https://thefederalist.com/2020/02/17/my-2017-defense-of-bill-kristol-is-the-worst-column-i-ever-wrote/My 2017 Defense Of Bill Kristol Is The Worst Column I Ever WroteAt the time — specifically March 1, 2017, just days into the Trump presidency — I wrote this: “Kristol’s acerbic attacks on Trump provide space for the more modest criticism the rest of us offer. Rest assured, without the target Kristol provides, those more constrained attacks on Trump would be squarely in Trump’s crosshairs.â€
I still think that’s true, but in the last three years much has changed, and these changes are something Kristol and his faux-conservative ilk have roundly refused to recognize. It took me about a year to realize the sky wasn’t falling. That conservatives were getting once unimaginable wins like an embassy in Jerusalem and a rat-a-tat-tat of impossibly good judges. Kristol has roundly refused to judge any of this as worthwhile.
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Bill Kristol is no longer a conservative. He’s not the right-wing Miami Dolphins tanking to get a good draft pick. He is a liberal Democrat who publishes liberal Democrats because he can’t accept that Donald Trump has racked up more conservative victories than he ever thought were possible. He’s not a traitor. In retrospect, his entire philosophy was an easier landing for conservative defeat, the only outcome he thought possible.
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... Kristol has proved to be a recalcitrant and angry figure who cannot accept that a guy he hates is winning battles he once fought for.
I would go a half step farther than the last sentence I quoted. That Trump is winning and/or making progress on many issues that matter to conservatives inflames Kristol's Trump-Hatred. Kristol is not alone in that.
