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Bennett Trumps The NeverTrumps – Let Us Grow Up, Conservatives
From the American Greatness website:
Now, Bill Bennett is in the crosshairs of the NeverTrump conservatives for this dialogue on Fox News with Martha MacCallum. MacCallum asked if Trump could turn around the polls. Among other things, Bennett said:
Maybe people will also come to the realization that a guy who says some things awkwardly, indecorously, infelicitously is not as big a problem as someone who’s going to hurt the country permanently.
Asked about who Donald Trump needs to “pull over,” Bennett said:
He does not need to speak to the Never Trumpers, some of my friends or maybe former friends who suffer from a terrible case of moral superiority and put their own vanity and taste above the interests of the country. But he can speak to the middle and he can speak to the problems, as he spoke in Milwaukee, and he can speak, as he does, to some audiences, particularly, Martha, a lot of that Milwaukee address was to black America and I think that’s something he should do again. I think he can get 15, 20 percent of that vote.
Then the knives came out.
Charles Murray wrote on Twitter: “Because we are morally superior, perhaps.”
I guess that proved Bennett’s point. Others expressed different kinds of shock—listing titles and quotes from Bennett’s many books, as if doing so amounted to an argument.
The article is considerably longer than this close excerpt, but the closing zinger should make you want to read more if for no other reason than to provide cocktail conversation for the National Review Cruise neither you, me nor Mark Steyn are going on this year:
In the end, I’m not sure if Donald Trump represents governance by the first two thousand names of a telephone book, as William F. Buckley, Jr. once said he’d rather be governed by. I’m not sure if Donald Trump is just conservative rather than a conservative. But I am certain that given the stakes and issues we all care about, and have talked about for years, the last thing this election should be about is saving a party or a movement.
It’s about saving our country. Most call that patriotism. So, yes: Let’s grow up, Conservatives.
Published in General
A GrownUp weighs in. Thank you Bill Bennett!
Right…
Bill needs to clean his glasses and check his hearing aids if he thinks trump is a “conservative” or that he will “save the nation”.
Great post!!
It’s about the perception of potential abuse to the country (Trump) vs. very real, promised abuse (Hillary)
It’s about good intentions (Trump) vs. a very bad history of policies, intentions, and outright lies (Hillary)
It’s about truth and openness (Trump) vs. lies and concealment (Hillary)
It’s about offering hope to the disadvantaged (Trump) rather than taking advantage of the hopeless (Hillary)
It’s about NeverTrumpers putting their own personal pride above the good of the country.
The more I watch this election from outside the US, the less respect I have for the NeverTrumpers.
have you read trumps positions on trade, immigration, national defense or his budget proposal?
Did Mr. Bennett put up a fuss when Frank Meyer lead NR to not endorsing Richard Nixon in 72 because Meyer understood that Nixon was not worthy of conservative support anymore, and was untrustworthy, lacking in moral fortitude? It was one of Mr. Meyer’s final great act in defense of the movement he helped build.
Of course in the end Meyer was proven correct about Nixon, a man who almost completely destroyed the right because of his own moral failings at the time.
The country is not going to be “saved” win or lose. Whether the next President is Trump or Clinton the US will continue to decline. The only hope for actual restoration is for a conservative revival. Donald Trump is not a move towards that goal, he’s a giant step backwards from it. He not only damages the movement, he damages conservatism itself every time someone tries to link him to it.
For a man who used to argue that people should live a moral life based around traditional ideals of honor before disgrace like Mr. Bennett once preached, to now argue that we must stop living by our morals is rather insulting, and comes across as nothing more than partisan hackery at this point.
It’s one thing to attempt to argue that Trump maybe slightly better in the end, it’s a completely different thing to instead argue that people who follow their ideals are just ‘uppity”. Give me a break Mr. Bennett.
Note:
If you're not interested, you needn't comment.Yawn.
It’s not like there is some large body of evidence pointing to trump being a leftist his entire life or something….
Oh wait there is. So trump is not neutral. trump is a leftist simply running under the banner of the non leftist party. I don’t choose one leftist because they have an r next to their name while the other one has a d next to their name. Conservatives don’t support leftists for president.
“He does not need to speak to the Never Trumpers, some of my friends or maybe former friends who suffer from a terrible case of moral superiority and put their own vanity and taste above the interests of the country. ”
That’s rich coming from a guy who made a career out of being America’s moral scold. I always found him insufferable.
right..
Bemused Canuck:
Ahh there it is. The final appeal of an argument based on nothing. You must go against your morals and ideals “for the good of the country’, “for the people”, “for the children”, “for society”, “for the working class”, “for the race”. It’s always an appeal to a collectivist image that doesn’t have it’s own voice, but instead is as divided as any other large grouping of individuals would be.
More evil has been done in this world on the appeal of the “blood and country” crowd, or the defenders of the “vox populi” than has been done for by individuals living up to their own standards.
I am not a utilitarian. I’m not going to change my mind based on some appeal to a collective group.
The problems with Trump have not changed, nor will he somehow positively make the country a better place. He’s already proven he doesn’t really believe in his once hardliner immigration stance, his economics (especially his anti free trade nonsense) would destroy the county further, he has a minimal grasp of the issues, and that’s before you even realize that the man is a narcissist.
Clinton is terrible, she will do damage to the country. So will Trump. For those of us who care about the Republic the answer is clear, we must plan for 2018 and the long game.
He isn’t “conservative” or “a conservative”. Buckley himself pointed this out well he was alive.
This is what is wanted, is it not? This is the end game.
The complete destruction of the Republican Party. Tip of the cap, Mr. Trump.
Fait accompli.
Kind of a non-argument… ironic, that this is self-righteousness calling out moral superiority.
Nonsense. Oh, well.
An accurate summary of NeverTrumper sentiment.
The claim is that those who agree are the grownups?
Seems childish.
The irony…it hurts…
Week after week from the Trumpsters about how irrelavant us Never Trumps are. Then why do you care? Leave us alone Bennett. I agree that we are irrelavant……now go find votes elsewhere. If you can win, good for you. And good luck running a party when half your most educated voters want nothing to do with you.
Yes, and if enough of us nevertrumpers would just climb down off our high horses, let go of our “precious principles” and support the guy that might be enough to push him over the top. Well, maybe not . . .
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/439466/donald-trump-electoral-map-paths-270-impossibly-narrow
Considering that in my estimation electing Trump will do nothing to save America or revitalize our Republic the only reason to vote for him then is the vanity of claiming victory over the Democrats. I don’t hate the Democrats so much that simply having a Republican (any Republican) beat them is sufficient to move me.
Here is looking forward to the next 200 such posts. Cheers!
How’s your NeverTrumper experiment progressing, Dr. Pavlov?
Exactly.
I have seen Hillary in action on these things. Trumps positons are far superior.
Debatable.
Really you support Trumps ideas on Tariffs, his budget proposal, his ideas about excluding muslims from entry into the country?
I would hope this is an act because as an act it works. Otherwise it is embarrassing.
A conservative who believes conservatism is good for the country is putting country first by opposing those who seek to defeat conservatism.
Someone who believes defeating liberalism is what is best for the country doesn’t really care what replaces it. So for them Trump is ok.
But for some reason the latter think both are the same thing and can’t seem to understand why they can’t persuade conservatives to join their fight. It all seems so straightforward to me.
Mr Bennet has this correct. I do not count on the #NeverEvers to vote, and expect many to vote for Hillary, all in the name of saving their vision of conservatism at the expense of saving the USA.
So be it. Not voting I can stand. Voting for the Crony Acceleration Candidate means something very different. One is a conscientious objector. The other is a quisling.
I support reciprocal tariffs when necessary, his budget proposal is far superior to Hillary’s One trillion in debt financed ‘infrastructure spending’ that is another trillion dollar payoff to her donors and yes, I want tight controls on people from terrorist areas trying to enter the country.
What do you want?
I think there is one NeverTrump on Ricochet that has said they are voting for Hillary. Most are voting 3rd party or not voting for President, including me, so what are you basing your assumption on?