Charles C. W. Cooke: Trump Has Succeeded in Convincing Conservatives to Discard their Principles Overnight

[Machiavelli]

Charles C. W. Cooke
National Review
September 1, 2015

Since he jumped self-confidently into the political limelight, Donald Trump has been quite the upside-down man. Customarily, primary seasons permit each party's voters to indulge in a rational process of elimination: First, they discover which candidate most closely agrees with them on policy, and then they ask themselves whether that person is capable of representing their ideas in public. This time around, however, this process has been disastrously inverted, a solid portion of the Republican party's balloters having decided first who they want to speak on their behalf, and then, as if t'were a mere afterthought, wondered what he might end up saying. That their pick lacks any sort of conservative message at all does not seem to have mattered in the slightest. "We want that guy," a host of voters have determined. "Whatever he believes, he says it so well."

If you have in the last few years become vexed and frustrated by the Republican base's penchant for political purity, you should perhaps be breathing a little easier. A handful of months ago many of those who now make up Trump's rank-and-file were ideological perfectionists who hated the GOP's leadership, believed to their souls that the country was becoming a socialist hell-hole, and insisted vehemently that they had sat out the 2012 election because Mitt Romney was such a terrible squish. Today, by dint of some dark and unholy magic, these wannabe purists have hitched their wagons to Donald Trump, the greatest shape-shifter of them all.

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[Machiavelli]

He's right, of course.

[bkepley]

He's right, of course.

Trump has no principles other than what serves Trump.

[famousdayandyear]

Leave it the National Review to conjure up a pure BS argument.  My, has that organization fallen through the political cracks in the floor

[ABX]

But, but, the character he is playing now fights. Just ignored the characters he played before. Those weren't real. but this character, this character is real. I beeeeeeeelllllieeeeve...

[bkepley]

Leave it the National Review to conjure up a pure BS argument.  My, has that organization fallen through the political cracks in the floor

Ah yes..we should trust in "the Donald" who has openly claimed his affinity with liberals because now he's one of us etc.
etc.
etc..
You can have him. I don't want him.

[Machiavelli]

Leave it the National Review to conjure up a pure BS argument.  My, has that organization fallen through the political cracks in the floor

How so?

[DCPatriot]

Trump: "Now look, Johnny, I know how much your Conservative principles mean to you.  But, you do realize, the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto had strong principles too?"

'Your idealism on abortion and the protection of the fetus is noble.  But it means nothing and is worth nothing if you've become Public Enemy #1.'

'Furthermore, Johnny, just what have the Republicans done with your vote since 2010?  It's gotten worse.  They've allowed him to destroy this country and sat back and did nothing.'

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing....Edmund Burke

I've built business empires in so-called hard times.  I've negotiated with the f**king mob!!"

Before we can begin to effectively save fetuses, we have to have all three branches.

We can make it right.   We can stop this liberal Left Progressive Bullshit for another generation.   We can!!



 

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Absolutely brilliant analysis.  Thanx for posting it.