Like all true conservatives, I’ve watched with disgust as former conservatives like Mark Levin, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and others have joined #Cult45 one after the other. But no defection has been more disappointing than that of Senator Mike Lee. You see, as I’ve written in a previous piece, Mike Lee’s book Our Lost Constitution played a pivotal role in my becoming a constitutional conservative.
Already my conservative hero, Lee’s hero-status was further elevated when he loudly denounced the blocking of a vote on convention 
rules by the Republican Party’s leadership, solely to protect Trump from embarrassment.
His hero-status didn’t last. In fact, since the convention, as David Leach has written here on The Strident Conservative, Mike Lee has come out of the closet as anything but conservative.
I wanted to know how Lee could justify his change of heart towards Trump, so I asked him. His response is a clear admission that he’s abandoned his principles in favor of political expediency:
“I’ve had to learn to find allies wherever I can find them. As a friend of mine sometimes tells me, ‘one must remember that in Washington, there are no friends to be found — only situational allies’.”
Yesterday, Lee appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation and announced his complete absence of critical thinking skills by claiming, “There’s nothing in this [Mueller] report that changes my view of this president…There’s just nothing in there that should do that.”
That statement, along with his recent cozying up to liberal Trump advisor and future convicted felon Ivanka Trump by co-sponsoring the not-even-close-to-conservative family leave bill called the CRADLE Act, makes it obvious to anyone with a brain that Lee’s relationship with Donald Trump is quickly devolving from the already unprincipled concept of “situational allies” to actual friendship and blind devotion.
Lee’s loss of morality reminds me of a 2016 interaction my cousin had with Dinesh D’Souza, another former Trump critic. After asking D’Souza how he justified his complete 180° in supporting Trump, my cousin shared the following with me:
“[D’Souza] used the analogy of abolitionism. Christian abolitionists never succeeded in ending slavery alone. It wasn’t until they allied with non-abolitionists in the nascent Republican Party that their cause gained traction. Dinesh says coalitions are key. Standing on principles is selfish if it is about being right regardless of what is realistically achievable.”
So here are two very prominent former Trump critics – now Trump cheerleaders – claiming it’s okay to support Trump as a “situational ally” or as part of a “coalition.”
Alliances and coalitions sound so nice don’t they?
But once you strip away the fluff, what they’re both saying is that in their unprincipled worldview, the ends justify the means. In other words, the people, organizations, and views with which they ally either don’t matter or are fully justified as long as they believe their end goal is pure.
So let’s test their logic…
I hope we can all agree that rape is one of the most horrible acts imaginable and that ending rape is a pure objective we should all espouse. Using “the ends justify the means” logic (dressed up as “situational allies” and “coalitions”), I should ally myself with any person or organization that promotes consensual sex regardless of the rest of their dogma.
According to its website, The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) represents “the love of a man for a boy, and of a boy for a man. Enjoyable, consensual, beautiful.”
Would Mike Lee suggest that I look to NAMBLA not necessarily as a friend, but as a “situational ally?” After all, they only promote what they call “consensual” sex. Would D’Souza consider me “selfish” if I don’t abandon my principles to form a coalition with NAMBLA?
Of course not!
Despite their obvious willingness to abandon their principles, I have to assume that neither Mike Lee nor Dinesh D’Souza would go so far as to ally themselves with NAMBLA because nobody could justify an alliance or coalition with such a Godless and horrible organization, regardless of the end goal.
As I’ve previously written here on The Strident Conservative, Trump crossed my moral line a long time ago. Clearly, Trump has not crossed Lee’s or D’Souza’s line and until he does, these and all other formerly principled conservatives must use “situational allies” and “coalitions” as a pathetic excuse to rationalize their bad behavior.
Tom Milligan proudly opposes anyone who messes with the US Constitution, regardless of party affiliation. He is a pro-life, gun-toting conservative that supports the Convention of States and other measures to limit the size and power of the federal government.
Tom is the father of 4 great men and husband to an amazing wife. You can follow Tom on Twitter and Facebook.
