they thinking? I certainly am never going to vote for Trump sycophants like Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs and Kelli Ward for Senate in 2022. I will vote against them in the primary and then in the general election.
Oh now he tells us.
Remember how Trump abridged their free speech for four years? What a monster.
Nah. Impeachment of a sitting U.S. Senator is not possible under the constitution. Recall of a sitting U.S. Senator is likewise not possible. Unless there is a tape recording of them literally plotting with the rioters, the Senate will not be able to reach the 2/3 vote needed to expel U.S. Senator. (The last Senator who was forced to resign was, I think, Bob Packwood of Oregon in 1999, who the Senate Ethics Committee had recommended expulsion.) But neither Cruz nor Hawley will ever become President of the United States.
I think that Liz Cheney will do fine. She would make an excellent Secretary of Defense in any Non-Trump Republican Administration. Liz Cheney is a very conservative person; the only twist with her is that she would not close her eyes to Trump’s involvement in the January 6th Trump Riots.
That and her loony speech justifying her betrayal of her fellow Republican congresspersons and her constituents.
What will NeverTrumpers like me do with Trump out of office. First, draw the line against him ever being elected again.
Second, unlike the last two cycles where I contributed half of my money to Democrats, I have contributed only to Republicans this cycle, starting with the Brave 10 in the House, and the Senators, like Lisa Murkowski, who support conviction in the Senate. (If any of them is defeated in their primary, I will likely give to the Democrats in those races.)
Third, I will also be contributing to the Republican Accountability Project which is raising money to defend Representatives and Senators who have rejected Trump and are being attacked by him. Here is a short paragraph about the Republican Accountability Project:
Sarah Longwell, the executive director of the Republican Accountability Project, an anti-Trump group, said she and her colleagues planned to raise and spend $50 million to defend the 10 pro-impeachment House Republicans in primary contests and attack those who voted to object to the Electoral College results after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. She said the group would aim to defeat Mr. Jordan in an Ohio Senate primary if he runs against an establishment-minded Republican. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/25/us/politics/trump-portman-ohio-sarah-sanders.html?fbclid=IwAR3IFbAERAfDJ_TGlG2-0mwsWCxnTj_OQ0FYOHV5fiEaXEY3m6LDn82HJfg
I still haven’t given to The Lincoln Project since the fall, out of a respect for the strong views of my fellow Ricochetti.
This is an irrelevant comment. For maximum irritation, I recommend making it into a post. Then people will at least read the title. Probably.
Humm. I looked for her “loony speech” on YouTube but could not find one from January 2021. Here is her written statement:
Hoyacon, as a lawyer, you realize that the duty that a Representative or Senator has to their constituents is to exercise their own independent judgment. See Federalist Number 10. Therefore, inherently, Liz Cheney did not betray her constituents. When there is a new copy of “Profiles in Courage” Liz Cheney very well may be in it.
What’s legally possible and what’s viewed as rhetorically viable to mold public opinion and punish their enemies are two different things for The Lincoln Project types. Remember, they hate anyone who supported Trump so much, they’re not just trying to get Cruz and Hawley out of office (they both have terms through 2024), they’re also trying to mimic James Carville from 1999 and get Bibi Netanyahu bounced as Israeli prime minister.
We should do our best to get Cruz elected, though. Never say never.
I’m not an expert on this type of thing, but a lot of people are really tired of the neocon stuff.
I am not an expert on this, but I think the issue is she should have resigned her leadership position before she talked like that.
My profession is irrelevant. Anyone who understands the concept of representative government should realize that someone in Congress has a duty to balance constituent wishes and personal preferences. Cheney represents the most pro-Trump state in the country. Against that backdrop, her personal preference for grandstanding is irrelevant. It takes zero courage to say “I don’t care what you think, people of Wyoming,” zero courage to use one’s position as a House leader to completely ignore one’s colleagues, and zero courage to blow with the prevailing wind.
Gary, since Portman is retiring I want you to give money to John Kasich for Senate.
Everything moves towards communism all of the time.
This guy runs the supposedly civics-minded Never Trump types.