If you would like a lesson as to how and why conservatives in America are being driven further and further to President Trump with each passing news cycle: look no further than Damon Linker's latest farce from The Week. Linker's opinion piece has the quixotic and utterly unique distinction of being both salient and completely tone deaf, of acknowledging many truths of our age applicable across the political spectrum, but willfully and knowingly refusing to see the same truths in the mirror.
The most intensely galling aspect of Damon's diatribe is that it deceptively draws several truly meaningful and appreciable conclusions:
"A surprisingly large number of supposedly knowledgeable and sophisticated analysts have learned nothing from the tumult and churn of the past three years of American politics."
I'm on board so far....
"Yes, nearly a half-century ago, Richard Nixon was driven from office by evidence of criminality. But as we've seen over and over again since Trump burst on the scene, we now live in a completely different political world — one in which those old rules and expectations simply do not apply."
I would agree with that point...
"This isn't just because Trump is a uniquely effective demagogue — though he is. It's also because the bulk of Republican voters simply do not reside in the same moral and epistemological world as the rest of the country, including its centrist establishment.
Alright hang on just a damn second....
"These Republicans don't believe or trust anything they read in the mainstream media, or anything a Democrat or Republican critic of the president says... "
Okay... that's accurate but I'm on guard now...
"...And they have no interest in or respect for high-minded statements of principle (about, say, the rule of law) that purport to transcend partisanship."
Wait...WHAT!?!? Is he seriously asserting that all Trump supporters are devoid of respect for or interest in high-minded statements of principle about the RULE OF LAW? As opposed to what? The far left establishment's unending lust for the votes of illegal immigrants (who are BY DEFINITION: CRIMINALS), culminating in the outright defiant criminality of sanctuary cities and even whole states (looking at you Cali..) choosing to flout reams of decades old immigration law?
1st counterpoint: Painting with a bit of a broad brush aren't we? Is there no nuance in Trump's base?
2nd counterpoint: For someone who is content to point out the hypocrisy of others (see below) Damon seems rather eager to willfully ignore the simple truth that if Trump supporters are rushing to the defend a man who promised to finally stand up for them, it is largely due to the utter shellacking they took at the hands of
the most lawless &
brazenly corrupt president in recent memory.
"What these Republicans care about is prevailing against their opponents, period. Accusing these GOP voters of double standards is beside the point. It's true that if any Democratic president had been accused of even one-tenth of the charges swirling around Trump, Republicans would be calling for blood. But what does it prove to point this out? That Republicans are hypocrites? Sure they are. Proudly. They hate it when their enemies break norms and laws, and they love it when their teammates do the same thing. That's the mindset of someone willing to fight dirty. That's what they think it takes to win."
Not only was the last Democratic president accused of far more egregious charges (I'll just leave these here: ::cough::
Fast & Furious, ::cough::
Benghazi) and far more direct evidence of collusion with Russia (
Tell Vladimir I'll have more flexibility after the election... remember that?) Republicans did indeed call figuratively for blood, I'll give you that, but never, in the entirety of the Obama administration did mainstream Republican politicians
call for public confrontation and harassment of members of the administration, not even once #FullStop. Yeah... oops.. paging Rep. Maxine Waters...
Never have I seen such utter tone deafness combined with selective memory loss and myopia.
If... and it's a damn big IF, Americans on the right have been beaten and berated long enough to reach exhaustedly for a strong hand to defend them it is because the left taught us to value "the mindset of someone willing to fight dirty." (Remember Saul Alinski? See:
Rules for Radicals Defeated) We have been taught with the repeated and gentle caress of a 2x4 to the cranium that this is clearly what the Democratic Party & Progressive-Socialist left employs to win, and that unfortunately, distressingly & shamefully: It. Is. Effective.
I do not abide it, I've never endorsed it, I never will. But failing to acknowledge or understand it is folly of the highest order. And the greatest shame of all is failing to recognize that this behavior was learned the same way it always has been throughout history: by pushing a good people too far.
We're Being Driven Further to Trumpism Every Day. I Can Feel It. Can't you?
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