The cult says to support Trump because conservatism is dead anyway
It’s not uncommon for members of the Trump cult to disagree with me when I call out The Donald for being a liar, a fraud, and a liberal wolf in Republican sheep’s clothing, but it is uncommon to be told that I’m wrong because I’m simply too conservative or that conservatism is dead.
Recently, I got into a discussion with a Trump supporter (let’s call him John Doe) who had read an old article of mine and disagreed with my conclusion that Trump’s narcissism, ignorance, and/or disregard of the Constitution was one of the greatest threats to liberty in America.
After assuring me that I was likely more conservative than Donald Trump — probably the lowest bar to clear in the history of low bars — John Doe stated that the New York liberal was more conservative than Republicans in Congress and that I should support him because Democrats are worse, another low bar.
Of course, the “Democrats are worse” mantra has been played to death by Trump supporters and players in the game of binary politics — including many so-called conservatives in media — and I reminded Mr. Doe that since I’m a conservative, I will always strive to be a voice for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that I will oppose anyone who stands in the way of that ideal regardless of their party affiliation.
This is when John Doe gave me one of the most unbelievable rationales I’ve ever heard from a member of the Trump cult as to why I needed to compromise my ideals and support Trump. According to Mr. Doe, my “brand” of conservatism died a long time ago and will never return to America, so I needed to accept that and set new, lower goals of “good enough.”
It was this kind of compromise that blurred the lines of conservatism to such a degree that it put Trump in the White House to begin with, not to mention how it filled the Republican side of Congress with Trumpists and nationalists more dedicated to political power than their oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
Let’s be honest, the Trump cult’s attitude that conservatism is dead should come as no surprise because it’s one of the reasons they are referred to as a cult to begin with.
There are others responsible for spreading the belief that conservatism is dead, such as the Fellowship of the Pharisees and their army of cheap grace evangelical followers who have peddled and continue to peddle the lie that Donald Trump is “God’s man.” The faux-conservative media has also played a part with people such as self-proclaimed expert on politics Steve Deace and the army of the talking heads he works with at the pro-Trump echo chamber known as BlazeTV who willingly abandoned their principles for a seat at Trump’s table.
How successful has the “support Trump because conservatism is dead” approach been? Well… when he declared in an interview earlier this year with Sean Hannity that he would seek dictatorial power for a day to get a few of his top priorities accomplished, he met little resistance from the cult (via Washington Post):
Trump’s original formulation of the idea came during a conversation with Fox News host Sean Hannity in December. Hannity aired clips of observers offering warnings about Trump’s embrace of authoritarian rhetoric and offered Trump a chance to tamp down any such concerns. But Trump didn’t want to.
“I love this guy. He says, ‘You’re not gonna be a dictator, are you?’ I say, ‘No, no, no — other than Day One,’” Trump said at the time. “We’re closing the border. And we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that I’m not a dictator, okay?”
[Shortly after the interview], UMass Amherst released the results of a poll conducted by YouGov in which respondents were asked about the concept. The framing of the comment was stark, excluding Trump’s specific plans for using his theoretical dictatorial power. It was just, “Trump recently said that if elected, he would be a dictator only on the first day of his second term. Do you think that this is a good or bad idea for the country?”
A plurality of respondents said this was “definitely bad” with 6 in 10 saying it was “definitely” or “probably” bad. Among Republicans, though, a third said it was “definitely good” with three-quarters saying it was at least “probably” good. (Emphasis mine)
In hindsight, I guess it’s true. Donald Trump really could murder someone without losing his supporters.
Obviously, conservatism has suffered a great deal of damage at the hands of Donald Trump, the Republican Party, the Fellowship of the Pharisees, and the faux-conservative media. But another contributor is the group of capitulating cowards hiding under the “Sometimes-Trump” banner.
Sometimes-Trump “conservatives” are practitioners of what I’ve come to call conservative relativism, where Trump’s behavior is measured using a Good Trump/Bad Trump barometer. While it remains quite popular for them to stand on their soapboxes condemning “Never-Trump” conservatives as “orange man bad” liberals and “Always-Trump” faux-conservatives as cultists, it’s the political bipolarism of the Sometimes-Trump crowd that has played a role in the recent destruction of the last vestiges of conservatism.
Sometimes-Trump conservatives have adopted the binary lie that it’s okay to do a little evil in exchange for a greater good; to vote the lesser of two evils. Or to paraphrase their position, “Vote Trump and the GOP because Kamala and the Democrats are worse.”
With deference to Mr. Doe, I believe American history — at least the parts that haven’t been destroyed or rewritten — is replete with examples of heroes who experienced victory in the face of overwhelming odds. But even if he’s right and conservatism is dead, I would still rather fight for conservatism and fail than do nothing and succeed.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties. He the author of The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty.
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