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In this year-end episode, Steve Hayward checks in with Ben Boychuk, columnist for the Sacramento Bee and managing editor of the American Greatness website, about how to think about Trump—yes, we’re still trying to figure him out too—and looking ahead to next year. Conservatives are mostly pleased with Trump’s first year. What might go wrong for Trump in 2018?
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I’ll just say a few words:
I don’t understand this new attitude that some so-called conservatives have today. The guest said that if conservatism isn’t working, let’s try something new. Well, who says that it isn’t working? It seems to me that these Populists (and I guess this is what they are) are just saying and doing what will get them attention in today’s more shallow environment, where calling names seems to have replaced actual thought. It seems to me that Steven Hayes is the one who is giving in to this. It is a quite upsetting development.
@georgetownsend
I have been trying to understand the populist agenda that Donald Trump followers talk about but I can’t find written down anywhere. I bought American Greatness by Chris Buskirk and Seth Leibsohn because I thought it would help me to understand what policy prescriptions they were espousing. The book was listed by Tevi Troy as one of the top ten books of 2017.
I have just finished Chapter 1 and am extremely disappointed. The text is unsubstantiated assertion after unsubstantiated assertion. No data or facts are presented to buttress any of the opinions, some of which I think are just flat out wrong. Their principal enemy who has taken over the Republican establishment is the neoconservatives. The primary culprit seems to be George Bush’s war in Iraq along with the lack of immigration control. They feel the neoconservatives hate them, populate the conservative think tanks and don’t hire them, don’t invite them on conservative TV or radio shows and don’t purchase their articles for conservative print media. National Review and The Weekly Standard are specifically identified.
There is some very powerful intellectual firepower among the believers including people from Hillsdale College and Claremont College. These are the people who brought you “The Flight 93 Election” which is included in the book.
Here is a typical paragraph from Chapter 1:
No one is specifically identified as an example for radical rhetoric or playing fast and loose with the truth.
I am going to force myself to read the entire volume—Chapter 1 is about 8% of the book, but it is turgidly written and poorly reasoned. I’m going to use the time it takes for next year’s Lenten penance.
I think you meant Steven Hayward.
Right after listening to this podcast I listened to Law Talk Ep. 105: Resolutions. The contrast was striking.
The other podcast was realistic about President Trump’s downsides. This podcast ignores Trump’s atrocious behavior and its effects. Republican off year and special elections show the future. Democrats will almost certainly gain the House in 2018. They will very likely gain the Senate in 2018 or 2020; not long ago most pundits saw a Republican lock on gaining seats in 2018. Democrats will also very likely gain the Presidency in 2020. Almost every week, the President says something disgraceful and reminds Democrats, and many swing voters, why they hate him. He is the Democrat’s turnout engine.
You are absolutely right. I really have to watch myself. I always get those names mixed up in my mind. I admire Steve Hayes a lot. And I used to admire Steven Hayward. He is Reagan biographer, who always did good work, I thought. Thanks, Al, for the correction.
And thanks for the preceding paragraph. It backs up everything I was thinking. I haven’t read the book, but I’ve noticed that, while they put down real conservatives as having exhausted any intellectual chops, they don’t don’t do very well in that score themselves. They seem to believe it is enough that they say something. No back-up is needed. This is because, I believe, Populism itself has nothing to back it up. Beyond making people feel good, by saying that our leaders must listen to “the people”, there is nothing there. This country is not built on Populism. Sure, there is an element. But it is carefully balanced with counterweights, to be sure that the majority doesn’t run away with itself, and act imprudently.
Thanks again for your hard work.
This is what the Trump apologists choose to ignore. We’ve had some really good things done in the past 11 months or so, but it all will be forgotten because this man has an inferiority complex, and it is being played out on the world stage!
I agree with you. When you read about some of the famous populists like Huey Long, Williams Jennings Bryant, or George Wallace, they were all demagogues. They could whip up a crowd, but there was no there there in regards to governing. I remember the two times Huckabee ran for president. There was no economic plan there, just pure social values. But he was an eloquent speaker.
It’s too bad about Huckabee. I have friends who adore him. And he is a fine man. But when he ran this last time, he wouldn’t even talk about reforming entitlements. I am also terribly disappointed that this man of God never has anything negative to say about Trump, no matter what he does.
It is a shame. He is a fine man. I put it down to the fact that his daughter works for Trump in the White House, and he doesn’t want to do anything that would impact her negatively. With Trump’s very thin skin, that would be easy to do.
For those of you still interested in another take of Trump’s pluses and minuses, Jamie Weinstein has an excellent interview today with Ben Shapiro on his podcast that touches on that, Steve Bannon, and Sapiro’s opinion of the populist nationalist agenda.
Thanks, Al. Shapiro is one of my favorites. Soundcloud’s latest interview with Weinstein has Mark Cubin. However, I found the Shapiro one on National Review. I’ll listen later.