Posted on 03/23/2016 12:32:41 PM PDT by Yashcheritsiy
If you're like me, you've been following this year's primary season with a mixture of amusement and consternation. While most of the choices this year were unpalatable (so what's new?), the really troublesome aspect came from the amount of sheer acrimony that seems to have permeated the race this time around. Some of it has to do with the large number of Republicans running – we started with 17 before slowly whittling them away – which contributed to a seemingly necessary amount of fragmented loyalties among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.
However, much of this acrimony arose due to the rise and sustained lead held by Donald Trump, who represents a rather different brand of Republican from both the "movement conservative" and the "Rockefeller establishment" types who usually compete for dominance in the GOP primaries. As an unabashed populist and nationalist, Trump represents a divergence from the GOP norm, though one that is likely to become more, rather than less, commonplace in the near future as the major realignment in American politics that we are beginning to see works itself out in coming years. Both of the "old guard" factions within the Republican Party are troubled by this realignment, and by its standard-bearer Trump, and have been pulling out all the stops to try to hold off the challenge to their domination of the Republican Party.
One way in which this acrimony and anger has manifested itself is through the ridiculously childish "Never Trump" movement – a loose aggregation of Republicans and "conservative" elements within the media and political establishment who have loudly and proudly declared that they will never, ever, under any circumstances, vote for Donald Trump, even should he be the GOP nominee, even should he be the last line of defense against a Hillary Clinton presidency. Indeed, some of these folks have declared their intention to vote for her should it be a race between her and Trump. If you listen to them, many of them will assert the ludicrous belief that "Trump's just the same as Hillary," or even that "Hillary is better than Trump." For normal, intelligent people using common sense, these assertions are absolutely stunning in their idiocy. While Trump is certainly no rose, there are clear and obvious differences between him and Hillary, and he is clearly superior to her in terms of his political positions and his willingness to lead the nation against her enemies. Sure, Trump isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. However, reasonable people understand that sometimes you need to dance with the one what brung you. Yes, we could all wish for a more "perfect" candidate, but we know the old saying, "If wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steaks."
So what kind of folks would do this sort of thing? Who would make up a movement, composed of ostensible "conservatives," that actively seeks to put Hillary Clinton into the office of the presidency instead of a flawed-but-still-preferable Republican? I believe we can outline four general sorts of people who make up this #NeverTrump movement.
The Genuinely Naïve
The genuinely naïve, who could perhaps also be called the "True Believers," are the folks who really, truly, absolutely believe that Ted Cruz is the ONLY hope for America and that he – and only he – can bring America back from the brink and restore her to her primal goodness and prosperity. Any other, but especially Donald Trump, will be the downfall of America, destroying her for all time. For these folks, if you don't vote for Ted Cruz, then you hate Jesus and America. They're the ones constantly reminding folks that "real" Christians will vote for Ted Cruz, and the failure to do so indicates that a person isn't "really" a Christian. They even applaud a non-Christian cult member like Glenn Beck when he rolls out this line of attack at the rallies. The fact that Ted Cruz is questionably eligible to even hold the office of the presidency, that he has been "anointed" by an unbiblical cult group known as "seven mountain dominionism," that he is a globalist, supported TPP, supported the Corker bill, supported doubling the number of Muslim immigrants America would take in, and all the rest is ignored by these folks. Mentioning them makes you a "not a real conservative."
The True Believers are so set on a Ted Cruz presidency that anyone else winning it is almost inconceivable to them. Hence, their tendency to go all abusive, obsessive boyfriend on the rest of us – if Ted Cruz can't have the presidency, then nobody can!
The Sour Grapes Sore Losers
When you start out with 17 candidates, it's obvious that 16 of them are eventually going to end up losers in the primary contest. Some folks can handle this...and some folks can't. The ones that can't have been joining the never Trump movement. These folks gave out their loyalty too soon, and the candidate of their affections eventually ran out of money and votes and dropped out of the race. Rather than adjusting to the new reality of the electoral landscape, these folks instead develop an irrational hatred for the one they see as having "cheated" their candidate of his or her victory.
Because Donald Trump has been consistently leading the race since last autumn, their ire falls upon him. "Trump cheated, Trump lied about my candidate, Trump is a mean, nasty person!" (Well, okay, maybe they have a point on that last one). But to make a long story short, they'd rather endure another four or eight years of everything they say they oppose rather than see the win go to the guy they have come to personally, viscerally hate to the very core of their being. They have no qualms at all about harming the rest of the country just to vent their personal pique as part of their irrational emotional response to Trump.
The Virtue Signalers
Virtue signalers are an interesting breed. Though we tend to associate political correctness with those on the far Left, there are plenty on the "mushy Right" who also engage in it. Virtue signaling is a neologism that is defined by the Urban Dictionary as,
"To take a conspicuous but essentially useless action ostensibly to support a good cause but actually to show off how much more moral you are than everybody else."
A virtue signaler is a person who wants everybody to know that they're Not Like Those Other People and that They Are The Right Kind Of Person. Through their words, they want everybody to be aware of how much better, nobler, and more moral they are than all those Other People who don't hold to politically correct beliefs. Let's face it – the "soft Right" is inhabited by politically correct "social justice warriors" (SJWs) just as much as the Left is, and these folks want us all to know that they're not like those "populists" and "patriotic types" who believe in politically incorrect, racist, sexist, homophobic beliefs like "opposing illegal immigration" or "blaming Islam for Muslim terrorism."
It's par for the course for a left-wing fruitcake like Hillary Clinton to argue that "Islam has nothing to do with terrorism." The supposedly "conservative" virtue signalers are right there with her, however, since that's the dominant belief held by the urban and collegiate types who make up their circle of acquaintances, with whom they wish to ingratiate themselves. Hence, they "signal their virtue" by loudly proclaiming at every opportunity how they don't like Trump because he's the Wrong Kind Of Person who has said The Wrong Kind Of Things and thus they would be embarrassed to be associated with Bad Thinkers Like Him.
And like their SJW brethren on the "other" side of the aisle, the virtue signalers have taken to "showing" how virtuous they are by declaring their intention to "blacklist" anyone on the Right who supports, or is even simply not hostile to, Donald Trump.
The Party Hacks
This last group is one that we're all familiar with. The party hacks are the folks who make up the group that we usually have in mind when we talk about "the establishment." These folks are the incestuous nest of career politicians, lobbyists, influence-mongers, Party hirelings, and mid-level hacks who have a vested interest in the status quo. They don't want anybody rocking the boat and interrupting the flow of kickbacks, influence peddling, and the distribution of political spoils.
These folks don't like Donald Trump because he represents a threat to their gravy train. If he does even half the things he says he will, the party hacks stand to lose a lot in terms of position within the hierarchy, influence, and potential future advancement upward through the ranks. This type really does genuinely prefer Hillary Clinton in the White House because she won't interfere with the Republicrat spoils-sharing that has been going on since George Bush Sr. was in office.
I would almost go so far as to guarantee you that anyone that you know who is a "Never Trumper" falls into one or more of these four categories. Regardless of whether they're deluded, irrationally angry, shoring up their social credentials, or simply looking out for number one, these folks are bound and determined to hand the White House to Hillary if they can't find a way to rip off Trump at the GOP convention. It's an infantile and irresponsible game they play, and hopefully one that will be rejected by the vast majority of thinking people. It's time for folks to do the right thing and rally around the nominee, whoever that ends up being.
A sort of campaign season timeline:
Jeb Bush Endorses Unlimited Amnesty In Spanish Telemundo Interview [July 2015]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3317791/posts
Bob Dole Endorses Jeb Bush, and Knocks Ted Cruz [Nov 2015]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3386269/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/gop/3359061/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/gop/3359060/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3358876/posts
Jeb Bush lands the coveted Lindsey Graham endorsement [Jan 2016]
[snip] “obviously (Trump) would not be my selection.” ...McCain said, adding that he will stay neutral through the duration of the primary. [’snip]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3384083/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3384596/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3384018/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3383972/posts
Following Jeb’s Exit, Nevada Senator Heller Endorses Rubio [Feb 2016]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3399989/posts
Ahead of Florida, Jeb Bush still weighing Marco Rubio endorsement
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3405884/posts
Friendship battered, Bush faces pressure to back Rubio (Jeb to endorse Kasich?)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3399885/posts
Jeb Bush backer says he told her he won’t endorse anyone before Tuesday [March 13]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3408786/posts
Marco Rubio’s Florida hopes sour with Jeb Bush tensions, endorsement failure
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3409603/posts
Ted Cruz thanks Jeb! Bush for his endorsement [right now]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3412619/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3412805/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3412737/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3412606/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3412596/posts
Flashback:
Trump hits back: I don’t want Jeb’s endorsement anyway [Dec 2015]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3373835/posts
Do you, for even a New York Second, think this sort of dreck is going to change anyone's mind?
Wow.
You must either be deluded, irrationally angry, shoring up your social credentials, or simply looking out for number one.
TRUMP IS HITLER!!!!!!
I thought Bush was Hitler. You close your eyes for a few years, and everything changes.
Such an informative enjoyable article!
I would do everything I could to ensure that there was a conservative congress and senate to keep her in check and I will admit that I would have a hard time with that - in the past I have always held my nose and voted for the lesser evil. Its just that this year every time that I start to think that maybe I could support Trump he talks about committing war crimes or limiting the freedom of the press and I am back to being firmly convinced that I could never support a Mussolini wannabe for President.
Agreed. Trump is anathema to social conservatives like myself.
I have never supported bullies in the past and I have no intention of doing so know and if you think that insults are going to persuade me than you don’t know me at all.
Where is the”satire” warning?
Very interesting and informative article. Thank you for posting it.
Very interesting and informative article. Thank you for posting it.
You must be a #2.
You're assuming he's reached it.
So, setting up straw men to demolish is mature and trying to have a reasoned discussion with Trump supporters is immature. I get it.
Well I am. Depending on who you talk to, I am a "good shit" or a "nasty shit". Most people I know think of me as the former--it's a compliment in the oil patch. The ones who think of me as the latter are shirkers, layabouts, and jerks.
Have a nice day!
Then go find a safe space to hide. We will handle taking on the establishment and democrats. No thanks for the help though.
I don’t know what he believes, but I believe that Trump is far different from Hitlery.
That said, I voted for ted Cruz in the primary, but my state went for Trump. Cruz would make a fairly acceptable candidate.
None of the open borders guys, starting with Bush and going through Kasich are worth a bucket of warm spit, regardless of their positions on any other issue.
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