I can't really figure out what mechanism of destruction Will has in mind. He sees the GOP losing the 2016 election if Trump is the nominee, but the GOP just lost the last 2 presidential elections, and yet the party lives. Will dips into the history of Taft and Goldwater, then:
In 2016, a Trump nomination would not just mean another Democratic presidency. It would also mean the loss of what Taft and then Goldwater made possible — a conservative party as a constant presence in U.S. politics.I get that Will thinks Trump is embarrassing and that it deeply disturbs him that the American people have fallen for a man like that. So uncouth! But how does it end the conservative party? I understand the objection to "unfettered government and executive authoritarianism," but why does Trump present such a special threat? I don't get the hysteria — especially coming from someone who purports to be so offended by Trump's rhetorical drama.
It is possible Trump will not win any primary, and that by the middle of March our long national embarrassment will be over. But this avatar of unfettered government and executive authoritarianism has mesmerized a large portion of Republicans for six months....
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He's also suggesting a third party run, that would effectively hand the election to Hillary
https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/678581773832470528
Of course if the Koch's really wanted to help they would fund Bernie's run as an independent.
Trump is a sloppy thinker and talker more than uncouth. And that has real consequences.
Will is using the same technique that the climate alarmists use but he is putting an end date on his prediction. The Left, on the other hand, wants to spend trillions to maybe fix a future problem set to happen hundreds of years away.
George Will like so many others forget it is Donald Trump vs. Hillary!
These are low days for American civilization, but the earth will continue to spin.
I think there will be a shake-out and the parties will realign somewhat as far as the "historical" voter blocs go, but conservative vs. revolutionary is a natural division of governmental outlook.
the Executive and Supreme Court delivering unfettered government and executive authoritarianism, and Congress stepping aside to allow it...been there...done that...have the laws in place to prove it.
Trump is a special threat because he has no realistic plan to create jobs and grow the economy, like a true conservative Republican would.
I think Trump has within him the risk of authoritarian government but that is what we have now in large measure. The question is whether he would be a conservative/libertarian authoritarian. I know that is an oxymoron but we may need a Pinochet at this point. Obama's administration has shredded the normal checks and balances and has set loose an army of left wing jackals on the American people. The EPA raids Alaska mines and destroys rivers with mine waste. There are no consequences.
The IRS attacks Obama's political enemies and suffers no punishment.
Obama and his appointees have emasculated the military and, except for small special forces units, I doubt we could defeat a serious enemy today. It is all a social justice experiment.
He and his minions plan to import hundreds of thousands of unvetted Muslims and place them in areas secretly without any permission of the local political structure.
The ICE bureaucracy is opening the southern border to millions of illiterate Mexicans and Central Americans with no attempt at public health screening. It is offering them the benefits of the welfare state.
The corporate supporters of Obama are getting the reward of thousands of tech workers from India who make less money and who replace American workers who are often forced to train their replacements.
And political pundits wonder at Trump's support and its persistence.
The end of the what conservative party? Speaker Paul Ryan has already killed it.
There are so many conservative columnists I never read.
Sorry, Will, but the people who are running the present GOP is what is killing the conservative party.
There is a direct line of party leaders, from Jefferson to Hillary!, and from Hamilton to Trump.
But look to see where the lines started and where they have gone from then to now!
There is no conservative party. To call the current Republican party conservative is empirically laughable.
There is a lot of chatter about this column. It's an excellent example of the fact that the elites on both sides do not get the Trump phenomenon. George Will, Krauthammer, et al. and all the "conservative politicians" have affected exactly what in the last seven and arguably 25 years? They conservative media write columns, give speeches, write books, talk on Fox and anywhere else that will pay them but they attack the real conservatives and their supporters with way more vehemence than the party of the Clintons and Barack Obama, and its supporters. Most of the conservatives in Congress promise to fight the growth of government, the overreach of the executive branch, etc. but show up and immediately lie down and start participating in show votes. Cruz being one of the only exceptions and they demonize him.
Thus Trump. Trump is the result of there being no functional "conservative party." If anything, Trump is stengthening the conservative movement by revealing the frauds.
I think Trump winning would be a greater threat to the Republican Party than Trump losing. One-party rule is never a good thing anyway, and if the Democrats hold the White House, folks at the state level will have more incentive to continue throwing the RINOs out and electing Republicans at all levels who actually believe in Republican values.
The other Republicans in the race might be doing better if the party controlling congress could serve as an effective check on Obama's "unfettered government and executive authoritarianism."
First, Ann- Merry Christmas to you and Meade. And, thank you for doing the dirty, hard work of producing this blog every day for the rest of us 'lazy' souls. I can't imagine how one does this while being a Professor of Law, and having a life.
Re: George Will. I've enjoyed reading Will for years. Don't always agree with anyone, including him, and on this I find his anguish to be par for those who refuse to believe that the Republican Party is about to undergo a change or schism. It's been coming for years now. And it's about to happen. That's not a bad thing. It's a good thing for all. More choices coming. Not sure that I see Trump as the banner holder, but he might just be the catalyst. Still, I have the opposite feeling that Will has. No anguish here. I can't wait.
The Republicans, at least, have proven for the past few elections that they are in fact, a big tent party. Not in the sense of skin color, or who does or does not have a penis, but more in the intellectual view of the role of government and the culture at large. Republicans are much more diverse in their thinking, and it shows up every election. It is finally going to split up the party. Either this time around, or next. Democrats, on the other hand, are almost clone-like in their thinking. And if you don't tow the line, you are an apostate. You are not just wrong- you have become evil and must be destroyed. There has not been an original thought coming out of the Dem Party since the 60's. Hence, when Bernie Sanders rehashes things that he, you, and I protested for in the 60's & 70's, for today's crowd it sounds new. But it's not new.
So in the end, who wins? The new Conservatives, the old GOP, or the old Democrats? I lean toward SMOD 2016. https://twitter.com/smod2016?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
I'd argue the Republican Party did it. If they governed as a conservative party, and not just a big donor party, none of this would have happened.
Actually, Trump is proof that the conservative party is already ended.
I see a special threat. It's a threat of the party to itself. I saw it first in 2004. The Republicans finally had control of the presidency and both houses - it was Reagan and Newt Gingrich in charge at the same time! They could - finally - start fixing the corruption and special interests and regulatory regime that are making the US Federal Government the unwieldy drag on the Republic that it is today. And the different parts of the party ran in separate directions and destroyed themselves thoroughly. They managed to confirm two Supreme Court justices and that was it for conservative goals. The next two elections the electorate got rid of them all in disgust.
Here we are again, in a position to take charge of the Federal Government in 2016 and fix stuff, and the average American would rather show that he's Mad as Hell. I think we have a conservative majority mostly, but maybe they don't actually agree on anything important.
Oh please. The GOP is the Washington Generals - they show up so the Globetrotters have someone to humiliate for the paying crowd. All they care about is getting their cut from the gate. Its all for show.
Tim and Lonetown beat me to it. Where is this conservative party Will speaks of? I would be interested in joining it.
Will singles out Robert Taft and lauds him as did JFK. But Taft was never executive material as his own party recognized in 1952. They gave the nod to a populist upstart that year in a brokered convention. I wonder if Will would have liked Ike?
Trump has amazed, amused, and annoyed me. He is too vulgar, too vain, and too vacuous. His supporters are dim, dumb, and devoted.
And yet ... slowly, I find myself drawing to him. His threat last night to unleash on Hillary if she continues down the "I am woman, hear me snivel" line of argument thrilled me, filled me with fantastic hopes never felt before. The thought of him, a real male, going full bully on her, an alpha male as well ... well, I must say it's a pleasant, pleasant thought.
I represent a whole bunch of guys who haven't shown up in his polling numbers yet. A wave is building which is going to wash priggish little George Will and many of his cohort out to sea.
"with the religious fanatic on a street corner holding an "End Is Near" sign."
Shouldn't that also apply to the global warming fanatics?
I was waiting for Will to provide a reason for his doomsaying. Alas, I got to the end and never saw it.
It has been a long time since the Republican Party has been the conservative party. Will is part of the problem, not the solution. He practically defines establishment Republican.
This is just another lame attempt by the Washington establishment to make the "you have to nominate a RINO" or we'll never win the general election" argument.
I'm not a Trump voter, but I get it. And the establishment is going to have to come up with a different argument this time, the base is tired of waiting for their turn while the establishment types decide which of them "deserves" the nomination this time.
Tim said...The end of the what conservative party? Speaker Paul Ryan has already killed it.
Exactly. After handing the GOP both Houses of Congress in 2014 they've still played lapdog. The contrasts are few.
And conservatives are sick and tired of being asked to say "I'm sorry". Loving a political party means not having to say you're sorry.
All this hyperventilating by Will, Rove and others is just stupid. Their Losers!!
I don't find it embarrassing at all that Trump and Cruz are telling cocooned elites to shove their double standards up their asses.
Even on Christmas Eve.
His point I think is that he perceives that true conservative principles are not inherent in either the current GOP establishment or or in Donald Trump. Therefore a win or serious agitation by anyone other than a true conservative leaves America without any meaningful conservative presence in American politics for the first time in a hundred and whatever years. I think. Clear as mud.
After a Trump loss the mediaswine will perpetuate the myth that Trump was the conservative that we have been waiting for after the debacles of McCain and Romney. The Republican establishment will then take steps to prevent conservatives from mounting "another" insurgency. Or so Will's thinking probably goes.
Regardless of whether Will is correct, the Trump candidacy will have served Democrats in so many ways: Guaranteeing a Hillary win; filling the coffers of the mediaswine, particularly those broadcasting Repub debates; discrediting conservatives by associating them with Trumps crass blustering; etc.
It doesn't matter whether Trump is an intentional shill for Hillary and the Dems, the result will be the same. The Ryan-McConnell-Pelosi-Reid branch of the Democrat Party will have prevailed.
Who cares? The elites have ignored the voters for years, and the party hasn't had a real conservative president since Reagan.
If we can't win the election we ought at least to punish the elites for their manifold sins.
Voters appear to prefer Trump's "comprehensive unpleasantness" to "comprehensive immigration reform."
George Will is a great commentator, always enjoyed his columns, always enjoyed his appearances on the old Brinkley show, now the Stephanopoulos show.
But he's just flat out wrong here.
The issue for Conservatives, and it should be for Republicans too - is to defeat Hillary. Period. Full stop. This prevents two more liberal Justices to SCOTUS, prevents amnesty by executive order, and a host of other terrible Leftist policies.
If a Conservative candidate beats Hillary, well, that'd be even better. So, lets look at the latest General election poll by CNN, Yes, CNN:
Rubio 49, Clinton 46
Cruz 48, Clinton 46
Clinton 49, Trump 47
Yes, it's only one poll, yes, these numbers will change, yes, we shouldn't get over excited.
Rubio (the moderate) beats Hillary by 3; Cruz (the Conservative) beats Hillary by 2; Trump (the Wildcard) only loses by 2. Ponder that for a moment.
In essence, it means that Hillary is weak and uninspiring - a milk carton more than a month past its "use by" date.
This will be a close winnable election. Anyone who thinks that GOP is a clown car or a circular fire squad that will invariably implode paving the way for a Hillary win is just simply wrong. Even Trump, yes, Trump has a good shot at knocking out the Hildebeast. And I will gladly vote for him, if he wins the Primary. Ditto for Cruz and Rubio.
"2004..The Republicans finally had control of the presidency and both houses - it was Reagan and Newt Gingrich in charge at the same time! They could - finally - start fixing the corruption and special interests and regulatory regime that are making the US Federal Government the unwieldy drag on the Republic that it is today"
Right, and Bush did nothing except put Arlen Specter in charge of the Judiciary Committee,try to pass Amnesty (while calling everyone who opposed them racists) and cut social security.
BTW, those are McConnell and Ryan's top issues. Other than Will and some other GOPe idiots, the support for doing that is minimal. Which is why Trump/Cruz are winning.
I suppose you can put your own answer to Will's question by reading the comments here. The schism is not exactly hidden. One side wants to hold the party together. The other apparently wants a parting of ways with the true conservatives on one side and the compromisers on the other. We do not have a parliamentary system of government, so I imagine Will sees the split approach as problematic.
The other way this split manifests is in how best to respond to the Obama years. We have seen really awful things from the man: separation-of-power violating executive orders, IRS attacks on political opponents, etc. One side thinks any use of that sort of power is wrong. The other apparently would like to use those methods in retaliation. I imagine Will sees Trump as the abandonment of principle in the self-defeating quest for revenge.
"There are so many conservative columnists I never read."
Ha. Me too - Will is one of them. I stopped watching FOX's chat show's too.
Why is Trump so attractive? Obviously part of it is that he doesn't speak for the establishment. He isn't part of it, like Romney, and, esp. McCain, were. And, he is willing to go after Dems, political correctness, and, pretty much anyone who gets in his way. Neither of those two worthies really was able to go after the worst candidate in our lifetimes, and, ultimately, the worst President of the last century. Romney seemed to have his game on, until Candy Crawley threw him off, and he never regained it.
A lot of people believe that if Trump is the nominee, the election is going to be about Hillary, where it should be. Her monumental lack of honesty, her incessant greed. Plus, health issues, being the anti-feminist as she protected her husband against women with well documented claims of sexual assault against him, etc. She is, in short, a horrible person, but is seemingly slipping into the Dem nomination through a lot of backroom manipulations and skullduggery. Of course, the Dems were never happy with much democracy in their nomination policy, and only put up with as much as they had to to satisfy her generation of protesters (note the large number of "super" delegates who are awarded to party power brokers for just being power brokers). They have always been the top down party (which is why the Jacksonians are now fitting much better in the Republican party). Sure, he has a big mouth, but that is just fine, if he spends the election pointing out that she lies incessantly, etc. Being nice isn't going to win this one for the Republicans, just like it didn't win it for Romney or McCain. Eviscerating her will. Day in and day out. Any woman who would tell the families of the four who fell at Benghazi that their deaths were caused by a video, despite knowing that that was a convenient lie, deserves no sympathy from the rest of us, but rather, the contempt that many of us believe that Trump will heap upon her. She really is a horrible person, and is undeserving of respect or even sympathy. She sold American foreign policy for personal (family) gain, making all of us less safe so that her family could have many more millions of dollars in their pockets and in their private foundation. And, Trump is just the one to do that to her.
Not really sure why anyone thinks that Will is all that conservative. He is the epitome of an establishment Republican, and that means a lot of going along to get along. Esp. in D.C., where getting the right cocktail party invites is so important. He should be going after Ryan for selling out to the extent that both Pelosi and Reid seem ecstatic. He isn't. The Republican party is moving from the country club to the gun range right now, with the acceptance of the Jacksonians in their midst. I don't know how someone who was raised Presbyterian, went to all the right schools, likely belongs to all the best clubs, etc., can talk to this new Republican demographic so well, but he does. Trump is the epitome of the upper middle class Republican that they have hated on for the last century and a half. But, not only can he speak to them, he also seems to be able to speak to working class of any demographic, which means that he seems to have the best chance at pulling Black and (maybe) Hispanic votes this time around.
I don't think that will is comfortable with the newest additions to the Grand Old Party. He is old enough to remember when the party was controlled by people just like him, upper middle class, who went to the right schools and belonged to the right clubs. Now, he is stuck with the demographic that has been key to Dem power for the last 200 years as the real fire in the Republican party. I think that it makes him very uncomfortable, as it does many other traditional Republicans. And, I think Trump makes him uncomfortable too, since he can talk to this demographic so well.
One of the best things about the Trumping of America is to see George Will, Jonah Goldberg, Kevin Williamson and the rest of the Cucks Who Couldn't Politic Straight gang pissing in their panties on a daily basis.
If Trump is what it takes to defeat Hillary! and clean house(s) after Obama, so be it.
I don't see any of the others being up to the task.
I get a chuckle out of those who assert as incontrovertible fact that Trump will lose to Hillary.
I think just the opposite. Trump galvanizes people, and will do so increasingly from now until next November, in my opinion.
When such a large portion of the electorate is fed up with the status quo people are ready to roll the dice on a newcomer-outsider, especially one as dynamic and magnetic as Trump. I believe he's unstoppable.
However I don't know for sure what will happen, nor do those pompous nodes who proclaim Trump cannot possibly win.
We [conservatives] have to destroy the GOP in order to save it.
People keep trying to paint Trump as some New York version of George Wallace. He isn't. He's not even that populist, except in the manner he speaks to people.
There's nothing "Populist" or "Demagogic" about putting the security of the country first, over some weird desire for more Muslim immigrants. Or in wanting the immigration laws enforced. Or being against getting into WW III with Russia.
All this noise, and wailing from the establishment, is absurd. The only thing to worry about if Trump is elected is his SCOTUS nominations. But since we've only gotten 5 conservatives judges from the last 5 Republican Presidents, I don't think that matters.
I think Trump winning would be a greater threat to the Republican Party than Trump losing. One-party rule is never a good thing anyway, and if the Democrats hold the White House, folks at the state level will have more incentive to continue throwing the RINOs out and electing Republicans at all levels who actually believe in Republican values.
I think that Trump, if nominated, would win the election unless he self destructed somehow and I don't see that now.
If Hillary were to be elected, the leftist authoritarians would make that the last reasonable election. We are close now. The left has bought off the old GOP "business party" and is now busy importing a new voter franchise like the Labour Party in Britain did.
I worry about Trump as president but the danger seems too great with Hillary. I would be OK with Cruz but he might not have the draw of Trump with old Democrats. I think Trump could make significant inroads with black voters and you will see Hillary get closer to Obama than Michelle as that possibility sinks in to her head.
A Trump victory would signal that Idiocracy is real and it is here and likely irreversible.
I don't understand this "cocktail party" thing. Such a strange meme.
I get a chuckle out of those who assert as incontrovertible fact that Trump will lose to Hillary.
I think just the opposite. Trump galvanizes people, and will do so increasingly from now until next November, in my opinion.
I do too. Clinton isn't doing great with every advantage possible. Trump is being attacked by conservatives, the media, AND the Dems. And she's BARELY ahead of him? She's been ignored by the media and her being ignored improves her numbers. She hasn't had to deal with any adversity on the campaign as the other Dems are just there to make her look good.
What happens when somebody decides to knock the crap out of her? Just unload on her. Make her explain how she's fighting "for women" while protecting somebody notoriously horrible to women. How she is a serious leader when she's a doormat for a chubby man whore?
A Trump victory would signal that Idiocracy is real and it is here and likely irreversible.
Obama's re-election should've shown that.
You know the Establishment is scared when they're looking at Cruz to save them.
Trump is there to kick political correctness out of the editor's position in public debates.
Once that is done, every problem is open to solution.
He's not going to hire PC advisors.
"... Nor do those pompous nodes who claim Trump can't possibly win."
"Can't possibly win?" Who said that?
OTOH, Paul, give us a couple of reasons why someone silly and amoral enough to support Hillary now might swing to the Donald, then read the polls. Bear in mind also the impact the Dem attack machine had on Romney, a far more upright and admirable man than Trump.
Our skepticism may not be as compelling as your idolatry - the "dynamic, magnetic" Trump - but it does not make us "pompous nodes."
A Trump victory would signal that Idiocracy is real and it is here and likely irreversible.
Exactly how I feel about the Obama presidency.
Whigs get embarrassed easily.
We [conservatives] have to destroy the GOP in order to save it
No...the establishment types killed it years ago, and the Conservatives are tired of performing CPR.
Romney may indeed be upright and admirable but he lost because he turned out to lack spine, which is not very admirable. Trump's style is offputting to the stuffed shirt crowd but he has something no one else running does, and it's appealing to a broad swath of the electorate. I know black people who are supporters and I have never seen black people support any other republican. And I know and work with lots of black people. He's the only one taking the real conservative position re immigration and Islamification, and many of us believe these are the single most important issues we face. What good does it do to elect your "real conservative" if we slide inexorably towards demographic replacement?
"If Trump wins the nomination, prepare for the end of the conservative party."
What conservative party? Is this the UK? We have a Republican party that might throw conservatives a bone. If it's not too much trouble.
There hasn't been a conservative President since Coolidge. The Republicans never made a successful push to roll back the New Deal and didn't stop or rollback Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They didn't stop the 16th Amendment or repeal it.
Reagan was a fine steward of the New Deal and Great Society programs. He helped strengthen Social Security by raising taxes on workers to help keep it solvent longer. He ran deficits as a % of GDP that were almost the same as the ones FDR ran in his first two terms. FDR would have loved Reagan just as Reagan loved FDR.
There is nothing conservative about the Republican Party at the national level and hasn't been for a long time. Goldwater was the last conservative to run for President.
Donald Trump is rude and occasionally cruel but he's no more or less conservative than Jeb, Cruz, or Rubio. Given that he spent his entire career in the private sector, he's probably more conservative than these others, certainly more realistic. Will is a useless pundit who needs to be pushed aside. He's part of the problem. Always has been
What bothers Will is that in an Obama-Liberal world, Conservatism is revolutionary or counter-revolutionary depending on your perspective. He and Krauthammer are Whigs, not conservatives. Krauthammer is a good wordsmith and leans Right on foreign affairs, but he began his political journey working for Walter Mondale. That’s not fatal, Reagan was once a Democrat. But they both firmly embedded in the political establishment and they have done very well there. The Overton Window has never opened for them as it has for many people who support Trump. Trump is not supposed to exist as a political force because in their world he would have self-destructed months ago. They are forced to ascribe sinister motives plus mental and moral deficiencies to Trump and his supporters.
Ed Straker asks:
I was wondering if the Democratic Party would take Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer back. After all, he worked for Walter Mondale and was a writer for the liberal New Republic. But even now, years later, when he is a contributor to Fox, he never seems to like conservative Republicans. In his latest column, he attacks Ben Carson for saying he would not support a Muslim for president at present. The fact is, at the moment there is no responsible leader in the Muslim community who has condemned the acts of radical Islam repeatedly and forcefully, or confronted the deep internal problems in the Muslim community, Carson (and Trump, too) has opened up a conversation that was formerly taboo: why is it that no one in the Muslim community will speak out against this evil? But Dr. Krauthammer seems to have a problem with this long overdue discussion.
A Trump-Hillary election will be like nothing we have seen in recent times. Trump will have the media against him but that’s just helped him lead in the polls. And no one the Republicans run will get the media behind him during the general election. Remember “Maverick John McCain” and his not-so-secret tryst with the NY Times? Can you say love them and leave them? I knew you could.
The Romney campaign’s strategy was based on the belief that a lousy economy plus Mitt “Mr. Clean” Romney would guarantee a victory. He really didn’t go after Obama personally even as Team Obama portrayed him as an out-of-touch, dog-abusing, woman hating, plutocrat who killed the sick wives of his employees. Who here thinks Donald Trump won’t trump that – in spades? Meanwhile all Hillary will be promoting is “I was Secretary of State” – without reference to any successes – and the fact that she had a uterus. Oh, and she will promise more goodies that Santa has room for in his bag. I think she has a big, wrinkled, drink-soaked problem.
Well, if Trump got the nomination, it would be a party I would want to be a member of.
vanderleun said...
"One of the best things about the Trumping of America is to see George Will, Jonah Goldberg, Kevin Williamson and the rest of the Cucks Who Couldn't Politic Straight gang pissing in their panties on a daily basis."
Amen to that. They attack Trump, and somtimes Cruz, supporters with a viciousness they have never used on the voters who delivered us the marxist community organizer. The irony is not lost on the great unwashed and the self-appointed conservative elites are receiving well-deserved scorn.
The reason someone like George Will is so hysterical in these columns is because his power is faded, or gone. If Trump wins, it means no one listens to him anymore. It means he has no influence over the political process.
Right now, he thinks he does. He thinks he influences the Paul Ryans (And he probably does). Many of the Republican "Conservative" talking heads believe they have influence on capital hill.
A Trump win destroys George Will and his influence. Expect a lot more of this hysteria if it looks like Trump will actually win.
MPH said...
A Trump victory would signal that Idiocracy is real and it is here and likely irreversible.
12/24/15, 11:16 AM
Hmm.. five will get me ten that you voted for Obama and are going to vote for Hillary. That Obama won twice and Hillary is even a candidate demonstrates that the Idiocracy is real and is here and probably is irreversible.Now as you were saying...
As a Republican voter for now nearly forty years Will's comment is more than a bit grating and condescending. Tell me how a President McCain or President Romney would have been better than a President Trump or inversely how a President Trump would be worse than either of those two. Am I to believe that Trump would be more of a RINO than either of these two? Am I supposed to believe that with Ryan and McConnell Congress is going to become really Conservative if Jeb is elected President? Trump's appeal and the point of voting for him is that he just doesn't give a crap of what his opponents think of him and his idea of compromising is the other guy compromises with him. In that respect he is the mirror of Obama and the idea of push back and payback is most appealing. Incidentally, that is how Hillary rolls as well. I'm voting for Cruz because he is the real deal but I will vote for Trump in the general if he is the candidate. Trump will make Ryan and McConnell bend just as easily as Obama has and as long as Trump sticks to making the burden of government a bit lighter so the economy grows that is good enough for me.
Will is the one pundit who speaks for what's left of the old stuffed shirt crowd indeed. Unfortunately the class to which these old fellows belonged is dying out, and their descendants have moved on to a different take on politics. The executive class who controlled the economy mainly by managing industrial processes and thereby staying in touch with reality are now living off manipulating finance and government regulations.
Their sort in the old days had the same interests as their workers, just with more money to spend in a more refined way. Both manager and man could discuss baseball, duck hunting and fast cars. Their replacements are completely cut off from their workers, unable to relate at all. I have seen this communication gap all over. The old fellows in management often still have the common touch, the new ones act like the scum at the coal face are a different species.
Will is unaware that the world has changed.
To boil it all down, for Will and his kind, this all isn't about interests or laws or policies as much as it is about social class and, as he says, embarrassment about the status signals he gets from Trump and his backers.
"this all isn't about interests or laws or policies as much as it is about social class "
Exactly.
Given that he spent his entire career in the private sector, he's probably more conservative than these others, certainly more realistic.
The terms “conservative,” “liberal,” do not apply to Trump very well. Other than the fact that he’s a verifiable capitalist, Trump’s not really tied to ideology. Trump is a pragmatist.
Take his attitude toward Putin and the ME mess. He’s willing to ally with Putin instead of moralizing foreign policy with virtue-signaling on an international scale. Our foreign policy has been sent badly askew, especially beginning with the Carter era, with tortured agonizing about which dictator or despot is better than another according to the progressive-based impulse of the moment.
Foreign policy should be based on what is best for American security and what’s advantageous for American interests overseas. Period.
I have a lot of sympathy with Will. He sees conservatism as a value, not a tactic, or even a strategy. He sees American politics descending into a sectarian maelstrom, and feels called to defend the principles which were the basis of American unity and strength during the American Century. But as others have noted, Obama has proven to be a better Constitutional scholar than some of us reckoned. He found the weak points in that venerable document, and, with the help of an increasingly lawless Supreme Court, has torn it to shreds. In the process, he showed that the Imperial Presidency is no longer a metaphor, it is the prize for which modern Presidential candidates contend. You cannot conserve what no longer exists.
Robert Frost said that a liberal was "a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel". By that definition, poor George Will is the last of the liberals. The rest of us have the knives out, and we know which side we're on.
"Not really sure why anyone thinks that Will is all that conservative."
Oh, he is conservative and Trump is not. However, it is Obama who gave us Trump. We do not have a Constitutional government now and Hillary promises worse.
I am really concerned about violence next year and worry that some one might take a shot at Trump and put us really into an authoritarian state. The nonsense about Obama's safety in 2008 was never serious. Republicans don't do that. I know who does, though.
Remember that Reagan, when asked about having been an actor, replied that he didn't understand how anyone who had NEVER been an actor could be president. He knew.
What we don;t know is what Trump really believes. It could hardly be worse than what Hillary and Obama believe.
Trump is RUDE. That!s it Trump's Paid for foes wearing cute bow ties and spouting nonsense are still unable to come up with more than that.
Their Plan to stop Trump is for The Donald to self destruct from embarrassment if Ted Cruz is ahead of him in Iowa Theocratic circles.
In other words they have no real plan to stop him.
Trump des Willes
How is that super majority in Congress working for you Republicans? Does it occur to you now that both sides are the same, and are simply a means to divide and conquer? Does it occur to you that you are an idiot if you are on one team or the other, against your own self interest? Political parties exist only for power, not for liberty, or the Constitution or you.
They are all being blackmailed because they allowed a Usurper into the oval office. Whatever Obama wants he gets-- it is the protection for the treason they all committed. Obama is the death of America, and Paul Ryan and John Roberts are the Judas' of our time.
The citizenry is seeing that now, and Trump's support is much larger than the pollsters will admit (not that I think that he represents liberty), because the political class is more hated than the dentist on drilling day. They are going apoplectic because the populism he represents is a potential loss of power.
Trump will trounce HRC because he will not hold back in referencing her criminality when the time comes, like McCain held back with Obama's lack of allegiance (because he was not an eligible natural born citizen either, mutually agreed upon). The idiot women that voted for the "handsome black man" by 60% will not show the same deference to their own kind with HRC.
But Trump will have to live to see that day first, as the criminals will not allow any power to be taken away, and will resort to whatever it takes, aided by the useful idiots in the media.
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