Friday’s ruling by the US Supreme Court was a reversal of the terrible travesty. Roe Vs. WadeAnd its stupid stepchild. Casey or Planned Parenthood?In a 6-3 vote. It lifted the nation from its shame for over 50 years, when 60 million children were killed, mainly out of convenience.
Two men are responsible for this decision: Mitch McConnell, and Donald Trump. McConnell bravely kept open the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Scalia’s death (Like Him or Not, Mitch McConnell was the Key Man in Ridding of the National Shame of Roe and Casey). Trump was able to fill the three nominees made available by conservative textist candidates (Roe is Dead, and Trump has to be credited for that). A McConnell was able to meet the challenges of confirming two of the most difficult candidates in the field, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh, of course, was the subject of a well-funded and coordinated smear campaign based on the debunked “testimony” of what can only be described as a nutter. McConnell was accused of hypocrisy for filling the seat in the final hours of the 2020 election and refusing to let Obama do the same.
I’ll be the first to say I was not a Donald Trump fan. My posts for 2015 to 2016 will show you that I was strongly anti Trump up until Trump’s nomination. I focused on writing about Hillary’s flaws and not Trump’s virtues during the campaign. I’m not sure I would be called a Trump fan today. The reasons for all of that might make an interesting post…or not. However, some facts are obvious about Trump’s presidency and candidacy.
First, he didn’t have strong political beliefs. Many, including one former writer here a RedState, used to get what seemed to be sexual gratification from calling Trump a “New York liberal.” But, as a salesman, he knew what was important to those who voted for them. To this day, I’m not terribly sure what Trump believes, but I’m also sure that it doesn’t matter.
Second, he didn’t hold Americans in “fly over country” in contempt. I think Trump connected with conservative Americans in a way that no candidate since Ronald Reagan has managed to do because he wasn’t laughing at us to his rich liberal buddies at cocktail parties.
Third, in the words of my Old Man, “ya dance with them what brung ya.” When Trump was sworn in, he had a choice to make. He could stay true to the people who voted for him or yield to the siren call of Washington’s social life. He chose to be loyal to his supporters in a single act of courage.
One of those signs of loyalty was Trump’s overt embrace of the Pro-Life Movement. I’m not sure that Trump had ever spent ten consecutive seconds thinking about the issue of abortion. From his life and lifestyle, I’d not be surprised to find that he didn’t have a personal problem with this horrific practice. Trump wasn’t ashamed to be us, unlike President George W. Bush whom I admire. Trump was the first President to make an appearance at the March for Life in person since 1974. Bush and Reagan, who all spoke big about pro-life, never made it to the march, although a New York City playboy showed enough interest that he did. Trump presented three people whose records suggested they were both pro-lifers and conservatives when it came to the appointment of justices.
Unsurprisingly, people who made a career out of being “Never Trump” are trying to rewrite history to take credit for something that happened despite their best efforts. Kevin Williamson, at the National Review. Williamson claims that This Is Not Donald Trump’s Victory. So who should take credit? Why all the RightKindofPeople™ who denigrated Trump and his supporters. And he’s back at it.
Question: Can you plan your retirement by expecting to win the lotto?
Answer: Don’t be a goddamned jackass. You are not.
It does not make stupid or irresponsible choices any easier, even if it seems a fortunate outcome. The fact that something dumb worked out in a fortunate way does not mean that the thinking that went into it wasn’t stupid and irresponsible.
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven’t figured it out yet, you, my friend, are the jackass.
This author is a regular contributor to the themes that Trump was a buffoon and his supporters were poorly educated yokels. Two years ago my friend Mike Ford objected to Williams’ gratuitous insulting of Trump and his family as well as all who voted. (see Opinion: Great Move NRO – Insult 75 million Americans). Williamson fired back in a screed called Rage-Monkeys Gonna Rage, in which he called Mike–a West Point graduate, honor graduate of Ranger School, holder of a master’s degree, decorated combat veteran, and a retired infantry colonel–“[s]ome illiterate jabroni over at RedState.” Mike’s response in Opinion: I Am Cletus is a classic.
If you’ve ever been around Kevin Williamson, you’re jaw drops at how down-to-earth, gifted, erudite, and flat-out smarter than everyone in the room he is. That’s what being around @ChrisStirewaltIs like.
— Andy McCarthy (@AndrewCMcCarthy) January 20, 2021
It was movement conservatism — the institutions derided as “Conservative Inc.” by the rage-monkeys of Twitter and talk radio — that kept the Trump presidency from being a disaster for the Right. Trump signed Paul Ryan’s tax bill, he took up the Club for Growth’s deregulatory agenda, hired a couple of National Review editors for economic-policy advice (he should have listened to them more than he did), and, critically, delegated his judicial selections to the Federalist Society — because he did not really have any choice as a matter of political reality. You can’t be a Republican presidential candidate without backing — or at least saying you back — an originalist approach to the federal judiciary.
That is where you see the success of the long-term efforts of the conservative movement: Trump didn’t find Amy Coney Barrett on The Apprentice. And you have the Federalist Society and the broader conservative movement to thank for the fact that there was no Omarosa Manigault Newman nomination for the Supreme Court — or, God help us, a Maryanne Trump Barry nomination.
This is a short fact check. Don McGahn led the team that created the famous list of potential Supreme Court nominees inside Trump’s White House. Leonard Leo (executive vice president, Federalist Society) was one of their advisers. The selections were not by any stretch of the imagination “delegated.” In fact, it was Conservative, Inc. insiders who howled as loudly as the Washington Post editorial board about how the proposed justices would scare moderate voters.
This is all fine and dandy, but do you know what Conservative, Inc. couldn’t do? Win a single freakin election. Conservative, Inc. provided John McCain and Mitt Romney. Conservative, Inc. wanted to convince us about Scott Walker or Jeb Bush. Conservative, Inc. sent our manufacturing to China and didn’t care about illegal immigration or H1B abuse because their jobs were not in jeopardy. Conservative, Inc. actively attempted to ensure the election of Hillary Clinton because they couldn’t stand the thought of the crass, nouveau richeReal estate agent from the Outer Boroughs, who enjoyed his steak with catsup as president, regardless of the price to the nation for a Clinton presidency.
The Author Dobbs decision was appointed by George W. Bush, not by Donald Trump. George H. W. Bush was the one who appointed Clarence Thomas to be the Court’s greatest originalist. Donald Trump is not a trailblazing champion of constitutionalism — he is a guy who got out in front of a parade and pretended to be leading it
George W. Bush granted Samuel Alito. Do you also know the other person he gifted us? John Roberts. Roberts is the man whose concurrence was. DobbsThe majority, which included the three Trump-appointed justices, is told that their decision was completely incorrect. We are fortunate to have John Roberts. We were saved from much worse because Bush couldn’t find enough inbred senators willing to foist Harriet Miers off on us. Clarence Thomas is indeed a treasure, and I’m not disagreeing with that. Do you also know George H. W. Bush’s other benchmate? David Souter. Souter wrote this opinion. CaseyHe wanted to permanently lock abortion in as a Constitutional Right. He voted for the majority of the Texas vs. Lawrence decision that changed or placid “slouching towards Gomorrah” posture into the Usain Bolt-style sprint that put us on the glide path to codifying a cheap simulacrum of actual marriage as the law of the land.
Do I feel glad to be there? Roe gone? Absolutely. Do I think that Trump’s role in this could have been performed by a reasonably well-trained monkey? Absolutely.
If a “reasonably well-trained monkey” can get elected president, I’m not sure what it says about a political movement that is routinely repudiated at the polls. I’m definitely not sure what it says about the competence of either Bush administration. Perhaps we’d been better off with a couple of those simians when the “read my lips, no new taxes” pledge was made, and we decided our mission in Afghanistan was building schools for girls.
A few last thoughts.
Legendary Green Bay Packers Coach Vince Lombardi was famous for saying, “Winning isn’t everything, but it’s the only thing. In our business, there is no second place; you’re either first or last.” This is much more true in politics than it is in football. Winning is all that matters—winning ugly counts precisely the same as winning with skill and elegance. One vote counts as much as winning by a majority. Politics is not an “it’s how you play the game” activity. If you don’t win, your principles and ideas can go f…I mean, hang themselves. Conservative, Inc. doesn’t operate that way. They are proud of their intelligence and cultural savvy. They really don’t care if they win or lose because the think tank, cable news commentator, and political journalism gigs are always there. As the t-shirt slogan says: First prize–all the marbles; Second prize–a set of steak knives; The choice is yours.
All the big thoughts by Conservative, Inc. are just as substantial as the “The Road Song of the Bandar Log.”
Much like the target of Hotspur’s scorn in Shakespeare’s Henry IV (“but for these vile guns/He would himself have been a soldier.” ), Conservative Inc. would be soldiers if they didn’t have to do anything but talk.
Parable of the Two Sons is found in the Gospel Matthew 21:28-32. A father wants his sons working in the vineyard. One tells his father “no,” but then relents and goes off to work. The other tells his father, “yes,’ and doesn’t go. The question is, who actually did their father’s will? I’m not trying to make a theological argument defending Trump; I am merely using this well-known (at least I hope) Bible reading as a point of departure for a comparison. Trump didn’t give much thought in his whole life to governance. He was the first president to govern more conservatively in 20 years. Not only on Life but the economy, neutering Iran, the Abraham Accords, and, I’d contend, bullying the freeloaders in NATO into starting to meet their obligations. In essence, he said “no” at first but ended up doing the hard work in the vineyard.
On the other hand, we had “conservatives” who were elected, pledging to defend life. They agreed to continue funding Planned Parenthood and to ignore the Pro-Life Movement beyond election-year photo-ops. They are the ones who said “yes,” and decided they liked being invited to the cool parties and maybe moving out of the conservative punditry ghetto more than fighting for causes. Who was the conservative one?
Donald Trump won 2016 He won because he likes to win and because he knows if you aren’t a winner, you are the other thing…that would be a loser.
Because of his win, something that most Never Trumpers still haven’t recovered from, he was able to appoint three justices to the Supreme Court. Yes, Trump did have advisors that accepted and reviewed the Federalist Society’s recommendations. These recommendations can be useless if you do not win. I’d also point out that George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush also had the advice of the Federalist Society; that advice gave us the author of CaseyThe faux-concurrence and Dobbs.
Both thinkers and doers can find a home in the conservative tent. What there isn’t a place for are people who fought tooth and nail to keep abortion legal by supporting Hillary Clinton…and Joe Biden…and then claim the DobbsTheir brilliant ideas and erudite articles won them victory over their fellow travelers.
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