I think the issue for @Emjay and some others -- myself included -- is that it seems like rather than supporting him on those issues where he is actually trying to do some good, there are still people refighting the primaries.
Funny you should mention that, Bill. I, too have noticed such. In fact, at times when I would openly praise Trump's actions or expressions of policy, my determination to do so is dampened by the still tedious braying about 'nevertrumpers being Hillary supporters'. I find myself disinclined to comment lest I become uncivil, and any praise for the actions of our POTUS can wait.
It appears, at least from my perspective, that the primaries are still being fought, against those who did not gushingly or even reluctantly support Trump. So it goes. YMMV.
So it is pretty much 24/7 attacks on the guy.
Aside from confirmations of predictions made back when, often after the primaries, the attacks aren't coming from the Right, unless, that is, he does something highly questionable.
We will still advocate the rule of law, or the desire to change the law, but not 'bending' the law Obama-style, because the latter only establishes bipartisan a bipartisan precedent of contempt for the law and effectively negates the law. We're not necessarily in agreement with all the laws, but we don't advocate lawlessness, either, especially at the highest levels.
And those attacks will blunt his ability to accomplish some things that most of us, as conservatives, should be supporting. Leaving aside the healthcare controversy on which even conservatives disagree, his cabinet appointments, judicial appointments, efforts at regulatory reform, proposed tax reform, heightened enforcement of immigration laws are all things that most of us should want to see happen.
Fine, get after it. Repeal Obamacare, too. As to what Conservatives
should be supporting, even here that is a fairly wide spectrum, especially from the soi disant set.
But the constant, 24/7 drumbeat of attacks weakens him in general, and so weakens his ability to succeed on those specific issues as well, even if the attackers don't oppose him on those issues. That drumbeat of opposition feeds into and supports a headwind that makes it more difficult for him to succeed on anything.
I think what you are talking about is called the MSM.
Anyone who expected them to be anything but an opposition force hasn't been playing the home game. I really doubt anyone here can cause him to succeed or fail with what is written here, unless someone pulls out a Dan Rather Memogate type incident.
I certainly wouldn't accuse everyone of this, but I can't help but agree with @Emjay that there are at least some people out there -- and on here -- whose hatred of him is so intense that it seems their No. 1 priority is to see him humiliated and defeated. And while I'm also sure that they'd like to see those good things happen, the primary emotional investment appears to in "defeating Trump" rather than "advancing conservative issues".
There certainly are. The Democrats in the MSM are frothing at the mouth, and the ones in Congress aren't much better. Then there are the GOPe who will oppose him more than will be apparent.
I haven't seen that here, not since the election.
I haven't seen anyone here profess hatred for Trump, nor a desire to see him fail in any Conservative endeavour.
I have seen a lot of posters here who are seriously for a return to our Constitutional Republic, and the Rule of Law, who don't want Republicans acting like Democrats, who do not want contempt for our legal system through action or inaction displayed by public servants--any of them, and who do want the policies and injuries of the past administration rectified, up to and including prosecution of those who so egregiously broke our laws.
What I have observed o the part of a very few posters is a lot of hypersensitive passive/aggressive snarking at those who opposed Trump in the primaries when he does do right (which will prevent the voicing of a lot pf praise that might have been delivered otherwise), and then a lot of whining when people call them on the snark. Yes, those who are doing this know who they are, and should be fully aware they are doing it.
Before people are given a real opportunity to say "Okay, he did good!" we see the same old sh*t about "nevertrumpers and Hillary". Who isn't letting go?
I, and others have tried to bury that hatchet, but some people just keep digging it back up.
I am not saying that we have to support every idea/proposal that he has. Perfectly fair to oppose those specific ideas if someone doesn't like them. I'm just saying that the more generalized drumbeat of attacks have the net effect of making it harder for the good things to get accomplished. And I can only conclude that, based on those drumbeat of attacks, that getting those things accomplished just isn't that important to some folks.
I guess it depends on what you consider important, and what you consider 'good', Bill.
There are people out there in the real world who are adamantly opposed to reversing Obama Administration "gains" (well, that's how they see it). In accordance with the First Amendment, they write their opinions, and we can't do much about that but address the issues.
After all, it is about the issues, about right and wrong, about Constitutional and unConstitutional, about the usurpation of power or restoring it to the rightful owners, about the rule of law or changing/repealing the law.
I really don't care whose name is on it. You could call an law the Chuck Schumer Firearms Act, and if it actually repealed gun control back to the NFA of '34 (with no tricks), I would be perfectly happy with that.
But it isn't about the POTUS' actions and accomplishments, rather the lack of adulation by some of us on the Right that seems to be taken as "opposition".
We can't just discuss an issue as an issue, because the issue and the man have been emotionally attached together in the minds of those who seem to see Trump as a messiah figure.
Mere willingness to suspend hostility is seen as hostility, disagreement is seen as sacrilege or apostasy, and it seems there are those who would gladly excommunicate Conservatives from the Republican Party who take issue with policy for not kissing the ring.
I worship no man, but anything less is somehow catapulted by false dichotomy to being a "Hillary supporter". When those who spew that garbage quit, perhaps we can get back to discussing issues and perhaps even make some progress.
It isn't about Trump, it's about the Republic.
