The Nightmares and the Realities of Never TrumpAmerican Greatness, May 17, 2017, Victor Hanson
Rarely in the last half-century have so many elite conservatives and intellectuals been so estranged both from a Republican administration and from those who voted for it—neither have they become so animated in their antipathy and disgust for a sitting president.
During the 2016 election, and the current Trump presidency, there have appeared four implicit tenets to the conservative “Never Trump” position that, we are supposed to understand, justified not voting for him, actively opposing him, or voting for Hillary Clinton:
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How true have these nightmares so far played out?
#1 Character is Armageddon?.../ In the case of Never Trump, a week of relative Trump quiet and good economic or foreign affairs news earns either a minute of quiet, or a begrudging nod, while a media frenzy over another Trump crudity brings out the inevitable “I was right all along.” More glee arises from an unsourced Washington Post rumor than news of new energy development or ongoing restoration of deterrence abroad. All this begs the question of whether the Never Trump group ever remembered why and how such a polarizing figure won the election and the presidency instead of another sober John McCain or judicious Mitt Romney, or what would be the consequences of a failed agenda for the country at large?
Introspection is not advice to withhold criticism when Trump exhibits his character flaws, but a call to at least appreciate the tragic situation that half the country finds itself in: a flawed character has a better chance of enacting key conservative correctives than did his occasionally moral superiors—a paradox to be explored by reasoned conservative audit rather than through hysteria or self-referential snark.
#2 Backsliding Conservative?Assumption #2 is mostly already refuted.
True, Trump is a volatile figure and without a long conservative pedigree, but so far he has kept to his word in nominating conservative and highly competent judges to the federal courts. His executive orders on deregulation, energy production, and illegal immigration are likely more conservative than those of any Republican president since Ronald Reagan.
.../ The pre-presidential fears about a populist nationalist rather than conservative Trump (e.g., that he would erect punitive tariffs, dry up global trade, start an unnecessary war, or crash the economy) have not materialized. Very preliminary statistics concerning economic growth, labor participation, energy production, the stock market, and business and consumer confidence are all positive. In just three months, Wall Street has concluded that Trump is most interested in growing GDP and with it good-paying jobs.
Illegal immigration is reportedly down some 70 percent while executives in the steel, coal, and manufacturing industries report a new confidence not seen in years. While it is possible that in the future a volatile and unpredictable Trump will become frustrated with an ossified Republican congress and turn to Democrats, as yet there is simply no evidence that Trump is not following a conservative agenda.
#3 Nuts, Bigots, and Assorted Unhinged Populists?.../ So far Trump’s working class, populist supporters have been behaved and focused on the Trump energy and jobs agenda, as well as his refreshing lack of political correctness. Trump has made no racist or anti-Semitic appeal to gin up enthusiasm, but rather has gone out of his way to try to win over minorities and women with promises of economic growth.
So far all the political violence associated with the election of Trump, from Inauguration to the latest campus rioting, has been on the Left. No pro-Trump crowds don masks, break windows or shut down traffic. The crudity in contemporary politics—from the constant sick jokes referring to First Family incest, smears against the First Lady, low attacks on the Trump children, boycotts of the Inauguration, talk and dreams of killing the president—is on the liberal/progressive side. .../
#4 A Preferable Clinton Agenda?.../ A Never Trump movement, I think it is fair to say, had absolutely no influence on the 2016 election. In theory, elites may have convinced a few key Republican voters in swing states to stay home or to vote for Hillary Clinton; but in reality they were far outnumbered by huge numbers of new Republican voters who saw in Trump hope that they did not in far more experienced and sober men of character.
Like it or not, a Rubio or Cruz nominee likely would have not won these swing voters and thus likely would have lost the election, and with it ensured at least 12 and likely 16 years of a hard progressive government.
Finally, there was something deeply wrong in the Republican Party that at some point required a Trump to excise it. The Republican Party and conservative movement had created a hierarchy that mirror-imaged its liberal antithesis, and suggested to middle class voters between the coasts that the commonalities in income, professional trajectories, and cultural values of elites trumped their own political differences.
How a billionaire real estate developer appeared, saw that paradox, and became more empathetic to the plight of middle-class Americans than the array of Republican political pundits is one of the most alarming stories of our age.
Read (much) more:
http://amgreatness.com/2017/05/17/nightmares-realities-never-trump/
