Has New York Times NeverTrumper Bret Stephens come back from the dark side?

American Thinker ^ | 09/26/2019 | Monica Showalter

[SeekAndFind]

The miserable specter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bowing like a little pawn to her far-left Squad and calling for impeaching President Trump, something she's known better to do up until now, seems to have snapped some sense into #NeverTrump New York Times columnist Bret Stephens.

He's got an excellent one out, pointing to the pattern of Democrats stewing in their own rage, firing into the dark without information, and then moving to impeach. Fire first, find out what was shot at later. And as he notes, they're doing it a lot.

Once upon a time, prominent Democrats called for the impeachment of a powerful conservative officeholder, only to be embarrassed into silence when it turned out that the basis for their calls was arguable and incomplete, handing their Republican opponents a P.R. coup.

That conservative was Brett Kavanaugh, and the time was two weeks ago. How well did that work out for liberals?

Now prominent Democrats have begun an impeachment process against Donald Trump, based on information that, while potentially devastating, remains arguable and even more incomplete. They do so because they appear to be certain that the full set of facts will vindicate their belief that the president is manifestly guilty of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

But what if the facts don’t vindicate that belief?

That’s a thought that should have at least delayed Nancy Pelosi from announcing the impeachment inquiry on Tuesday afternoon, a few hours after Trump promised to release the unredacted transcript of a July phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

[dfwgator]

Liberals won’t care if you are a “Never-Trumper” conservative or not, you are still their enemy.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Even the dimmest NeverTrumpers are starting to get it.

The choice is between Trump and Communist tyranny.
There IS no third option. The stakes are we lose and
anyone associated with right-of-center politics is headed
for a reeducation camp.

[nikos1121]

I just read the article. He’s even more a Never Trumper today than he was yesterday. Nice try Monica, but this guy stinks as bad as Romney.

I’ve not seen in my life time, a president under fire as much as President Trump, even to those presidents such as Jimmy Carter who deserved it.

[Lazamataz]

I have a mental image of a light-bulb flickering, making little zapping noises, then coming all the way on.

[jimmygrace]

He’s just trying to save them from themselves, but they are not sane enough.

[aynrandfreak]

We need rules for what those never-Trumpers have to acknowledge before they can get back into our lifeboats!

[TTFlyer]

Stephens can FOAD.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Stephens?

OK, so the ratio of his rabid anti-Trump articles to a neutral article is what, 37:1?

And so he’s turning some sort of corner? And we’re so smart detecting it early?

Sure.

[gcparent]

Trump a president for our times. What a beautiful morning.

[Taxman]

Ping!

[lepton]

Bump

[loveliberty2]

What a magnificent Constitution America possesses!

Sadly, those who wish to destroy its principles are on display today.

Our Constitution embodied a UNIQUE IDEA. Nothing like it had ever been done before. The power of the idea was in the recognition that people's rights are granted directly by the Creator - not by the state - and that the people, then, and only then, grant rights to government. The concept is so simple, yet so very fundamental and far-reaching.

America's founders embraced a previously unheard-of political philosophy which held that people are "...endowed BY THEIR CREATOR with certain unalienable rights.." This was the statement of guiding principle for the new nation, and, as such, had to be translated into a concrete charter for government. The Constitution of The United States of America became that charter. Other forms of government, past and present, rely on the state as the grantor of human rights. America's founders, however, believed that a government made up of imperfect people exercising power over other people should possess limited powers. Through their Constitution, they wished to "secure the blessings of liberty" for themselves and for posterity by limiting the powers of government. Through it, they delegated to government only those rights they wanted it to have, holding to themselves all powers not delegated by the Constitution. They even provided the means for controlling those powers they had granted to government. This was the unique American idea. Many problems we face today result from a departure from this basic con­cept. Gradually, other "ideas" have influenced legislation which has reversed the roles and given government greater and greater power over individuals. Early generations of Americans pledged their lives to the cause of in­dividual freedom and limited government and warned, over and over again, that eternal vigilance would be required to preserve that freedom for posterity.

---

Footnote: Our Ageless Constitution, W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III:  ISBN 0-937047-01-5

[Sergio]

Great post.

[NorthMountain]

What a magnificent Constitution America possesses!

It's a beautiful thing, in a gilded frame, on a wall, in an unused back room, covered with dust, being ignored and violated by the entire political class.

[Harpotoo]

It’s because Trump went for the highest prize in American politics without having ever run for office and WON YUGELY:-)

[erkelly]

In my lifetime, this happened before. What was done to Richard Nixon was as shocking, constant, and dishonest as what they are doing now. (They also were pretty terrible to Ronald Reagan by the way.) Because the lying and the hounding eventually worked and forced Pres. Nixon to resign, they are following the exact same playbook with Trump. However, Donald Trump is not a Quaker and seems to enjoy the battle. And because of the internet, the MSM lies are exposed, and their plan to destroy Pres. Trump is not working as well as it did with Pres. Nixon.

[nikos1121]

I agree with you. They ambushed Nixon, mainly the media, and he was not smart enough to deal with it.

He was doing what every president had done before.

And in fact, he did nothing really wrong. His mistake was not coming forth IMMEDIATELY as soon as he got wind of the matter, and came out and distanced himself from those characters.

He was so far ahead in the polls he didn’t need any foul play to win.

He also should have burned the tapes.

Reagan had contra, but he played it smart, and was open about it and quickly.

Trump has laid out since day one that the media is dishonest, so that’s neutralized them.

But they keep trying, and now the whole thing is so far out in the open it’s obvious.

Al Green says we have to impeach him to beat him?

Nixon was a very good president, but we get Ford....who brings us Carter.

[nikos1121]

the thing that bothers me is like in Nixon’s time, you have now a bunch of two face bastard republican anti-trumpers who will undercut Trump in a second.

This guy Romney is something else.

WHY HASN’T SOME REPORTER COME OUT AND JUST ASKED HIM?

“Senator Romney, do you personally dislike President Trump?”

And ask him specifically why?