Posted on 01/24/2018 5:09:09 AM PST by Kaslin
The start of President Trump's second year in office has given Republicans and conservatives an opportunity to review a solid list of achievements: corporate and individual tax cuts; economic growth; wage growth; a conservative Supreme Court justice; a record number of circuit court confirmations; deregulation; the defeat of ISIS and more. Each is a development worth celebrating, either by the standards of conservatism, or the general welfare, or both.
But for NeverTrump conservatives, the list presents a challenge. Many support the actions, like cutting taxes and reducing regulation, on Trump's list. Yet some have also staked their credibility and prestige on declaring Trump's election an unmitigated, historic disaster that will lead to an autocratic, dystopian future. Many want to force Trump out of office, either by impeachment, the 25th Amendment, or, at latest, defeat in 2020.
So how to deal with the current good news?
The most extreme NeverTrumpers, like The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin, simply rail against everything the president does. But more sophisticated NeverTrumpers are looking for nuanced ways to recognize the president's accomplishments while maintaining that he is a menace -- and that they have been right about him all along.
One strategy is to concede some of Trump's successes while insisting that the sum total of NeverTrump objections outweighs those gains.
At the Weekly Standard, for example, the editors recently cited some of Trump's accomplishments and asked: "Isn't it time for Trump's conservative critics to acknowledge his election was worth it?" Their answer: No.
While citing a few of Trump's accomplishments, the publication argued that the president's endorsement of Roy Moore in Alabama, his firing of FBI Director James Comey, his bombastic tweets about North Korea, loose-lipped meeting with Russian diplomats, response to Charlottesville, and "shithole" nations remark, along with other things, more than offset goods like wage growth, job creation and a victory against terrorism.
The magazine's founder and editor-at-large, Bill Kristol, remains committed to Trump's defeat. Asked recently what Americans should do if Trump's four years in office turn out well for the country, Kristol answered, "We should pocket those gains (and) heave an unbelievable sigh of relief.
"I am still very much for constraining Trump to four years," Kristol added. "And nothing that could happen, honestly, at this point could tell me Donald Trump should be re-elected."
To that end, Kristol -- who in 2016 led a quixotic effort to find a third-party candidate to run against Trump and last year said "disposing of Trump ... can't be done in a day" -- said he is "quietly" working on efforts to mount a 2020 challenge should the president run for re-election.
Other NeverTrumpers keep hope alive for impeachment. Max Boot, of the Council on Foreign Relations, worries that Republicans might maintain control of the House in November's elections, which would lower the chances of impeachment to nearly zero. So Boot, a lifelong Republican, is pulling for Democrats.
"I worked as an adviser on three Republican presidential campaigns," Boot said recently, "but now I'm actively rooting for Republicans to lose the congressional elections ... because the Republicans have shown they are unwilling to uphold their oaths of office."
At The New York Times, conservative columnist Bret Stephens, author of the recent piece, "Why I'm Still a NeverTrumper," argues that reflexive NeverTrumpism actually harms the effort to resist the president. Stephens recently took on Trump critics who denounce the president even when news is good -- as when Apple announced that it will bring back most of the $274 billion it has parked overseas, pay a $38 billion tax bill, and create another 20,000 jobs in the U.S. Slamming Trump over a development like that, Stephens wrote, does "damage ... to the anti-Trump cause."
Stephens did not spell it out, but a reasonable inference for those in NeverTrump world is that giving the president his due on good developments -- rather than entering the la-la-land of the Resistance -- will give NeverTrumpers credibility as they pursue the goal of getting rid of him.
Also at the Times, NeverTrump conservative columnist Ross Douthat -- all of the Times' conservative columnists are NeverTrumpers, which assures the paper a diversity of anti-Trump opinion -- recently debated NeverTrumper David Frum of The Atlantic on whether Trump's presidency has so far been a tragedy or a farce.
Frum, author of the new book "Trumpocracy," voted for tragedy, while Douthat said farce. Douthat, who once hoped Trump might be removed from office via the 25th Amendment, now seems resigned to the president finishing his term; Frum, who helped get the 25th Amendment talk going the day after the election, is still hoping for an early Trump exit.
Within the range of implacable opposition to Trump, there is a lot of variation in the NeverTrump world -- "9,000 cross-currents," as Kristol remarked recently. Before the election, NeverTrumpers were united by simple opposition to the Republican candidate. But Trump's presence in the White House has made things more difficult.
Trump will surely run into a major reversal someday; that's what happens to presidents. When it does, NeverTrumpers can say they called it long ago. But as long as Trump is piling up conservative achievements, life will remain complicated for the nation's NeverTrumpers.
* The DC chattering class are livid aka the sultan's of smart. Aka you Mr. Kristol, and all your never Trumper buds.
* Your not so smart, the Farmer in OH that voted for Trump go it, you didn't, you've been breathing the DC vapors for too long, it is too late for you to get out and spend a couple of weeks in the rust-belt to get it, ya blew it.
* You and all your buddies with the GS14 jobs (and all their relatives that work in the swamp is enough to make you want us impose do not marry closer than a 2nd cousin to the job screening process, do I hear dueling banjos in the background?), to this day still don't get it.
* You screwed up this country every which way but Sunday since 1988, and you want us to continue to listen to you as a filter and be our "go to" source?
* PDJT is changing the culture of political communication, ( and of DC, remember to turn around a business, you have to change the culture 1st ) Ronald Reagan on Steroids with Twitter as he goes over your head, you can't stand it, your not needed anymore, you are a buggy whip in the era of the Automobile.
* He is and was on to you, and can out maneuver and outflank you because had to deal with pin head bureaucrats like you for 40+ years just to get a freaking delivered, poured and floated, you guys are chump change compared to the characters he had to deal with.
* With all do respect, maybe it is time for you swampians to get the cheesy Hawaiian shirt, the sandals with the blue socks, and take up shuffle board in Boca....
NeverTrumpers = FOAD. Your GOP is dead. No one will ever vote for your bought-and-paid-for Uniparty candidates. No one.
Notice how this "Conservative" commentator leaves out Trumps's getting the USA out of the Pacific Trade Screw and recent tariffs which are repatriating industry. Conservatism = code word for globalism.
The NeverTrumpers fancy themselves as kingmakers. Trump didn’t need them since he took his case directly to the people. The kingmakers were marginalized and no doubt this did not make them happy. Just imagine how they felt when the average Joe or Jane voter made up his or her own mind about what was best for our country. Now that Trump has been successful, the kingmakers will double down on their efforts to drive him from office, simply to prove they were correct all along. Perhaps their new hashtag ought to be #EgoOverCountry.
NeverTrumpers are making a huge mistake. What Trump is doing is bringing balance back to a society that shifted from right center to hard left. When that happens, you cannot tweak it to bring it back to the center. You have to do something that is radically the opposite. That is what Trump is doing.
NeverTrumpers should get on the bandwagon and strategize on how they can get what they want without interfering with Trump’s agenda. They should be working with Trump, not fighting him.
It’s painful to watch. I used to read Commentary back in the 80s when Reagan was president and was so amazed to see former left-wing intellectuals rally around America. But only because, as it turns out, they liked Reagan’s pants crease.
But at least the truly heroic David Horowitz is on Trump’s side. We still have him. He’ll never waver.
Never trumpers are worse than democrats.
translation: I'm smarter than you are. Why aren't you listening to me!
Acknowledging his success means that he and not they are the smartest kids on the block.
They just can’t handle that. Their heads will explode like those androids on Star Trek.
Use the Alinsky playbook...deny,deny,deny.
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