Thursday, August 17, 2017
"Resistance." Does Trump matter?
I don't think so.
The left's "resist" movement is allegedly a response to the outrages allegedly perpetrated by Donald Trump. I don't believe it. I think if any other Republican had been the nominee and defeated Clinton, the resistance would be in effect. As soon as Trump's victory was announced, leading Democrats (e.g. Obama, Clinton) began strategizing on how to depose him, and talk of impeachment began that week. This should not be surprising because we've seen it before.
The Wisconsin governorship of Scott Walker was the first run of the left's blueprint for subverting a duly elected official not from their side. It was quite similar -- demonstrations, occupations, strikes and riots for one. Abuse of government police power to threaten and raid political opponents. Lies spread by a hostile media. Attempts to use extraordinary political measures -- recall in Walker's case -- to remove an elected official simply because they opposed his non-leftist policies. If instead of President Trump we had President Cruz, or Walker, or Fiorina, or Paul, or for that matter, even Bush '45, we'd see effectively the same playbook unfolding.
I don't believe there is anything Donald Trump could possibly say or do that would not be met with outrage and condemnation by the left. He quite correctly identified the violent fascist thugs of "antifa" as a part of the Charlottesville problem. But had he not done so, he'd have mollified no one on the left.
He's condemned as an authoritarian, even though he far more compliant with the law than Barack Obama was -- note that Obama regularly ignored court rulings against his immigration policies, while Trump complies and appeals or goes back to the drawing board. Trump is accused of being in league with Putin, even though his policies are the most hostile to Russia of any president since Reagan. (Yes, I know, Reagan actually had policies for the USSR, not Russia, but any readers will get the point.)
There's nothing Trump can do to placate critics, and he should not try. Instead, he should simply forge ahead with whatever policies he can. He's saddled with a hostile Republican party leadership that appears uninterested in real reform, so he should simply accomplish as much as he can. He'll lose in the mainstream media and the political class no matter what he does, but if he can push through reforms that will help normal Americans, he'll be doing great work and will also have a good chance of defeating the "resistance" of his political enemies -- the left and Republicans.
Onwards, Mr. Trump!
The left's "resist" movement is allegedly a response to the outrages allegedly perpetrated by Donald Trump. I don't believe it. I think if any other Republican had been the nominee and defeated Clinton, the resistance would be in effect. As soon as Trump's victory was announced, leading Democrats (e.g. Obama, Clinton) began strategizing on how to depose him, and talk of impeachment began that week. This should not be surprising because we've seen it before.
The Wisconsin governorship of Scott Walker was the first run of the left's blueprint for subverting a duly elected official not from their side. It was quite similar -- demonstrations, occupations, strikes and riots for one. Abuse of government police power to threaten and raid political opponents. Lies spread by a hostile media. Attempts to use extraordinary political measures -- recall in Walker's case -- to remove an elected official simply because they opposed his non-leftist policies. If instead of President Trump we had President Cruz, or Walker, or Fiorina, or Paul, or for that matter, even Bush '45, we'd see effectively the same playbook unfolding.
I don't believe there is anything Donald Trump could possibly say or do that would not be met with outrage and condemnation by the left. He quite correctly identified the violent fascist thugs of "antifa" as a part of the Charlottesville problem. But had he not done so, he'd have mollified no one on the left.
He's condemned as an authoritarian, even though he far more compliant with the law than Barack Obama was -- note that Obama regularly ignored court rulings against his immigration policies, while Trump complies and appeals or goes back to the drawing board. Trump is accused of being in league with Putin, even though his policies are the most hostile to Russia of any president since Reagan. (Yes, I know, Reagan actually had policies for the USSR, not Russia, but any readers will get the point.)
There's nothing Trump can do to placate critics, and he should not try. Instead, he should simply forge ahead with whatever policies he can. He's saddled with a hostile Republican party leadership that appears uninterested in real reform, so he should simply accomplish as much as he can. He'll lose in the mainstream media and the political class no matter what he does, but if he can push through reforms that will help normal Americans, he'll be doing great work and will also have a good chance of defeating the "resistance" of his political enemies -- the left and Republicans.
Onwards, Mr. Trump!
