http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8
Come on. The reason that most self-described conservatives support the Trump administration is to counter-balance the almost monolithic leftist unity which supports their odious, life-destroying agenda.
With all due respect (and that is great) what the noble Invar and other Never Trumpsters may wish to consider is that personal ideological purity is arguably not a legitimate reason to abandon support of a president when viewed in the context of the exigencies of political warfare.
The goal in applied political action is arguably not to attain some state of immaculate grace (though there may be diverse thresholds re the requirements of moral or character issues), the goal is to attain the best governance possible so that things can improve (hopefully permanently).
If we would speak of the proclivities of leftists and fanatical Pro-Trump fetishists to be emotionally self-indulgent, what would we say of self-described conservatives who place the emotional satisfaction in achieving some perceived state of ideological purity (I know, I know, it's an absolute prerequisite necessity in their view) above the value of supporting the effective countering of a malevolent, yea, evil political force with the most expedient weaponry available !?! No similarity whatsoever?
This fitness-to-be-president issue has clearly been belabored to the point of exhaustion in every venue it has arisen, but since some have spoken on behalf of their DJT-opposed faction, so I claim the entitlement to expound on behalf of my own.
I supported Sen. Cruz (and still do) and would have preferred Pence to Trump, not because I believe that Trump is bad, but because I believe that Pence is better. That being said if wishes were fishes we'd all cast nets.
I'd be willing to bet that 95% of those on this web forum support Trump only because he represents the vanguard of the political movement which is attempting to counter the assault on our nation/world represented by the far leftist who control the democrat party.
We don't do it out of some misplaced personal affection for DJT personally. The tendency of anti-Trumpsters to derisively state that we do is unfortunate. We simply are not prepared to abandon the good in search of the perfect.
The Trump administration accomplishments are fairly impressive, even if his political performance is sub-par and MUST improve if the GOP is to avoid absolute disaster in 2018-2020. The fact that those accomplishments are often ignored, minimized and even derided by self-described conservatives is also highly unfortunate.
Perhaps I misunderstand the necessity for the passionate, unyielding opposition to and condemnation of DJT by those who in the same breath claim absolute conviction that they are "solid conservatives" (indeed, so much so that they feel entitled to condemn others as being unqualified to claim the same).
Yes, it's nicer being on a Forum which does not exercise doctrinaire zotting for merely straying off the reservation as some forums who may go unnamed clearly do.
But I should tell you that I am also a member of several other conservative forums who view zealous, yea passionate opposition to DTJ with very similar dismay and ruefulness with which many here view the "blind adoration" exhibited by many (most) on TOS.
You may disagree but I still believe that the only real differences between the self-described conservative pro-Trump and anti-Trump camps are in
approach to achieving identical results, not in whether there is a necessity for specific positive changes. Those who declare that there are major, insurmountable differences which make political alliance impossible (so long as DJT is president) are IMO horribly mistaken.
IOW, bottom line, doctrinaire leftists largely vote as and act collectively in government as a solid bloc. Conservatives who are doctrinaire largely cater to their own cussedness and iconoclastic natures and fragment from the larger movement whenever specific litmus tests (such as flawed character, unforgiveable sins, past affiliations) are failed.
For instance, those self-described conservatives who disapprove of DJT because he is not ideologically pure enough may not realize that this very lack of affiliation with a fixed ideology GAINS Trump significant support from self-described independent voters. In fact, that may well be one of the biggest factors that enabled Trump to defeat Ted Cruz in the primaries - Trump received more support from self-described "moderates" and won contests exactly because he was liked more by self-described moderates.
Isn't victory over the forces of leftism in the field more important that purity, if one ascribes to the same view of the Rules Governing Political Warfare which Machivelli and Alinsky both recognized?
