I can't believe I agree with David French

When pigs fly, but will it make a difference? I highly doubt it.

This morning the NY Times opinion writer David French put out his “subscriber only” newsletter¹, talking about how he and the rest of the “Never Trump” coalition failed.

In essence, he (and they) failed to understand that what they thought was canon in small and large ‘C’ Conservatism really was a house of cards. They assumed that the animus (really hate) was a byproduct of the unending struggle between Republicans and Democrats, and not the core tenets of the belief system of their coalition.

This is in part because while Democrats have been able to mobilize an effective anti-Trump opposition, conservative Never-Trumpers — Republicans and former Republicans like me who have desperately tried to break Trump’s grip on the party — mostly failed. It’s now clear to me that we never had a chance. And the reason is equally clear: We did not truly understand our own party.

Well duh. This is straight out of the “no shit Sherlock” files. Sure, I will admit that there was a cohort of seemingly honorable conservatives who were repulsed by the behavior and demeanor of the short-fingered vulgarian, but anyone who wasn’t ensconced in their echo chamber could see that the high-minded individuals who were this intellectual and serious policy wonk cohort was tiny, ineffectual, and all but irrelevant.

Then he tosses in some hagiography around their patron Saint, Ronnie Reagan:

The ideology revolved around the three legs of the Reagan Republican stool: limited government, social conservatism and a strong national defense. The commitment to character was born out of the political conflicts of the Clinton years, in which conservatives were furious that Democrats were willing to overlook or rationalize disgraceful and unlawful behavior by Bill Clinton. No one would claim that every conservative had character — we’ve seen far too many scandals to believe that — but I refused to believe that the G.O.P. would broadly excuse, rationalize or defend a Bill Clinton in our midst.

I would like to point out that the hatred, the “othering” and the intolerance were rife in the Reagan administration. His coopting the Southern Strategy with his speech at Philadelphia Mississippi, and his abhorrent abdication during the AIDS crisis that his administration trivialized, and his overt outreach to Evangelicals all have left indelible marks on their precious Republican Party.

No, the policy wonks, the think tanks, and the intellectual leaders were always outgunned. They were just too blind to realize it until the Cheeto-colored shit-gibbon came down the golden escalators. They failed to see how their coalition amongst the electorate was heavily biased to be receptive of this hatred and ready to fuck shit up, as long as they could own the Libs.

Final pull quote from the article:

But no. When ideology and character conflicted with partisan pugilism, a critical mass of the G.O.P. chose pugilism. When Trump shocked the world and won — beating Hillary Clinton, the politician whom Republican voters may have despised longer and more deeply than any Democrat, other than perhaps her husband — the bond with Trump was sealed.

Ya think?

You know what really gets me is that a lot of these “Never Trump” supposedly sane “normie” Republicans were complicit in the buildup, and no amount of hand wringing and pointing this out from the sidelines (looking at you “The Bulwark”) is having any real impact. Far too many of them live in wishful thinking enclaves, believing their own bullshit, breathing their own exhaust, all the while, Trump continues to romp, continues to command a loyal significant fraction of the registered Republicans, and it is clear that he is going to coast to the nomination, Nikki Haley be damned.

Look, I could have been on the right. I do tend to lean fiscally conservative, but my fiscal conservatism is founded in paying for what we do, and that we should become far less stingy in our spending. And pay for it by appropriately taxing those who can afford it. I do not believe in equality of outcomes, but equality of opportunity (we are goddamn far from that. Look at school funding and local property taxes to understand why).

But soon after coming of age in the early 1980’s I realized that the alignment to the Religious Right, and the heart-rending behavior to the AIDS epidemic were not anomalies, but the desired purpose.

Fuck, it pains me to admit that I agree with David French. The real question will be, what will he do to fix his role in this degradation?

If I had to guess, not a goddamn thing but write from his lofty perch in the Gray Lady.

A profile in courage.

1. That is a gifted link so please click on it and help me get the value to my NY Times subscription. It is a good read, I promise.

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