I’ve been pondering how to address this for a while – what it’s liek to be an actual conservative in the Trump era.
John Hawkins takes a run at it with the five werdest things about being a conservative Trump non-fan.
Here’s one that some of my liberal friends have a hard time wrapping their brains around:
I can understand Democrats writing off a conservative like me because even if Alex Jones is duking it out with Todd Akin one day, I still won’t vote for whoever the latest socialist is that they run. That being said, there are roughly 8 million Americans who voted for Obama AND Trump and the general attitude Democrats have toward them seems to be, “Rot in Hell with your orange god.” No political party can appeal to everyone, but it’s so strange to see a political party that treats millions of voters they are going to want support from in the next election like pariahs simply because they voted for the other side. This would be like an NBA team saying, “If you didn’t show up to support us at yesterday’s game, then we better never see you again! Oh, and if we catch you wearing our merch, we will MURDER YOU.”
It’s part and parcel of the Democrats becoming an extremist cult.
#1 on Hawkins list “if he’d only talk right” is tiresome BS from deep state RINOs. Instead of engaging in the politically correct mealy-mouthed abstractions that has characterized political speech for the last 40 years (Reagan being the notable exception) Trump speaks his mind bluntly and unapologetically like Andrew Jackson or Harry Truman. It is time we stopped letting media progressives and bureaucrats define and police the language we speak in seeking to govern ourselves. Trump expresses thoughts directly and refreshingly without resorting to a Clintonian focus group or an underling’s trial balloon in a supine press. He eschews the middlemen and has a dialog directly with the electorate. If the idea isn’t workable, fine, no sweat, move on. No need to go on an apology tour. “Low-energy Jeb” was just that, a somnambulist running for office, no need to apologize for an accurate characterization and we didn’t need another president who would run the country like its a low performing WalMart the way his father and brother did.
Something from the comments to Hawkins’ article:
Hawkins is also not saavy enough to realize that a significant part of the “Trump can do no ill” cadre are actually people pushing back on the “Trump can do no right” morons so dominant amongst the chattering elite.
Ok like I think I have mentioned multiple time on this blog this was me going into the voting booth in 2016. I walked up and looked up at the sky and said “Forgive me God for what I am about to do”. After I submitted my ballot in, “Holy shit Ive never needed a drink worse in my life.” So that was my attitude going into the Trump presidency. Since then I have admittedly become a huge fan and will campaign hard for his re-election after not volunteering at all for his campaign ( I had volunteered for all Republican candidates since 2004 but couldnt this time). I am still shocked that there are conservatives that cant get past his personal stuff to see all hes done since he took office. Policy results mean more than personal issues.
and Mitch, you are a dying breed, not according to me but according to Zogby, who is no Trump fan either.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/gop-wants-trump-in-2020-more-popular-than-obama-jfk-reagan
What POD says. I still don’t like what Trump has done in his personal life, but how many mistresses does it take to be equivalent to a million abortions a year? Yes, Trump hasn’t stopped those yet, but at least we don’t have another pro-Roe justice on the Supreme Court bench for the next 30 years.
Good on you POD. We are the progressive Right. We’re here; stand clear.
I was astonished a “conservative” could write about Trump’s tweets without once mentioning the Overton Window.
That, more than anything, has been Trump’s strength: being able to shift the boundaries of what ideas are open for discussion. And his method has been the provocative tweet that makes RINOs grind their teeth. Sending one at 2:00 a.m. guarantees the morning talk shows will be devoted to talking about the topic, the morning papers will headline it, the water cooler chat will mention it, Democrats and RINOs will one-up to deplore it, and Average Joe (who may or may not agree with Trump’s position) will conclude a previously untouchable topic has become an acceptable subject for public discourse and might actually begin to wonder what ought to be done about it.
Beating the bushes on the far side of the field looks nothing like hunting until you realize the noise drove the prey into the open where it could be identified and captured. How many times do you have to see it happen to understand that no, this isn’t how we used to do things but yes, it is working?