RIP, Movement Conservatism
Not only did the movement core refuse to support Trump, many chose instead to throw their weight behind Hillary Clinton, the most repellent and corrupt American presidential candidate since Aaron Burr.
It’s not inaccurate to assert that these people represent the core of movement conservatism.
…and we could go on to add Congressman Richard Hanna, Mike Treiser, Craig Snyder (who started a super PAC called Republicans for Her 2016), Charles Fried, Steve Deace (correction: he emails that he voted for the Constitution Party candidatem not Hillary), Charles Sykes, and Kyle Foley, all of whom stated they’d either vote Hillary or preferred her to win.
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Just as bad is the fact that they – all of them, no exception – have essentially walked. There have been no retractions, reconsiderations, or apologies. No effort has been made to hold them to account.
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Good riddance, say many Trump supporters. But it’s not that simple. Many Trump backers, politically naïve, believe that now that Trump has been voted in, all is right with the world and nothing more need be done. The Donald will take care of it all for us.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Trump is limited by the powers of his office. He can correct some things (the Supreme Court and immigration, in particular). But there are other factors beyond his reach. One of the major problems facing the U.S. is the institutionalization of the left. The “long march through the institutions” since the 1970s has left vast sectors of American society – including entertainment, the media, the academy, the bureaucracy, and recently, the military – in the hands of the activist left. A related problem involves the relentless dumbing down of much of the country’s population, accompanied by blatant leftist propagandizing. Vast numbers of Americans – including many conservatives – believe leftist axioms as a matter of faith. (Test yourself: how many times have you used the word “capitalism”?)
Not only did the movement core refuse to support Trump, many chose instead to throw their weight behind Hillary Clinton, the most repellent and corrupt American presidential candidate since Aaron Burr.
It’s not inaccurate to assert that these people represent the core of movement conservatism.
- Bill Kristol, editor in chief of the Weekly Standard, tweeted: “If you’re for Trump you functionally are for a man unfit to be president, and for the degradation of [American] conservatism.”
- George Will wrote a column titled “If Trump is nominated GOP must keep him out of the White House” in which he stated his hopes that Trump would lose all 50 states to Hillary Clinton.
- Tom Nichols of The Federalist, probably the keystone journal of the think-tank cons, titled his piece “I’ll Take Hillary Clinton Over Donald Trump.”
- John Ziegler, noted conservative documentary cineaste, wrote “The Case for Sane Conservatives to Strategically Vote for Hillary Clinton to Save the GOP.”
- Former California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman publicly expressed her support for Clinton.
- Max Boot, longtime WSJ writer, stated “There’s no way to lie down with somebody like Trump without getting fleas,” while pledging to vote for Clinton.
- Erick Erickson, formerly of Red State, said “It’s ‘Never Trump’ as in come hell or high water we will never vote for Trump”. (Red State was something of a sweep. Editors Dan McLaughlin and Ben Howe and contributor Leon Wolf also jumped on the bandwagon. Howe, never one to miss an opportunity, started raising funds for a film on Trump titled The Sociopath.)
- James Kirchick wrote the Daily Beast op-ed “Hillary Clinton Is 2016’s Real Conservative -- Not Donald Trump.”
- And we can’t forget Peter Wehner, Commentary’s last man on the ramparts, who missed no chance to disparage Trump, the same as he had done to Sarah Palin eight years earlier. "I think right now, I would say it would be better for the country if she [Hillary] won than if he won… the dangers that he poses to the country are greater than hers because I think he's just so deeply unstable.”
…and we could go on to add Congressman Richard Hanna, Mike Treiser, Craig Snyder (who started a super PAC called Republicans for Her 2016), Charles Fried, Steve Deace (correction: he emails that he voted for the Constitution Party candidatem not Hillary), Charles Sykes, and Kyle Foley, all of whom stated they’d either vote Hillary or preferred her to win.
[clip]
Just as bad is the fact that they – all of them, no exception – have essentially walked. There have been no retractions, reconsiderations, or apologies. No effort has been made to hold them to account.
[clip]
Good riddance, say many Trump supporters. But it’s not that simple. Many Trump backers, politically naïve, believe that now that Trump has been voted in, all is right with the world and nothing more need be done. The Donald will take care of it all for us.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Trump is limited by the powers of his office. He can correct some things (the Supreme Court and immigration, in particular). But there are other factors beyond his reach. One of the major problems facing the U.S. is the institutionalization of the left. The “long march through the institutions” since the 1970s has left vast sectors of American society – including entertainment, the media, the academy, the bureaucracy, and recently, the military – in the hands of the activist left. A related problem involves the relentless dumbing down of much of the country’s population, accompanied by blatant leftist propagandizing. Vast numbers of Americans – including many conservatives – believe leftist axioms as a matter of faith. (Test yourself: how many times have you used the word “capitalism”?)
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