Posted on 08/16/2015 1:02:06 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
“Trumpites” are only “lightly attached to the political process”
George Will has written a thought-provoking piece over at WaPo in which he argues that the GOP should purge itself of Trump and Trump’s supporters.
Will explains:
"When, however, Trump decided that his next acquisition would be not another casino but the Republican presidential nomination, he tactically and quickly underwent many conversions of convenience (concerning abortion, health care, funding Democrats, etc.). His makeover demonstrates that he is a counterfeit Republican and no conservative.
He is an affront to anyone devoted to the project William F. Buckley began six decades ago with the founding in 1955 of the National Review — making conservatism intellectually respectable and politically palatable. Buckley’s legacy is being betrayed by invertebrate conservatives now saying that although Trump “goes too far,” he has “tapped into something,” and therefore . . . ."
Therefore what? This stance — if a semi-grovel can be dignified as a stance — is a recipe for deserved disaster. Remember, Henry Wallace and Strom Thurmond “tapped into” things.
Unlike Ted Cruz who embraces Trump supporters, Will wonders who Trump’s supporters are:
Conservatives who flinch from forthrightly marginalizing Trump mistakenly fear alienating a substantial Republican cohort. But the assumption that today’s Trumpites are Republicans is unsubstantiated and implausible. Many are no doubt lightly attached to the political process, preferring entertainment to affiliation. They relish their candidate’s vituperation and share his aversion to facts. From what GOP faction might Trumpites come? The establishment? Social conservatives? Unlikely.
They certainly are not tea partyers, those earnest, issue-oriented, book-club organizing activists who are passionate about policy. Trump’s aversion to reality was displayed during the Cleveland debate when Chris Wallace asked him for “evidence” to support his claim that Mexico’s government is sending rapists and drug dealers to the United States. Trump, as usual, offered apoplexy as an argument.
Will concludes his piece calling for “excommunicating” Trump and his supporters from the GOP:
So, conservatives today should deal with Trump with the firmness Buckley dealt with the John Birch Society in 1962. The society was an extension of a loony businessman who said Dwight Eisenhower was “a dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.” In a 5,000-word National Review “excoriation” (Buckley’s word), he excommunicated the society from the conservative movement.
Peter Whener, writing at Commentary, agrees with Will:
"Fortunately there are conservative commentators who are doing just that [“excommunicating” Trump and his supporters], including Bill Bennett, David Brooks, Mona Charen, Charles C.W. Cooke, Michael Gerson, Jonah Goldberg, Victor Davis Hanson, Charles Krauthammer, Matt Lewis, Rich Lowry, Michael Medved, Paul Mirengoff, Dana Perino, John Podhoretz, Karl Rove, Jennifer Rubin, Kevin Williamson, regular contributors to this web site (among them Max Boot, Noah Rothman and Jonathan Tobin), editorial page writers for the Wall Street Journal and others.
These individuals, while differing on various matters, understand the difference between angry populism and conservatism. They don’t believe crudity is a conservative virtue. And they don’t want conservatism stained by an unprincipled interloper and cynical opportunist, which is what Mr. Trump is. (It’s been well documented that until a few years ago, Trump was a registered Democrat, a large financial contributor to leading liberal politicians, and held liberal positions on a wide range of issues.)
In that sense, this is a clarifying moment for conservatism. Those on the right who have become Trump defenders have, I think, made a serious error in judgment that is the result of a rather profound misunderstanding of conservatism (for more, see here). You can cherish and champion conservative principles, or you can support and praise Donald Trump. But you can’t do both."
Writing at Townhall, Pat Buchanan offers a different viewpoint:
"For there is a plot afoot in The Washington Post Conservative Club to purge Trump from the Republican Party before the primaries begin."
“A political party has a right to … secure its borders,” asserts the Post’s George Will, “a duty to exclude interlopers.” Will wants The Donald “excommunicated” and locked out of all GOP debates until he kneels and takes a loyalty oath to the nominee.
“Marginalizing Trump” carries no risk of “alienating a substantial Republican cohort,” Will assures us, for these “Trumpites” are neither Republicans nor conservatives. Better off without such trash.
The Post’s Michael Gerson says “establishment Republicans” must “make clear that [Trump] has moved beyond the boundaries of serious and civil discourse.” He loathes the Trumpites as much as Will.
Trump’s followers are “xenophobic,” Gerson tells CNN. They have a “resentment of outsiders, of Mexico, of China, and immigrants. That’s more like a European right-wing party, a UKIP or a National Front in France. Republicans can’t incorporate that.”
But if the GOP has no room for Trump’s followers, it has no future. For there simply aren’t that many chamber-of-commerce and country-club Republicans.
I’m sure that this is a debate that will continue for some time, but I wonder if it will end as the GOP establishment seems to think it will?
ping to #80
He can also be excoriated on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GeorgeWill
I thought this guy was so damn smart when I was in high school back in the 1980’s. I guess it was just the glasses and the bow tie he used to wear that hid the fact that he’s dumber than we all thought he was.
LOL, Ive been around as long as Will and I can assure you he was the same back then. He is 74 and looks the same as in the old days of the late 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s etc. etc..
Is he a vampire? It seems he’s often on TV but always at night.
Will already purged here..hell nothing left to watch but 24 reruns.
Thank you so much, but I can’t figure out how to open a Twitter account!!!
(And I’ve really & truly “tried.”)
ok...thanks...took me a bit to catch up to that..
She can be so incendiary.
Invertebrate? GW—the only work with a toupee is you!
What great rocks! ( well, the girls need a picture...)
Darn, darn! The only WORM with a toupee is you!
It’s the magic toupee.
I have nothing more to add.Why did you bother even adding that? Did you think this thread was about Ann Coulter?
What was he supposed to do, whip out an affidavit from the Border Patrol Agents he cited?
I am Cruz all the way.
I purged myself.
Tagline.
If I recall correctly, Will used to be a conservative. I think that being in with the beltway crowd has twisted him.
Now the GOPe will attack Trump through the paid shills. My “conservative talk” station has bumpers that feature Medved encouraging Bush to say that Trump is the only candidate unworthy of respect. They spend more time and energy bashing Trump than they do bashing the Dems.
Once this is proved to be ineffective, they’ll try the attack candidate option again. Look for charges of racism, homophobia and sexism. The machine controlled by Wall Street will decry Trump as an out of touch one percenter. They will become liberal attack dogs in an effort to stop him.
Go Trump go, and FU Medved, Will and all the other pundits more concerned with their own positions than what’s good for America.
It is not too hard to do: https://twitter.com/signup (most people don’t use their ‘real’ names!)
Take your baseball and go the F. Home,Georgie!
I have a better idea....rid the GOP of people like Will, Barbour,McConnell,Boehner, and their ilk
Will raises some good points. However, I doubt the bona fides of the RINO Will. And having it printed in the WaPo makes it all the more suspicious.
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