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Old 01-13-2018, 08:21 AM   #3711
SEC_Chick
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: A pool of my own vomit
Posts: 732
Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop View Post
I have a lot of respect for thoughtful conservatives who have opposed Trump out of their principles. I guess many of us have been surprised by how many people who call themselves conservatives were happy to abandon the aforementioned thoughtful conservatives and go along with Trump. Almost two years ago, I thought Trump would win the Republican nomination and then lose in the general election because he would lose a significant number of Republicans who couldn't stomach him. The number just wasn't that significant, which is to say that the thoughtful people like you were a very distinct minority. Mitt Romney got 47% of the vote running against Obama, and Trump got 46.5% of the vote running against Clinton.

I guess what I am trying to say is that Trump hasn't painted, he has revealed. Not about you, but about most conservatives.
Ideological conservatives have always been a small minority in the Republican coalition. I remember writing a post for Not Bob way back in the primaries that went into detail regarding the various constituencies: The Chamber of Commerce types, the taxed-enough-already folks, the 2A single issue people, the Tea Party guys, etc. Ideological conservatives are a small group, and the main influence is that conservative academics end up at the think tanks like the American Enterprise Institute, which do what they can to sway policy. Trumpism has not been kind to conservatives. Many shed the NeverTrump label and resolved to call Trump on his balls and strikes, as Trump skeptics: Gorsuch good (and I am a particular fan of TX Supreme Court Judge Don Willett who just went on the 5th Circuit, though I am sad he no longer mocks Trump on twitter). Tax reform, typical Republican, but not terrible. Obamacare repeal, a debacle. Everything else, pretty much batshit crazy.

It has impacted peoples livelihoods. You don't get the paid speaking engagements for the Trumpinistas or the Resistance crowds. You are maligned by both sides as a closet Democrat or a MAGA member.

Fundamentally, conservative principles don't change. You believe them or you don't. I think that former conservatives going MAGA is a reflection of their lack of character, not of changing conservatism, but they have without a doubt damaged the conservative label. Trump is an idiot and is utterly unaware of the reasoning or thinking behind some of his "policy". Sometimes conservatives will attempt to explain what lies behind Trump's lack of understanding, but I am not sure that does anyone any favors.

And regarding the vote count, Romney was up against Obama. I think you underestimate the portion of the Trump vote that was merely "Not Hillary". Almost everyone I know voted grudgingly for Trump. And you can see from the polling results that his "base" is actually pretty small.

Those polling results are included in this piece from Jonah Goldberg, who is possibly the most principled conservative I know:

http://www.nationalreview.com/g-file...utm_term=GFile
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